Info:
Release Date: May 24, 2005 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Color/1995-96
MSRP: $39.95
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 29
Running Time: Approx. 659 Minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: Approx. 478
Minutes. (455 min of which are commentaries!)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: Portuguese
Closed Captioned
Special Features:
• Season Two Gag Reel
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette from 1995
• Commentaries by various cast and crew members on 20
episodes
• Filmographies of the Cast Members
My Thoughts:
The first and second seasons of the hilariously funny
NewsRadio are now on DVD in one set! Dave Nelson
(Dave Foley, “Kids in the Hall”) is the new news
director at New York City radio station WNYX. Making
his job stressful are the various people working at
WNYX, including on-air talent Bill McNeal (Phil
Hartman, “Saturday Night Live”) and Catherine Duke
(Khandi Alexander), street reporter Matthew Brock
(Andy Dick, “Less than Perfect,” “Get Smart (1995),”
“The Ben Stiller Show”), his secretary Beth (Vicki
Lewis), electrician Joe Garelli (Joe Rogan, “Fear
Factor”), Dave’s boss Jimmy James (Stephen Root, “King
of the Hill”), and station writer Lisa (Maura Tierney,
“ER”), who thought SHE was in line for the news
director spot…and who Dave just happens to be seeing
romantically.
I honestly can’t sit here and recommend specific
episodes for this show, they’re all great. All of
them. I’d recommend just grabbing a soda and a snack,
pop the first disc into the DVD player and just watch
them straight through, pausing occasionally. Repeat
for the other two discs. Keep an eye out for more
than a few special guests along the way. Comedian
Janeane Garafolo (“Saturday Night Live”, “The Ben
Stiller Show”) is in the seventh episode, the season
one finale, “Sweeps Week.” A pre-SNL Chris Kattan
guest stars in the season two premiere, “No, This is
Not Based Entirely on Julie's Life.”
Comedian Dennis Miller, another SNL’er is in the 9th
episode, “Goofy Ball.” John Ritter guest stars in the
12th episode as Dr. Frank Westford, a shrink hired to
talk to the various employees at WNYX who just
happens to have been a former professor of Lisa’s
whom she slept with. Bebe Neuwirth (Lilith on
“Cheers) guest stars in the next episode, “Friends,”
alongside Toby Huss (“The Adventures of Pete & Pete”)
who would later go on to work with Stephen Root on
King of the Hill. Toby would return again on episode
17, “Xmas Story.” Also appearing in “Friends” and
“Xmas Story” is rapper Tone Loc, who plays a security
guard. Keeping with the music theme, thrash-metal
fans out there, take note, Anthrax appears as
themselves on the 15th episode, “Negotiation.”
On to the technical aspects: The two discs are each
held in a slim case that goes into a holding box. The
front-cover has a cast shot of the show. The reverse
cover has Phil Hartman sitting on an antique radio on
the right, info text on the top left, a box of the
special features in the middle of the left side, and
two photos (Dave Foley and Maura Tierney, and Phil
Hartman and Dave Foley). The first two discs are held
in the first slimcase, with the cast crammed through
an elevator door opening. The third disc is in the
second case, the case with the cast in front of an
open elevator. Disc one features Phil Harman, the
second disc features Dave Foley, and the third disc
has Joe Rogan on the cover. The first ten episodes and
the special features are on disc one. Episodes 11-19
are on the second disc, while episodes 20-29 are on
the third disc.
Menus are somewhat basic. Each disc’s menus features a
different color scheme (1: Yellow, 2: Blue, 3: Red).
Main menu on all four discs is a shot of a radio
microphone with the NewsRadio logo in front. Episode
selection menu is a set of earphones on top of a radio
sound board, with a still image from each episode in a
gold-light border, and the episode title below it.
Special Features (Disc 1 Only) is a shot of the
outside door of WNYX. Commentaries is a close-focus
shot of a desk. The Filmographies menu consists of a
close-up shot of a radio dial, with the WNYX logo on
the dial, and each cast member’s name off in a circle
with an arrow pointing to a different location on the
dial.
Episodes run approximately 22:30 to 23:00. There’s a
bit of minor grain present on the pilot, and tiny bits
occasionally elsewhere, but overall, it’s nothing
major. Also, with 9-10 episodes per disc, you’re
going to see some compression pixelation, but overall,
the video’s not bad. Chapter stops are at each fade
to black (where commercials would normally be
inserted). Considering the number of scene changes,
this is probably the best solution. Audio is a Dolby
Digital Stereo 2.0 track. I noticed a fairly good
balance between the left and right channels, with the
vocal and main sounds being on both channels, with the
other sounds/music split. Overall, it sounds about as
nice as a 2.0 track CAN sound.
I was honestly quite impressed with the amount of
commentary on the set. There’s commentary by various
crew and cast (different on each track) on TWENTY of
the twenty-nine episodes, for a total of 455 minutes
(approx.) of commentary. Such a high commentary total
is almost unheard-of for a Sony set. They managed to
get not only the various writers/producers the show
had, but all the cast members from the first two
seasons, with the obvious exception of the late Phil
Hartman, contribute audio on at least one episode. Not
only that, there’s a gag reel from the second season,
which runs 11:36, but there’s a behind-the-scenes
featurette, produced in the show’s first season, that
includes interviews with the entire cast including
Phil Hartman, who reveals, among other things, that he
auditioned as an announcer on The Price is Right in
early 1986, right after the original announcer, Johnny
Olson, passed away. Had he gotten the gig, he
wouldn’t have gone on to do Saturday Night Live
starting that fall, and…well, you get the picture.
The featurette runs 12:01. There’s also a Filmography
feature for each member of the cast it’s a series of
clickable graphics, take at your own pace. Total
special features runtime is around 478 minutes, mostly
commentary. Still, excluding Seinfeld, that’s more
total time spent on extras than just about any other
Sony release. This is something that everyone over
at SPHE should take pride in, and work on doing for
other sets.
Overall, I’ve got to say, I loved this set. I was a
fan of the show before, and the DVD set’s a must for
any fan of the show or for any fan of any of the
particular cast members or for anyone just looking
for a hilariously funny show. The only thing I’d
probably suggest Sony do for the third season’s set is
to make sure there’s NEVER more than 8 episodes/4
Hours of content per disc. 4 Hours is the generally
accepted “line of quality/quantity,” at which you’ve
gotten the most material on the disc before visible
pixelation sets in. Also, I’d consider possibly
setting up the theme to run in the background during
the menu. Other than that, honestly, I’d just
encourage Sony to make the 3rd season set how they
made this one. It’s just that good.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 4.5/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher on 05/11/2005.
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