The workplace sitcom 'NewsRadio' explores the office politics and interpersonal relationships among the staff of WNYX NewsRadio, New York's #2 news radio station.
This show benefits from thoughtful casting, an extremely talented cast, and sharp writing that plays to the actors' strengths and promotes the banter and sarcastic exchanges to keep the laughs coming.
Hartman is already doing a brilliant job in a difficult role. After all, how does anyone do a boob anchorman without aping the definitive one, Ted Knight's Ted Baxter? But Hartman has figured out how to do it
Still, NewsRadio boasts a rich setting, droll characters and some fine actors... Hartman's comic brilliance will remind you how sorely Saturday Night Live misses him.
This was an ensemble with talent like no other, helmed by Paul Simms, fresh off his stint at The Larry Sanders Show. Put those forces together and you have one amazing pilot.
NewsRadio is a nervier, more sophisticated version of WKRP in Cincinnati, updated to a time when people are much less secure about their jobs and far more wary about each other.
Where NewsRadio goes from here is anyone's guess. If slightly offbeat comedy that makes you laugh is a gauge, however, it deserves to travel a long way.
It was clear that NewsRadio was something special. Here was a show that, rather than expecting its audience to ignore the strangeness of a multicamera sitcom and instead played into it, crafting episodes with the breakneck absurdity of classic farce.
