5. NewsRadio
NewsRadio came about during the golden age of modern sitcoms, when all the comedy writers seemed to be hitting their strides and finding actors who could make the magic happen. This was one of those shows. Paul Simms and his writing staff were funny people who weren’t afraid to go out on a limb, like doing yearly episodes that had nothing to do with anything, such as playing “What if the radio station were on the Titanic?” or “What if we were in space?” And when NBC wanted them to theme an episode after a funeral for a marketing stunt, they wrote an installment mourning the death of a rat.
This show was gleefully irreverent and didn’t really give a damn about the network or anyone else; it just wanted to be funny. And it was funny. Kids in the Hall veteran Dave Foley played the straight man to an office full of crazy people, and Dave Nelson remains the best performance of his career. Likewise, when you think of the late Phil Hartman, you probably at least partly remember him as that endearing blowhard of an anchor Bill McNeal. Hartman was the soul of NewsRadio and he was amazing every week. There’s a classic episode where Bill and Lisa Miller encounter Jerry Seinfeld at a restaurant and it’s like watching a master class in comedy.
NewsRadio was never the NBC darling that other series were but that’s what’s made it last. It was the maverick outsider of 90’s sitcoms and it’s still the cool kid today.
Next: 4. Sports Night