The Good: Funny, Good character development, Decent plots, Good performances, Good DVD bonuses
The Bad: Minutiae, Departure of Catherine, Could always use more commentaries . . .
The Basics: With twenty-two episodes, NewsRadio - The Complete Fourth Season shakes up WNYX and breathes new life into an already great sitcom!
You know the old saying, "Do don't know what you've got until it's gone?" I think with NewsRadio, that became true with the advent of the fourth season, now on DVD. Honestly, it's hard to pick out what Catherine Duke, the regal on-air talent that worked opposite Phil Hartman's Bill McNeal, did on her own in the series, but when she leaves only seven episodes into the new season, the show becomes diminished. It is not brought down with a giant cut, but it is slightly less that it was when she was around and as a result, it slips just perceptibly off the pedestal of perfection it had rooted on with the prior season of NewsRadio.
That said, it remains one of the most enduring and consistently funny television series' to ever grace television and to now become one of the most worthwhile investments on DVD. Honestly, one of the only real drawbacks of buying and watching this DVD set is that the viewer will want the other three that are available!
NewsRadio, for those who have not seen this comedic gem, is a semi-serialized situation comedy that takes place at New York City's WNYX news station. There, Dave Nelson runs the station under the watchful eyes of crazy billionaire owner Jimmy James and alongside an eccentric group of workers who all seem to have their own ambitions and opinions on where their lives - and the station - is going. Dave finds himself hampered by budget problems which immediately lead to Matthew being fired and an efficiency expert being brought in to evaluate the station and determine what can be cut. When the expert's analysis leads to a change in staff positions, WNYX is turned upside down!
NewsRadio is classified by me as semi-serialized because there is a pretty significant part of the show which is simply episodic. Every episode has a new situation to deal with. The fourth season is a bit more serialized because Matthew remains fired for several episodes, Andrea the efficiency expert is around for a while, and Lisa gets Dave's job, which shakes up the season for a while. In other words, there are story arcs that allow for there to be consequences of actions, a sense that the characters grow and everything is not neatly resolved by the time the closing credits roll. I like that about the series and it does lend it a quality of character many sitcoms lack.
The workplace comedy is, of course, nothing particularly new. However, what makes a workplace sitcom work - even when the plots are not terribly unique - are the characters and the performances. NewsRadio has a wonderful collection of characters performed quite well by some truly amazing comedic talents. With the sharpness of the writing and the delivery of the wit, NewsRadio manages to make old plots seem new again. But by and large, this show manages to be about the characters making decisions with comedic consequences rather than plot motivating their actions. Understanding who the principle characters are makes the show make a lot more sense. In this boxed set, the primary characters include:
Dave Nelson - The straightlaced and somewhat nerdy station manager of WNYX, he finds himself hampered by Andrea when she arrives to tell him how he is mismanaging the station. He and Lisa once again break up and when she replaces him as station manager, he finds it difficult to adjust to her management style and schemes to get his position back. He also finds he has to disappoint some old friends who want to restart their old barbershop quartet, reveals a new and impressive talent, and becomes threatened by a new intern,
Lisa Miller - Her neurotic desire to succeed at all costs is finally revealed in all its glory when her extensive criminal past resurfaces for a series of SAT-related crimes. It also comes out that she has some serious baking skills ("Is that lemon zest?") and does not need Dave or anyone else to succeed,
Bill McNeal - Delivers fake interviews with the President, swears on air and advocates beating foreign diplomats. Still, he is the on-air talent that is the biggest budgetary expense for WNYX and he even has ambitions to be station manager. Outside the office, he decides to adopt a child, attempts to become a singing political satirist, hits on Lisa, and he gives up smoking in favor of . . . shudder . . . chaw. And with the arrival of the new intern, he finds someone to scheme with,
Matthew Brock - Fired for his unending incompetence, Matthew becomes the focus of the staff's efforts to return the station to normal, especially after Catherine departs. Mr. James buys him a toy car, Matthew hits on Lisa, and gets a big brother. While away from the station, he works at a coffee shop and as a dentist,
Catherine Duke - While toughing it out with the efficiency expert, Catherine is offered an opportunity in London and, given the chance to get out of Bill's shadow, leaps on it,
Beth - The laid-back and somewhat lazy secretary continues to meddle in the affairs of Dave and later Lisa. She continues chewing her gum with mortifying consequences and becomes infatuated with Matthew's big brother. She comes into her own when she impersonates a duchess to bid on Jimmy at a charity auction,
Joe - The handyman finds himself missing Catherine most of all, especially when he realizes she might have reciprocated his love for her. Otherwise, he finds himself involved with a sympathy strike, reunited with his brother, and concerned he may have caused the death of an employee with one of his inventions,
and Jimmy James - The billionaire continues his crazy schemes, which include circumnavigating the Earth in a hot air balloon and retranslating the Japanese version of his autobiography (which was a success overseas) back into English. As well, he meddles in the relationship between Dave and Lisa to try to make his business plans work and he gives his nephew an internship at the station, much to the chagrin of his other employees.
NewsRadio has some of the fastest dialogue and most clever deliveries of any sitcom I've ever seen and it is worth noting that the performances often hinge on the deliveries and there's not a single bad one in this season. Instead, "NewsRadio - The Complete Fourth Season" once again illustrates just what happens when talented people are given great material.
Nowhere is this more true than with Stephen Root. Root plays Jimmy James and before NewsRadio, my only experience with him was watching him play a Klingon on Star Trek: The Next Generation's two-part episode "Unification" (reviewed here!). Here, Root is consistently funny because his character is scatterbrained and random and Root plays James with an authoritative tone such that whatever weirdness is coming out of his mouth, it sounds completely credible or like James believes it. Honestly, Root's performance in NewsRadio was so distinctive that when he first popped up in the sixth season of The West Wing (reviewed here!) as one of Arnold Vinick's two campaign assistants, he was both almost unrecognizable to me (it's weird seeing him play a sane character!) and a delightful surprise. Root makes the show worth watching episode after episode, disc after disc.
That's not to say that the rest of the cast does not deliver; they do. But Andy Dick settles into his rut as Matthew, as do Joe Rogan, Vicki Lewis, and even Phil Hartman in his final year. They are great ruts, but they offer little new as far as their performances go this year. Similarly, Dave Foley and Maura Tierney have great character aspects to play and their deliveries are wonderful, but they are performing at a level of greatness the viewer has pretty much come to expect from them as opposed to honestly surprising us with something new.
But that ought not to scare away viewers. NewsRadio is one of the funniest shows of all time and on DVD it gets good treatment with ten of the twenty-two episodes having commentary tracks that are informative and entertaining. There is also a pretty standard gag reel and a short film which is funny. This set is a little lighter on extras than some of the prior ones, but it is still not bad. I love commentary tracks and find myself wishing some of the episodes that lacked one had a commentary, but for the most part I find myself satisfied.
And for those who have not been fans of NewsRadio before now, there is no better time to jump in. This set stands up remarkably well on its own and is worthy of being added to anyone's permanent collection!
For other works with Andy Dick, please check out my reviews at:
Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil
Employee Of The Month
Hoodwinked!
Zoolander
Dude, Where’s My Car?
“Message In A Bottle” - Star Trek: Voyager
8/10
For other television and movie reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2013, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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