NewsRadio
President
TV Flash files “President” as a desk essential hour — NewsRadio (1995–1999) on NBC, season 3, episode 1, aired 1996-09-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E01: listed hour 29 of 97 in the NewsRadio guide, first listed hour of season 3. It aired 1996-09-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Led Zeppelin II” (S02E21). Next is “Review” (S03E02).
Essential hour: “President”. President: overlapping bits at full swing, corporate idiocy still the playlist, ensemble already a band.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Matthew grows a seventies-style mustache to attract the ladies, and Mr James runs for President of the United States, but Lisa decides to expose all of his secrets.
Viewer FAQ
Where does President sit in the NewsRadio guide?
S03E01 is listed hour 29 of 97 — first listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 1.
When did NewsRadio S03E01 air?
President aired 1996-09-18 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
From the WNYX ensemble's early seasons, when Hartman's Bill McNeal is in the mix. The radio-station jazz is the point immediately.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Phil Hartman’s velvet deadpan in a radio station that treated workplace farce like jazz. NewsRadio would rather be weird than warm — overlapping bits, dead-air panic, and an ensemble that could pivot from corporate idiocy to genuine ache without a hug button. Watch it for timing that still embarrasses louder sitcoms.
Flash: NBC, 1995–1999, WNYX, a radio station that would rather be weird than warm. Staffers endure an eccentric billionaire owner and each other in overlapping bits, dead-air panic, and an ensemble that could pivot from corporate idiocy to genuine ache without a hug button. Paul Simms built workplace farce like jazz. Dave Foley, Phil Hartman's velvet-deadpan Bill McNeal, Stephen Root's Jimmy James, Maura Tierney, Vicki Lewis, Andy Dick. Hartman's Bill is among TV's great blowhard performances. **His 1998 murder…
Filed against
- Dave Foley as Dave Nelson
Dave Foley’s various Kids in the Hall turns made Canadian sketch a 1980s catalog night-owl language — Head Crusher adjacent, drag without a permission slip, then NewsRadio stretching the deadpan into workplace jazz. TV Flash files him as…
- Phil Hartman as Bill McNeal
Phil Hartman’s velvet deadpan made Saturday Night Live sketches feel professionally finished, then NewsRadio turned the same instrument into workplace jazz — a radio station that would rather be weird than warm. 1970s highlight floor,…
- Stephen Root as Jimmy James
Stephen Root’s Jimmy James bankrolled NewsRadio’s dead-air jazz — Phil Hartman’s velvet, overlapping bits, a station that would rather be weird than warm — then walked Barry’s acting-class dread as the joke got colder. 1990s workplace…
- Maura Tierney as Lisa Miller
Maura Tierney’s Abby Lockhart is ER in its later long haul — a County General doctor who made fifteen seasons of Steadicam still feel like a person had to pay the bill. Michael Crichton’s trauma-bay velocity was a star factory; she is one…
- Vicki Lewis as Beth
Vicki Lewis’s Beth kept NewsRadio weird on purpose — Phil Hartman’s velvet deadpan in a station that treated workplace farce like jazz. Overlapping bits, dead-air panic, an ensemble that could pivot from corporate idiocy to genuine ache…
- Andy Dick as Matthew
Andy Dick’s Matthew kept NewsRadio weirder than warm — a 1990s workplace farce that treated overlapping bits like jazz, dead-air panic, Phil Hartman’s velvet deadpan, and an ensemble that could pivot to ache without a hug button. TV Flash…