Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Season 5: worth buying if you are a fan of the show? Of course. Hartman was a hard act to follow. Lovitz is a very funny man but probably was not the best fit for this show. He doesn't really have a full character other than just being "Jon Lovitz". Is that the writers' fault, Lovitz' fault, or both?
Is is at funny as previous seasons? No. But many of the faults with Season 5 have nothing to do with Lovitz, so we can't place all the blame on him. As with most sitcoms, there are going to be some seasons that are better than the others. Season 5 of "NewsRadio" featured some new writers and producers, and they don't really do much worse than the original writers did in the early years.
As with any long-running sitcom, not every episode is a classic, and not every season is the show's best. It just happens that Season 5 of "NewsRadio" happened to be the show's last. Even at its worst it was far better than many of the shows that DIDN'T get cancelled at the end of that year, and shows usually get renewals based on profitability and ratings, not quality. And we already know that even during its best seasons "NewsRadio" was never a ratings juggernaut. So again, we probably shouldn't blame the show's demise on Lovitz or a sub-par (but still very funny) season.
Had "Frasier" been cancelled after its 8th or 9th season, seasons generally regarded as the weakest of the series, we might not look back so fondly on it. Or we might remember it for having gone out with a whimper. It had a chance to rebound and ended on a high note. The powers-that-be killed "NewsRadio", not the writers and not Lovitz.
I was initially reluctant to buy Season 5 because for a long time I'd allowed myself to believe that the entire season was unfunny because Lovitz stepped in to fill the void Hartman left. Eventually I got over that and bought the DVDs.
Glad I did. The show is still funny in Season 5. And bringing in Patrick Warburton or Tiffany-Amber Thiessen to see if it could add an extra spark to the show is no more egregious a crime than when countless other sitcoms did any one of a number of things late in the show's run -- "Mad About You" and "Family Ties" added a baby, "The Brady Bunch" introduced Oliver, "Moonlighting" saw Maddie and David hook up, "Cheers" diffused the sexual tension between Sam and Diane by allowing them to hook up, "Happy Days" introduced a slew of new characters and got really saccharine and boring, etc etc etc etc etc."NewsRadio" tried something new and it didn't always work perfectly. Welcome to the world of network television. No one has a crystal ball.
Click Here to see more reviews about: NewsRadio - The Complete Fifth Season (1995)
Tune in for another sidesplitting look behind the scenes at radio station WNYX. In the final season of the series, on-air newsman Max Louis joins the staff after the unexpected death of beloved anchor Bill McNeal. Regulars Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Maura Tierney, Vicki Lewis and Joe Rogan welcome Jon Lovitz to the wackiest news team in New York and deliver all the on-the-air/off-the-wall hilarity you've come to expect. Includes every episode from the hysterical fifth and final season, featuring very special guest appearances by Patrick Warburton, Adam West and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.
Click here for more information about NewsRadio - The Complete Fifth Season (1995)
