NewsRadio: Season 03 (1996) Reviews

Season Three of NewsRadio opens with WNYX radio-station owner Jimmy James (Stephen Root) considering a run for the presidency--and in an even more frightening development, nerdish radio reporter Matthew (Andy Dick) acquiring a mustache. But wait, there's more! News director Dave (Dave Foley) and reporter Lisa (Maura Tierney) re-take the SAT to find out if growing older has made them dumber; vainglorious news anchor Bill (Phil Hartman) begins drawing up plans when a psychic informs him that he has only 36 more years to live; Matthew impulsively punches out Bill and becomes King of the Office for a whole entire day; the staff goes ballistic when they find out that Dave was born in Canada; Jimmy is suckered into purchasing phony Citizen Kane memorabilia (the name of the sled ISN'T "Rose Bowl"); Lisa shows a curious sense of priorities when she temporarily takes over the station; and Bill is carted away to the insane asylum on the occasion of the series' 48th episode, which is titled "Our Fiftieth Episode". Guest stars this season include cartoonist Scott Adams in an episode built around Matthew's obsession over Adams' creation Dilbert; James Caan in a story that turns out to be about Green Acres; Ben Stiller as a greedy gym manager; Jerry Seinfeld as himself in the saga of Lisa and Bill attempting to get a new show some ratings; French Stewart as a temp who manages to out-weird even Matthew; and, in an episode taped for the previous season but withheld from view because of one of the Words You Couldn't Use On Television Much, Norm MacDonald as a slick attorney representing Jimmy in a workman's-comp dispute. Also, Season Three offers the first of the series' celebrated fantasy episodes, "Daydream", which is topped by the penultimate offering "Space", wherein for no other reason than the producers thought it would be funny, the entire cast is thrust forward into the year 2228. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi