NewsRadio
NewsRadio was an American sitcom, originally broadcast from 1995 to 1999 by NBC.
The series is set in a New York City news radio station, WNYX, and starts with the arrival of a new news director, Dave Nelson (played by Dave Foley). He finds a staff with often weird habits.
NewsRadio's scripts were usually fast-paced and often absurd, frequently reminiscent of screwball comedy. There was often a strong relaince on physical humor: "NewsRadio was already unlike any other television show in that its comedy relied more on the (sight) gag than the one-liner. It was even more unusual in that the gags were primarily visual."
In addition to the often strange habits of the staff, the series also contained two finales far removed from the rest of the series, the first of which demonstrated what NewsRadio would be like if it were to occur in outer space. The second was a parody of Titanic.
Cast
- Dave Nelson (Dave Foley), the coffee-addicted news director.
- Jimmy James (Stephen Root), the station's multi-millionaire owner, who often places strange bets with his rich friends and is desperately looking for a wife.
- Beth (Vicki Lewis) is Dave's secretary, whose work mainly consists of eavesdropping.
- The station's News anchors are the bombastic, ego-centric Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) and the unflappable Catherine Duke (Khandi Alexander).
- News reporters are the clumsy and not very bright Matthew Brock (Andy Dick) and the ambitious and intelligent Lisa Miller (Maura Tierney), with whom Dave has an intermittent relationship.
- Joe Garelli (Joe Rogan) is the station's electrician. He builds everything he needs, rather than purchasing them, and espouses various conspiracy theories.
After Phil Hartman was killed in 1998, he was replaced by Jon Lovitz, playing Max Louis. Lovitz had previously made two guest appearances on the show, once as a patient in a mental institution and again as a jumper on the ledge outside the WNYX office.
NewsRadio is also an Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio service devoted to delivering news updates and information, including details of parliamentary proceedings, such as Question Time and senate reports, live.
