You know, there's all this talk about how Jon Lovitz (Max Lewis) sucked as a main character on the last couple seasons of the show. Well, what if it was Patrick Warburton (Johnny Johnson) who became the replacement for Bill McNeal instead of Jon Lovitz? If you think about it, he's confident, cocky, and you could see him having a lot of influence over most of the staff. Personally, I think he would've made a better replacement. He's probably a little goofier, but I think he's got more similarities to Bill McNeal. If they made Johnny into the replacement instead of the evil guy, and if they kept the intern (Walt), and if they could've gotten one more female actress for the show, who knows...

Heck, now that I think about it, I think Patrick should've been the new main character and Jon should've acted the part of the evil guy. That way, there wouldn't have been any stupid episodes about a wedding between Lisa and the evil guy (C'mon, Jon Lovitz and Maury Tierney!?! uumm...no.....and EEEWWW!). That's enough ranting for me. To late for anything to change now, I guess. Oh well. Feel free to post your opinions on this. I'd like to see what other people think.

Actually, NBC was pushing for Patrick Warburton to replace Phil Hartman. They really should have kept Walt and added another female. I don't know if the fans would really except any new comers, no matter who they replaced. This was one of the few shows where EVERY character had an important part and if anyone was to leave, the show would be off-balance. Which was proven in the last season.

I think the show did lack that arrogant role in the last season. I mean, they go from having the office jerk to having a second weird guy. Matthew was enough, they didn't need 2 weird guys in the office.

Don't get me wrong, I still like that last season (If you ask me, Matthew and Joe carried that last year). It just could have been so much better.

Originally posted by TVAdam
Actually, NBC was pushing for Patrick Warburton to replace Phil Hartman. They really should have kept Walt and added another female. I don't know if the fans would really except any new comers, no matter who they replaced. This was one of the few shows where EVERY character had an important part and if anyone was to leave, the show would be off-balance. Which was proven in the last season. I thought Walt was a bit too dull, he wasn't that funny.

I agree that Walt was dull, but he should have been carried over to at least "Bill Moves On." I mean, Bill's departure was such a big loss and dull or not Walt was already established as a character. Anyway Jon Lovitz, should not have been the only new cast member. They should've reinveted the show so it wasn't "NewsRadio without Phil Hartman" but a new NewsRadio with new characters and dimensions, much like Spin City would later do with Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear. Matthew should've been dropped at this time, without Bill he just became more and more annoying and the other characters hated his guts in season 5. Joe should've also have left since he was more pointless than ever, he could've followed Catherine to Europe like Dan followed Christine to D.C. on what would be the last "Night Court." I love the show and the characters, I just think that the writers had some great story ideas, but it was impossible for the show to regain it's energy by keeping the core intact and ONLY bringing on one new character.