I know now that I am getting old. How do I know? I now suffer from that most heinous of ailments that strike the elderly, nostalgia. I currently have no television, cable isn't available in my area, and I decided that Dish network is the great Satan of our times. I can get direct tv or even digital cable through my telephone company, who is actually cheaper than the local cable or either satellite tv provider, but at the moment I don't want the extra bill. Besides, my 32 inch television in the living room was struck by lightning. I have a 20 inch in storage, and another big one in the bedroom, but restling that monster down solo seems like a bunch of work, so basically it is collecting dust now. I miss the background noise, but as far as tv shows go, almost everything is available via internet now, and you can watch pretty much when ever you want. Anyway, I recently discovered Hulu has a bunch of old shows I remember from way back when. I went through both seasons of Dead Like Me, last week. Then recently I found News Radio. They have a lot of the first 4 season episodes, but not all of them. They don't seem to have any of the last season though. I used to love that show. It holds up reasonable wel,l in my opinion, although it is over 10 years old. If you haven't seen the show, you might want to cruise over and check it out.

In general, it is a 30 minute character driven sitcom about a group of odd individuals who work together in an AM news radio station located in New York City. It was released in 1995 and had a 5 season run. The show starts with the hiring of a young, midwestern man as the news director. The first season deals with his learning how to deal with the oddballs he has to work with.

Dave Foley played the news director Dave Nelson. I don't remember seeing Foley in much after this. I think he was with the Kids in the Hall comedy troop. Looking on IMDB though, he has lots of credits. He generally played the straight, sane character, although he had a lot of good sarcastic lines. A lot of humor was made about his small stature and youthful experience as well as some of his geeky hobbies: ventriloquism, tap dance, knife throwing.

Stephen Root played Jimmy James the wealthy station owner. This show made me a fan of this man. He has extensive credits for both acting and voice acting. He has been on True Blood, West Wing, Pushing Daisies, done voice work for Ice Age, Tripping the Rift, King of the Hill and been in a ton of movies. His over-the-top, not exactly ethical, micro managing owner was great on the show.

Andy Dick played Matthew the clumsy, weird reporter. I am not a big fan of his, but mostly because of post-News Radio happenings. I thought he was decent in the show, but with the relatively large cast, you only got him in small doses.

Maura Tierney, ER and Rescue Me, played Lisa, Dave's love interest, reporter who became a producer, news director, than back to reporter. She played a high-strung, intelligent, driven woman, a strong although neurotic character and was a good foil for Dave.

Vicki Lewis played the weird, red-headed secretary Beth, who's main job seemed to be spending company money on herself and feeding Dave's massive coffee habit. She was mostly known for being a bit man crazy, adventurous, and wearing weird and generally inappropriate outfits. In season three she suddenly started baring her mid-drift almost every episode. Not that anyone should mind, as a) by todays standards she was dressed for church and b) you could play a Led Zepplin drum solo on those abs. Vicki was a great character and her interaction and attempts to get out of doing any actual work were awe inspiring.

Joe Rogan, Host of Fear Factor, played Joe Garelli, the station electricion/tough guy/street wise character. He invented most of his equipment, engineered most of his repairs, and occasionally exhibited knowledge that seemed highly out of place. He probably got the least screen time, but made the most of it. His character is quiet memorable.

Phil Hartman, Saturday Night Live, Troy McClure on the Simpsons, played Bill McNeal the self-centered, arrogant on-air personality. His character was annoying, brash, egotistical, arrogant, every horrible personality trait you could think of, he displayed, yet Hartman did it with such charm you never loathed Bill. His clashes with the other characters were awesome. Hartman's murder probably killed the show, as the ratings really dropped after his character died on the show. The show where Dave allows Bill to air imaginary interviews with President Clinton, is a classic.

Khandi Alexander, CSI Miami, was the other on-air personality for the first 4 seasons. She left the station for another job. Why she actually left the show is not known. There is some speculation that another character slated to be a regular on the show may have caused a conflict, but that character departed before Khandi's Catherine Duke, left. Catherine was a strong character, confidents, intelligent, beautiful and more than enough to deal with Bill and Joe her usual foils.

These were the regular characters.

Jon Lovitz, Saturday Night Live, The Critic, was a good friend of Phil Hartman, and he did a couple of guest appearances on News Radio before coming on in the last season as Max, a replacement for Bill.

Lauren Graham, Gilmore Girls, played Andrea and efficiency expert hired by Jimmy James, who turns the station on its head by firing Matthew, demoting Dave and making Lisa news director. Rumor is she was supposed to remain on the show, but she was actually only on 4 episodes before disappearing. I don't remember it ever explaining why.

There were numerous guest stars, Scott Adams appeared once as did Jerry Seinfield. Friends of Dave Foley and Phil Hartman made appearances. Rock video vixen and model Bobbi Brown (Cherry Pie) appeared twice as Matthews girl friend.

This was a great show and when it stopped airing in 1999 I was sad. I was really happy to become reacquainted with it on Hulu.

Dead Like Me also aged well. Can't wait to see what else I find on there.