NewsRadio 3.24

Space

WNYX is loacted on a spaceship in this alternate take on NewsRadio. Some things remain the same, others do not. Joe is brought out of cryogenic sleep to help fix the station's nuclear reactor core. Mr. James thinks he needs to put either Bill or Catherine in deep sleep for about 50 years in order to fix the short fall in the budget. Lisa and Dave still don't live together. Irene, Matthew's girlfriend, is a robot.

Thoughts

This is a fun one but not great. It is a string of gags. There isn't much in the way of plot. It made me smile but it didn't make me laugh.

NewsRadio 3.23

Mistake

Dave's magazine interview in Radio Ink gets published. He said lots of uncomplimentary, not very nice things about his coworkers in the interview and they all got published. He tries to hide it but everyone finds out about it. He tries apologizing to them the only way he knows how: verbally and with handwritten notes.

Matthew doesn't care for Brent (French Stewart), a temp that Beth hired. Matthew thinks that Brent is a little too weird.

NewsRadio 3.22

Sleeping

Matthew plays a practical joke on some of the staff. He hides in the refrigerator and scares people when they open it up. He gets Catherine but then she gets him back. He also scares Mr. James but then Mr. James has a heart attack.

Mr. James goes into a coma. They bring him back to WNYC after he spends some time in the hospital. They put his bed in the break room. The doctor recommends that the staff take turns talking to him, around the clock, until he wakes up. They do as the doctor recommends.

NewsRadio 3.21

Our Fiftieth Episode

Bill gets committed to a mental institution. He meets Fred (Jon Lovitz) who claims his real name is Ulysses S. Grant and likes to talk to cigarettes. Dave and Catherine try to get him out. The doctor responsible for Bill says no. He later changes his mind but by then Bill has decided he likes it better in the mental institution.

Lisa and Joe fill in for Bill on the Real Deal with Bill McNeil. It doesn't go well. Phil hears what's going on and decides he has to get back to WNYX.

NewsRadio 3.20

The Real Deal

Matthew tells Dave, and then the rest of the staff at WNYX, that he is still a virgin. He's nervous because Irene, his girlfriend whom everyone assumes he has made up, wants to have sex. Irene turns out to be quite real and everyone gets to meet her when she stops by the radio station.

Bill and Lisa have to get a big guest for The Real Deal with Bill McNeil, his new interview segment of the news. They go to a restaurant to brainstorm and notice that Jerry Seinfeld is there eating lunch. They try to get him to come in for an interview. It does not go well.

NewsRadio 3.19

Office Feud

The new upstairs tenant is a not-for-profit organization that is making lots of noise. Beth thinks that there are a bunch of hot guys upstairs. Joe thinks that they are the ones playing practical jokes on WNYX, at least two of which blow up in his face.

Bill starts doing radio spots for Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor with a "street" accent. Catherine gets him to try the drink. He gets plastered. She then talks him into modifying the radio spots by using new slang that she makes up.

Lisa spends the day at the White House covering the Easter Egg Roll. She tries interviewing a bunch of kids but none of them are cooperative.

NewsRadio 3.18

Twins

Andrew (Jon Stewart), Matthew's twin, comes to visit. They aren't really twins but Matthew doesn't know that. Matthew is adopted, well that's how it is presented at first but by the end of episode the only thing that seems to be clear is that they aren't really brothers but both of them act weird and claim that it is the other one who was adopted.

Mr. James needs to cut costs so he is selling most of the radio station's furniture. Everyone gets card tables instead of desks. Eventually Dave figures out the reason why. The radio station is way over budget because Phil got a huge raise.

NewsRadio 3.17

Airport

Dave and Bill are stuck in the St. Louis airport due to a snow storm. Bill gets impatient and belligerent.

Lisa is left in charge. Catherine and Joe are planning to go see a movie together. Mr. James insists that Lisa not allow them to go on a date.

Beth and Matthew go to Bill's apartment to water his plants. Matthew gets mesmerized by the decor.

NewsRadio 3.16

Kids

Jimmy brings a bunch of young kids to WNYX. Each employee has to look after one of the kids while Jimmy takes their teacher out to lunch.

Someone is leaving porn in the break room. Dave tries to figure out who's doing it. When Lisa finds about the magazines she assumes they belong to Dave.

I might have laughed once. It wasn't awful but I can't say that I felt like I got my money's worth with this one.

NewsRadio 3.15

Rose Bowl

Jimmy hires Joe to represent him in court after he discovers that the movie memorabilia that he bought are all fake. This includes a sled with "Rose Bowl" written on it.

Dave takes some advice from Lisa and has the staff of WNYX do peer evaluations. Beth evaluates Lisa. Bill evaluates Catherine. Matthew evaluates Beth. Dave evaluates Bill. Lisa evaluates Dave.

Not my favorite episode but it has its moments.

NewsRadio 3.14

Complaint Box

The radio station's new complaint box consumes all of Dave's time. Mr. James goes on a fishing trip but stays in touch with  the office via Joe's latest invention, the Garrelli 1000. Joe's attempt to help Catherine record an audio book goes nowhere.

This one was okay. It wasn't awful but some of the jokes fell flat. It is not a favorite of mine.

NewsRadio 3.13

Led Zeppelin Boxed Set

Dave talks Matthew into standing up for himself when dealing with Bill. Matthew punches Bill and develops a whole new level of confidence. He starts bossing everyone around. It doesn't last, of course, but it is funny.

Catherine tries to teach Mr. James how to win at 3-card monte.

Fun episode. I loved how Matthew changed and then how quickly he changed back.

NewsRadio 3.12

The Trainer

Bill joins a gym. He is tricked into doing so by Vic (Ben Stiller), the business manager. He quickly regrets his decision and tries to get his money back.

Matthew and Beth discover that Dave is Canadian and quickly tell everyone else. This leads to a confrontation and a confession.

Dave helps Jimmy prepare for a dinner where he will be sitting at a table with President Bill Clinton.

Patton Oswalt make a brief appearance in one of the scenes at the gym. Bill Clinton also makes a brief appearance, but not at the gym.

NewsRadio 3.11

Christmas

Dave tells the others that they can leave early on Christmas Eve if they get all their work done. He ends up taking pity on some of them and let's them leave early even though their work isn't done.

Phil gets Beth to help him with a demo for a radio advertisement. They get the job but then things start to go sideways.

Not much to see here or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.

NewsRadio 3.10

Rap

Lisa is voted cutest reporter in New York. She gets angry that she received the award. Beth and Catherine get angry that they didn't receive that sort of recognition.

Bill goes on a tirade about rap music, once he hears some of the lyrics. The fact that Jimmy owns a label that distributes rap music doesn't dissuade Bill. He gets Matthew to write him a opinion piece that he reads on the air.

Jimmy makes a phone call and gets Chuck D (of Public Enemy) to appear on air with Bill, who immediately backs down from the rhetoric he was espousing.

NewsRadio 3.09

Movie Star

James Caan visits WNYX. He is preparing for a role in which he plays a news broadcaster. He hangs out with Bill but quickly becomes more intrigued by Matthew who demonstrates how weird he can get.

Jimmy has one extra ticket for a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. Catherine and Beth both want it. Joe tests them to see who is more worthy of it.

Dave and Lisa argue about the value of television. Dave is in favor of it. Lisa is not, until she learns about C-SPAN.

I have a vague memory of this one. It isn't my favorite but it is a fun one to watch. All three stories have their moments that made me laugh.

NewsRadio 3.08

Day Dream

The air conditioning is broken in the offices of WNYC. The staff are so hot that they start hallucinating.

• Lisa dreams of winning an argument with Dave
• Bill dreams of making out with all the women at the radio station
• Beth has nightmares about Matthew, with whom she stayed up all night watching horror movies the night before
• Joe dreams of turning everyone else into cyborgs that he can control
• Kathryn dreams that there are other people of color working at WNYC
• Dave dreams that everyone came up with lots of ideas on how to boost ratings
• Jimmy dreams of jumping out a window when he hears where the Dow 30 ended the day
• Matthew dreams of ?

NewsRadio 3.07

Halloween

Dave agrees to wear a really dorky outfit for Halloween in order to get everyone else to dress up for Mr. James' party. He dresses up as a woman and wears one of Lisa's dresses. Lisa gets angry at him because she feels that he looks better in it than she does.

Bill becomes very morbid after a psychic tells him he only has 36 years to live. He starts dating a much older woman than himself but ends it when the psychic revises her prediction and tells him he has much longer to live

NewsRadio 3.06

Stocks

Matthew returns from a vacation in Japan with gifts for everyone. Lisa refuses to ask Dave for a new chair because she doesn't want anyone to think that she did anything unprofessional to get it. Jimmy tries to teach Beth about investing in the stock market after she inherits some money from a recently deceased aunt.

Overall pretty good. Not every joke landed with me but it felt like more than half of them did.

NewsRadio 3.05

Awards Show

The employees of WNYX go to the annual radio awards show despite not having any faith that they are going to win any awards. Matthew becomes convinced that there are ants in the break room. Catherine asks Joe to be her date to the awards banquet. She is concerned that he won't dress appropriately but once the night begins she learns that's the least of her concerns.

Bob Costas is the emcee of the awards banquet.

There was a lot of little things going on in this episode but none of them dominated the program. Not a great episode but I've seen worse.