Shark Bytes

Phil Hartman was to Newsradio like Ted Knight was to Mary Tyler Moore. They both made the show funny. When Phil was murdered by his wife the show died with him Jon Lovitz is funny but like Charlie Sheen on Spin City they were over their heads.

Yeah, Lisa marrying Johnson was weird, but it was such an outrageous show (the good kind) that I just rolled with it and enjoyed the ride.

And Phil's death... well, it certainly affected the show, but I think everyone was feeling more like "Phil would have wanted us to go on" than "let's milk this cow as much as possible", so I can't blame them.

I still love the show.I still watch the reruns but it think the show took a step down when Lisa merried the hobo!!!

I think what we all forget is that this is supposed to be when a show jumps the shark. And it has to be the Death of Phil Hartmann, the "Bill Moves On" episode is one of the funniest and most poignant ever written. It actually made Andy Dick look like an actor of all things, so you knew they hit their crescendo.

However, for the season go so far south, so completely and utterly was unbelievable, even with the short respite us fans received with the Jimmy James aka DB Cooper vs Johnny Johnson storyline, the air had been let out of the tires of the cast and writers, if anything the show should have made "Bill Moves On" its swan song episode.

Then everyone would have clamored for more Bill and Lisa, Jimmy, bring back Johnny (is it just me or is Patrick Warburton one of the coolest guys ever?), and send Andy Dick and Jon Lovitz from the pit of hell from whence they came.

I always loved NewsRadio. It was original, intelligent and, yes, even funny. The entire cast had something to contribute and all of them did so in tune with each other. In those instances when a group of talented artists can come together and fit together so perfectly, that's just amazing.

I do feel as though they should have ended the show after Phil's death, however. It just never felt right to me having someone else filling his space on the set. But maybe I'm just overly sentimental.

Newsradio is the greatest show to have ever aired. Well written and performed. Phil Hartmans death sucked but the 5th season was still better than most everything else on t.v.. Jimmy James as D.B. Cooper was genius.

Phil Hartman's death saddened me, and I KNEW that his absence would affect the show greatly.

Phil was THE MAN AND THE GLUE, and is irreplaceable!

The show lost their edge with him gone and I will forever miss him and that sexy voice of his! He cannot be topped!

May that MAGNIFICENT BASTARD rest in peace!

Good lord this show was brilliant. Although Phil's death was terrible, I'd have to say the final blow was Lisa marrying Johnny. Not only was it just a completely out of character thing for her to do, it also killed any Dave & Lisa sexual tension, which was always good for some amusement. Also, Dave and Lisa were one of the cutest couples ever to be on TV. Way cuter than Rachel and Ross.

Hi...I'm Troy McClure, Jr., shameless huckster...you may have heard of some of my dad's films, such as Christmas Ape Goes To College and Why The United States Will Never Adopt The Metric System...

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Rest in peace, Phil Hartman.

Being one of the few people who watched this during it's network run, I think it has stood the test of time unlike 99% of the sitcoms ever made. Everyone was great sans Andy Dick who became unbearable after two seasons (I was hoping they would writer his character off). On SNL, Phil Hartman was known as the glue that held the show together. I suspect it was the same case on Newsradio. I'm sure Phil would have wanted the show to go on and he would have been glad that his best friend Jon Lovitz took over, but it wasn't the same. Andy Dick's Matthew grew from annoying spaz to a truly disturbing and creepy guy who acted like a pre-schooler. Lovitz wasn't given much to do but tag along. The show was over but they went out and did it for Phil's sake.

R.I.P Phil Hartman

Per usual, this show reached a point of absurdity..Case in point: we learn that Andy Dick's character - who has recently left the station - is actually a licensed DDS who opens a practice across the street and spies on the station employees in hopes of getting his job back. This is what happens when you bring 'shrooms in to the writer's lounge.

It wasn't quite as good as I remembered, but it still might be the last great American office comedy. ("The Office" was originally British and I'm not certain yet if I see it as great)

It had some wonderfully kooky characters and oddball situations. However I felt like it declined a bit with the addition of Walt. He just wasn't very funny and didn't seem to serve any purpose. In addition to that he just vanished with as little reason as he arrived. Although I'm aware his character entering is not an option.

I vote "Never Jumped". NewsRadio had such excellent writing and talent as well as characters that I actually care for. It's a shame this brilliant comedy got no respect while that asinine Friends got all the attention.

I first saw my first episode in 2006. I really enjoyed The new Adventures of superman and personally don't think it jumped the shark

Phil Hartman death was basically the point of no return. But the show was already on this way out, it's just that his death removed the only reason I had bothered to watch it anymore.

The problem was the show started good, but then the writers turned every character into a clone of Andy Dick's character and went through the usual gamut of plot device cliches that are always potential JTS moments. Of course, this was to be expected when the studio suits constantly interfered and butted heads with the writers and the producers.