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NewsRadio: Difference between revisions
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[[File:NewsRadio.jpg|frame|(left to right) Catherine, Matthew, Jimmy, Bill, Dave, Lisa, Joe, and Beth.]]
A [[Work Com]] airing on [[NBC]] from 1995-99, set at a news-talk radio station and starring Dave Foley (as news director and [[Only Sane Man]] Dave Nelson), Phil Hartman (playing [[Small Name, Big Ego]] anchorman Bill McNeil), Andy Dick (Matthew Brock, [[The Ditz]]), Vicki Lewis ([[Sassy Secretary]] Beth), Stephen Root ([[Eccentric Millionaire]] station-owner Jimmy James), Joe Rogan (Joe Garelli, a [[Conspiracy Theorist]] electrician with a propensity for [[Homemade Inventions]]) and Maura Tierney (neurotic overachiever Lisa Miller). Khandi Alexander played [[Sassy Black Woman]] Catherine Duke for three seasons before leaving for a bigger role on ''[[ER]]'' (which Tierney also joined the cast of following this show's cancellation). Though critically acclaimed, ''[[News Radio]]'' never got the recognition or [[Ratings]] it deserved, in part because NBC apparently scheduled it by rolling dice each week.
After Hartman's death, Jon Lovitz signed on as a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]].
{{tropelist}}
* [[Aborted Arc]] (nearly all forced on the writers by the network.
* [[Actor Allusion]]: The Halloween episode when Dave dressed up as a woman was no surprise to anyone who knew of the many convincing female characters Dave Foley played as a member of the all-male comedy troupe [[The Kids in The Hall]].
** In "The Trainer", the staff is shocked to find out that Dave is actually [[Canada, Eh?|Canadian]]. Dave Foley is from Canada.
* [[Addiction Displacement]] (Bill tries to take up chewing tobacco in order to quit smoking)
* [[Affably Evil]]: Johnny Johnson. Even after learning that he is evil and Mr. James' rival, everyone but Dave is still fond of him. Lisa {{spoiler|even marries him.}}
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** Joe Garelli and Bill McNeal also stand out, being highly skilled, but either half-crazed or highly obnoxious.
* [[Burger Fool]]: Lisa in "Lucky Burger"
* [[Canada, Eh?]]
* [[The Cassandra]]: Dave is a terrific news director. He's tough, has foresight, good instincts and a lot of common sense, and is a BS detector. Despite this, nobody at the office ever believes his warnings and his authority is roundly dismissed, as much of the staff see him as just a [[Stop Having Fun Guy|killjoy]].
* [[The Character Died With Him]]: Phil Hartman/Bill McNeal. As [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|coincidence would have it]], Hartman's final episode concluded with everyone but Dave surviving the Titanic episode. In the tribute episode to Hartman, however, it's stated that Bill merely died of a heart attack. While a great gesture by the cast and crew, the somber tone of Bill's death didn't ring true for a show as ironic and cynical as this one; particularly since most the mourners would have (in-universe, at least) been jubilant over Bill's demise.
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* [[Cross Referenced Titles]]: Bored with coming up with titles for their episodes, the writers resorted at one point to naming all the episodes after [[Led Zeppelin (Music)|Led Zeppelin]] albums. See also [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]].
** "Catherine Moves On" in Season Four and "Bill Moves On" in Season Five.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Jimmy James is deceptively spry. When an ex-employee denounces him on-air, James dives across Dave's desk to hit the kill-switch button (done off-screen).
{{quote| '''Lisa:''' ''(stunned)'' I have never seen you move that fast before.<br />
'''Jimmy:''' I save energy [[Crazy Prepared|for times like this]]. }}
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* [[A Day At the Bizarro]]: "Space" and "Sinking Ship"
* [[The Ditz]]: Matthew
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: In "The Real Deal", Bill and Lisa try desperately to get Jerry Seinfeld to appear on their show so it won't get cancelled... which bears a suspicious resemblance to the real life situation that ''[[News Radio]]'' was in at the time.
* [[Dream Sequence]]: "Daydream"
* [[Drunk With Power]]: Parodied, Matthew's promotion
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* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Mr. James has one of these when he loses Bill in a poker game.
* [[He's Just Hiding]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] in-universe with Matthew's reaction to Bill's death. {{spoiler|Initially, at least. Later, Matthew admits that he knows Bill is truly dead, he's just using this trope so as not to alarm the others.}}
* [[Historical
* [[Homemade Inventions]]: Joe's forte. In fact it's implied that Joe doesn't use ANYTHING he didn't just make in his garage. This often times applies to the individual parts as well, although he has cobbled together several frankenstein inventions.
* [[Hot Mom]]: Although she's never seen onscreen, Jimmy James apparently has and believes Dave's mother is this.
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* [[Hypno Fool]]: How Joe cures Mr. James of his fear of hippies.
* [[I Know Kung Faux]]: Joe Garelli is an expert in "Joe-jitsu".
* [[I'm a Man, I Can't Help It]]: What all of Beth's boyfriends told her. Not just that they are a slave to their sex drive, but that they get sick if they don't.
* [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]]
* [[In Space]]: The episode "Space" is explictly introduced as "[[News Radio]] IN SPACE!"
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* [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]]: Jimmy has off-screen rivalries with Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch, among others, and an onscreen rivalry with Johnny Johnson.
* [[Slap Slap Kiss]]: Dave wryly mentions in one episode that rage is an aphrodisiac for Lisa.
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: Bill
* [[Something Completely Different]]: "Sinking Ship", "Space"
* [[Strange Minds Think Alike]]: ''Bitchcakes''
* [[Suck E.
* [[Surrounded By Idiots]]: Dave being the sane man has this reaction a lot. Nicely summed up in "Lucky Burger":
{{quote| "I want you to look around. Here we have Lisa, who today very nearly gave up a career in journalism for a life in the fast food industry. Over here we have Beth, who dresses like a barmaid from ''[[Blade Runner]]''. Mr. James, a millionaire who has spent the entire day eating food he knows for a fact to be spoiled. Joe, who has earned upwards of eleven dollars working as an amateur surveillance expert - albeit half of that is Monopoly money." ''(Matthew peeks out from behind his desk)'' "And of course, Matthew, who appears to have taken the surveillance into his own hands."}}
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** While most characters are usually seen doing their job at some point in the episode, even if only slightly, it's incredibly easy to forget what Matthews job is. Be you don't know, eh?
*** In one episode Matthew is asked what his job is and he doesn't even know. Ironically he was asking for the afternoon off because of how hard work is.
* [[Viewers
* [[Video Wills]]
* [[Wacky Marriage Proposal]]: Parodied in "Our 50th Episode", played straight in "Wino"
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* [[Welcome Episode]]: The pilot (Dave). Lovitz gets one too when he joins the cast.
* [[What If]]: "Space" and "Sinking Ship"
* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Subverted; see [[Writer Revolt]] below.
* [[Wondrous Ladies' Room]]: Jimmy turns the men's room into a luxe club after the guys find out how nice the ladies room is. {{spoiler|Matthew ruins it by going to the bathroom.}}
* [[Writer Revolt]]: ''[[News Radio]]'' was the king of this trope. The writers intensely disliked the story directives NBC would impose on them and would protest by subverting those demands in some way. For instance, they were told to add a [[Will They or Won't They?]] plot to the show. The answer was "yes", in episode ''two''. Later they were told to do a funeral story as part of a cross-series promotional gimmick. They created an episode about the death of a rat.
* [[You Look Familiar]]: David Cross, Brian Posehn, Bob Odenkirk all appeared as different characters in different seasons.
** So did Toby Huss, Dave "Gruber" Allen, and David Anthony Higgins. Not to mention Jon Lovitz- Max Louis was the ''third'' character he played on the show.
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