Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! My coverage of The Office will begin next week, so in the meantime, I’m excited to set the figurative table by resurrecting an entry from this blog’s eleven-year run. Here’s how it works: I’ll provide a link to a piece that I first published several seasons ago, and then I’ll offer a bit of updated commentary, relevant to today…

So, let’s revisit… The Ten Best NEWSRADIO Episodes of Season Three: https://jacksonupperco.com/2018/10/02/the-ten-best-newsradio-episodes-of-season-three/

Although The Larry Sanders Show is the best workplace sitcom from the 1990s, the decade’s strongest example on a mainstream broadcast network is NewsRadio, a quirky idea-filled laugh-fest that’s not burdened by too many major weaknesses (save its final season that tragically had to do without Phil Hartman). I wanted to rerun this series — and Season Three in particular, which is NewsRadio’s finest — because I think it’s similar to The Office in that its actual workplace doesn’t matter. That is, their jobs don’t matter — the radio work itself is not a vital part of the situation. This isn’t Larry Sanders, where the TV world is a crucial aspect of the series’ premise and how it situates its identity. And unlike previous radio-themed sitcoms, such as WKRP In Cincinnati, it’s rare for NewsRadio to have an A-story about radio. All that’s important here is that a group of non-related regulars coexist in a shared space, where precise relationships are induced as a result of the office construct — e.g., boss, manager, assistant, etc. Indeed, NewsRadio capably defines most of its leads well in relation to one another, giving them specific, individual dynamics, and we’ll find this also to be true on The Office — where the gulf between those who serve as the comic agitators (like Michael/Dwight, or here, Bill/Jimmy/Matthew) and those who function as the reliable “straight man” reactors (like Jim/Pam, or here, Dave/Lisa — both pairings also existing as the “lovers”) is bridged because they have unique, well-delineated ways of interacting with each other. Accordingly, while both series project sensibilities that I might classify, in some part, as “idea-driven,” they also enjoy strong enough regulars, with strong enough relationships, to help support story and comedy, making for laudable sitcommery… especially when the ideas remain rooted in the low-concept workplace setup, which emphasizes the leads above any other premised particular. The Office does this well. NewsRadio… well, it likes to be a little more imaginative and rebellious with its storytelling. (The Office inherently gets its rebellion from its single-cam mockumentary framing. More soon.) And compared to the two, I do prefer The Office, finding it more of a seminal ambassador of its era than NewsRadio is of its era. But since I can squint and see similarities between these two fellow ensemble workplace comedies from NBC, I couldn’t resist the comparison.

Come back next week for The Office! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!