Product Description

When it comes to sidesplitting comedy and laughter, they're number one! Tune in for the third hilarious season of NEWSRADIO, the hysterical misadventures of the wackiest news team in New York. Join micromanaging news director Dave Nelson (Dave Foley), office weird guy Matthew Brock (Andy Dick), ambitious reporter Lisa Miller (Maura Tierney) and bombastic anchor Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) as they do everything they can to keep NYC the best misinformed city in the world. Includes all 25 episodes from season three featuring guest appearances by Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, Jon Stewart, Norm MacDonald, James Caan and more!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24360 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 2006-02-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Portuguese
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 563 minutes

Amazon.com
The affable crew of WNYX is at it again in this painfully underseen sitcom. The 1996-97 season is more outlandish and escapes the clichés of the secret romance between reporter Lisa (Maura Tierney) and news director Dave (Dave Foley), the most continuous storyline of the first two seasons. Many of the season's episodes deal with the normalcy of the office environment: performance reviews, the complaint box, budget cuts, the annual Halloween party, and office feuds, most involving the wonderfully smug anchor Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman in what should have been his signature role) and daffy reporter Matthew (Andy Dick, certainly his signature role). However, NewsRadio creator Paul Simms and the writers push the envelope, including placing Bill in a mental ward (meeting patient Jon Lovitz who would fill in for Hartman later), Dave's obsession with an arcade game, Matt's compulsion with his "twin" brother (played by Jon Stewart), and eclectic owner Jimmy James's (Andy Root) brief run for the presidency. The fantasy elements kick in with an episode on daydreaming on an extremely hot day, one in which Jimmy falls into a coma, and an episode that takes place in space! At times, those odd elements don't work and there's not enough moments for Khandi Alexander (as Bill's on-air partner). But make no mistake, the show boasts some of the best moments in '90s sitcom-dom. Perhaps the highlight show has Dave and Bill stuck in a St. Louis airport (and swarmed by Midwest manners, to Bill's chagrin) while Lisa runs the station. Season 3 guest stars include Ben Stiller as a health club jerk, Norm McDonald as Jimmy's lawyer, and James Caan as himself wanting to learn for a role shadowing Bill (but ending up marveling how odd Matthew is). Jerry Seinfeld also stars as himself in a surprisingly unfunny episode, proving good comedies shouldn't have to stoop to stunt casting. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

One of the Best Seasons of any TV Show Ever.
It's a good time for NewsRadio fans. The release of the first and second seasons in May of 2005 was a dream come true (not associated with Dream Come True Garage Door Openers). As nice as it is to have just the episodes on DVD format, the set included a gag reel, a short featurette and best of all, around 20 commentary tracks from the likes of Paul Simms, Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, and the rest of the cast and writers that are still around (Phil Hartman and Drake Sather have both died since the show). Although some fans complained about the video quality (which wasn't great, but was more than acceptable to me), the DVD set was a truly incredible release.

Well, the news has come in, and season 3 is coming out at the end of February (and hopefully that date will not be changed). NewsRadio's third season was when one of, if not the greatest comedy show was at it's prime (which is really the first four seasons, but 3 and 4 are out of the park). I was worried due to the time lapse between DVD releases, which makes it even better news that there will be ten more commentaries, another gag reel, and multiple featurettes (that all sound a bit better than the one included on the first set).

Some of my all time favorite episodes are here...
President - Where Mr. James runs for President and Matthew grow a moustache.

Arcade - Star Gate Defender, SATs and moldy sandwiches.
Daydream - Heat induced hallucinations plague the office.

Movie Star - James Caan visits WNYX and finds out what make Bill McNeil tick.

The Trainer - Dave turns out to be Canadian and the office is shocked. Meanwhile, Bill enrolls at the Ted Chambers gym where he has to deal with the money grubbing antics of Ben Stiller.

Rap - Bill is enraged to find out that Rap music not only has lyrics, but that they are offensive and readily available to the children and the elderly.

Complaint Box - A favorite among anyone who has seen it.

Airport - Dave and Bill are snowed in at an airport in the midwest. One of my all time top five episodes.

The Real Deal - Bill McNeil; Meet Jerry Seinfeld.

Space - What would NewsRadio be like in Outer Space? The answers in this episode.

Every single episode here, all 25, are great. There isn't one that falls below the line of excellence. The ones I listed are just a few personal favorites. The episodes that will have commentary tracks (from everybody again), will be Arcade, Stocks, Daydream, Christmas, The Trainer, Rose Bowl, Our 50th Episode, Sleeping, Mistake and Space. I for one am looking forward to these commentaries almost as much as I am to having the episodes. The other extras include a gag reel (I think), Space: From Table Read to Film, A Visit to Andy's Trailer and Joe Furey's One Man NewsRadio. This promises to be an amazing release.

Everything great comes to an end
I bought the third season of newsradio two days after it came out on DVD. I was excited when I got home thinking I will have about a day and half worth of episodes, and a great gag reel, and some great commentary. I wasnt wrong about the first part. I love Newsradio episodes, the outer space one was hysterical. The tie in to the older movies, and the whole spaz thing were great. The episodes never fail to amuse me.

I loved the gag reel, I always find that amusing.

The commentary I would give half of a star. I thought the commentary was going to be like Seasons 1 and 2, and I kept my expectations high, only to fall flat on my face after hearing the first two. They were horrible and completely unorganized. And I am a huge Maura Tierney fan, and I loved her commentary during season 1 and 2, and I was horribly dissapointed to hear her phone commentary. I was glad that I did get to hear her commentary, and the creative way of having her comment, but it was dissapointing that someone messed up her scheduling, and she couldnt be there. It was amusing and funny, but I wish there would have been more. so I guess I will have to wait until next season to see whether or not they can hold themselves together.

They phoned it in (the extras, at least)
I am a big Newsradio fan. But in what you expect from a DVD in terms of extras, this third season DVD is far inferior to the DVD for the first two seasons. There are only commentaries for 10 of the 25 episodes; the first DVD had 20 commentaries for 29 episodes. But the quality of the commenatries has completely collapsed. Most are just rambling messes. Quite often, the commentators have no idea about which episode they're commenting on. In one case, Maura Tierney has to be contacted by phone for her contribution. Of course, she can't even see what she's commenting on so someone has to describe it to her. The first DVD's commentary sounded like the participants cared about the program. You don't get that sense of pride in this DVD. And that's a real shame because Newsradio deserves better than these throwaway commentaries.