What are your opinions about the last season? Also, what are your opinions about Jon Lovitz taking over for Phil Hartman?

Originally posted by Freakzilla:
What are your opinions about the last season? Also, what are your opinions about Jon Lovitz taking over for Phil Hartman?

What is your opinion about this?

I missed half of Phil Hartman's final season, and almost all of the final season (due to a crappy swing-shift job I had to take at the time). I'm just now getting to see them for the first time in syndication, and so far I am enjoying the Johnny Johnson character... he's EVIL!!! However, John Lovitz is to a sitcom what black clothes and Depeche Mode albums are to a teenager... a sure sign that there is about to be a suicide. The man is allowed to have walk on spots, but he should really stay away from main characters... he's just too annoying to take on a weekly basis!

Lets just say this, it could have been alot worse. Thank god...Johnny Johnson saved the season, but the marraige between Johnny and Lisa was a little...err....dumb, far-fetched, strange, pure evil, etc., etc..

They should have just either not bothered to have somoen replace him or just taken the show off the air by the was did anyone see Khandi Alexnader in the series on HBO called the corner?

I read somewhere Andy Dick wanted to leave when Jon Lovitz joined the show because he didnt want him on there. IM A HUGE FAN OF NEWSRADIO


NEWSRADIO RULES
DAVE FOLEY
PHIL HARTMAN (MAY HE REST IN PEACE)
VICKI LEWIS
MAURA TIERNEY
ANDY DICK
KHANDI ALEXANDER
JOE ROGAN
STEPHEN ROOT

I thought the last season was alright... c'mon, it was still News Radio. http://www.sitcomsonline.com/ubb/smile.gif Also, without Max Lewis, we would have never heard Lisa's Boston accent (one of my fave Lisa episodes).

Usually when soeone is replaced with a different character, there is a tendency to compare him to the old one instead of judging on his own merits. Max Lewis was a good and funny character, and the show was just as odd and good as it had been in the past. (maybe a ittle more so)

I had a major problem with Jon Lovitz taking over for Phil Hartman especially since he was in the show TWICE before as an extra character. When Bill was sent to the mental institute, he was the guy with the cigarettes, and when there was a guy on a ledge threatening to commit suicide-Bill talked down..........John Lovitz! Of COURSE on the resume for Max Lewis there was a listing of Bill as a reference...they'd met on the show twice!

As for Johnny Johnson, yeah he was evil, but he was a big lug of evil, so I didn't care for him too much. It DID move the show along though, so that works. I think it looked like they needed something else because the show went downhill after Phil died.

**Gracie**

Beth: Finally someone opened their window and yelled down "Shut the hell up you crazy b*tch."
Matthew(?): That's just what Bill would have done...

I didn't really care for the last season of NewsRadio, but I still thought it was funnier than a lot of the other sitcoms currently on NBC.

Yeah, I totally hated when Jon Lovitz came. I don't really like him as an actor. It seems like he's always the same guy anyways. This creepy, wierd freak, like that dude he played in the wedding singer. And I think that they should not have replaced Bill with anybody after the tragaty. I mean, Max just had huge shoes to fill and he couldn't pull it off.

I still liked the show in the fifth season, I just missed Bill and always wondered what he would do if he were alive. If Bill would have fallen under Johnny Johnson's evil spell like the rest of the staff-minus Dave-did. Or if Bill would have been persuaded to leave WNYX for New Hampshire.

I personally would not have picked Jon Lovitz to join the show, but it did feel good that he was a friend of Phil Hartman's. He seemed like a friend of the families. I'm not going to bash Max Louis, because there were times when I liked him.

To me, Matthew and sometimes Joe carried the show in the last year. I loved Matthew when he wore the same sweater as Lisa. And Joe was alot funnier than he was in the first season.

I didn't like the last season, the D.B. Cooper episodes were the last funny ones.

AH! That is so true, I hated Max, but we never would have heard Lisa's accent, that was one of my favorite episodes also! UP YOU'S YA LOOZA!

D.B. Cooper = DOOBIE KEEBLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those were funny funny episodes too!

I love this show. I watched about half of them in their first broadcast. I hate most of the episodes with Jon Lovitz. He's very aggravating. The 2 guest appearance episodes were good, though.

I didn't really like Max Louis at all. He was too strange and he gave me the creeps. It also seems like thats the only character John Lovitz ever plays the weirdo. I think that Phil should have been replaced by a female, and she could have been a love interest for Jimmy.

The show desperately needed a third female. When Catherine left the show was so good & they didn't need another character, but after Bill died that void was very apparent. They should've introduced several characters after Bill died instead of just one. Walt should've stuck around for the sole reason that he was introduced before Bill died & developing his character could help fill the void because he wouldn't be seen as A Bill replacement because he was introduced before Bill's death. I also think Foxy Jackson would've been a nice addition to the staff. On the other hand Johnny Johnson makes me want to vomit.

The work environment seemed perposperous to me in season 5--you'd think they's hire a replacement for Catherine & fire Matthew if he did no work at all. At least in the prior seasons matthew was seen attempting to work somewhat at times. The station needed much more core staff--Lisa replaced Catherine in the booth, was she her own producer?

Another beef I have with season 5 & Matthew is that before they seemed to be very fond of matthew, they all (even mr. james) seemed to hate his guts in the last season.

I think the Phil Hartman years of NewsRadio were golden. There was something special about the show then. It was an above average sitcom. However when Jon Lovitz came on, it became just your average sitcom. Yeah it was funny. But there was nothing special about it.

It went from being

NewsRadio to NewsRadio

I agree with most of the people here, Jon Lovitz was not a good replacement for "The Great Bill McNeal"

The main problem I have with season 5 is that Phil Hartman's death left such a big hole that couldn't be filled by anyone. What I wished they would've done was revamped the whole show, drop a couple of more minor characters & introducing maybe 2 or 3 new characters--trying to create a new dynamic & a new show somewhat, similar to when Michael J Fox left Spin City, they not only replaced him with Charlie Sheen but they dropped Connie Britton & two other minor characters thus creating a somewhat new dynamic & chemistry--now that was a terrific move & kept the show on for 2 more seasons afterwards. Jon Lovitz just didn't gell to well being a fish out of water.

I'm not so sure I agree with that. Who could they have possibly dropped? I can't imagine the show without any of them. If they were going to bring Jon Lovits on I think they should have made his part smaller and had him sort of team up with Mathew. If they combined they could have been a great comedic duo like Jack & Karen. Also, it would have been nice if the rest of the sane characters didn't get so crazy and over the top. NBC took creative control of the show after Phil Hartman's death so you can only blame them for making the characters charicatures of themselves. After all, it was those idiots who strayed away from the original intent of the show and the original personalities of the characters. How else do you explain Johnny marrying Lisa? Lisa would have never married that jackass if they stayed true to her character and the original build-up that the show had going seasons 1 through 4.

Who could they have possibly dropped?

To me Joe was always expendable and unnecessary.

I just want to add that I think Matthew could've been dropped as well. Without Bill to keep him in line Matthew was just annoying and out of control.

I think that would have been better if they hadn't had Lisa marry Johnny Johnson. It also would've been better if they done an episode where Lisa felt overworked and Dave had to hire a new female anchor. The new female anchor, of course, would be an advisary of Max's from one of his past jobs.

The producers could have also kept Walt and made him the new anchor. Walt seemed like he had the potential to turn into a young Bill. So, it could've worked.

Originally posted by Freakzilla
I think that would have been better if they hadn't had Lisa marry Johnny Johnson. It also would've been better if they done an episode where Lisa felt overworked and Dave had to hire a new female anchor. The new female anchor, of course, would be an advisary of Max's from one of his past jobs.

The producers could have also kept Walt and made him the new anchor. Walt seemed like he had the potential to turn into a young Bill. So, it could've worked.

I also wish they would have kept Walt. And I also think Max needed someone else to work off of. The Max-Lisa chemistry wasn't there.