Afternoon Baseball

Amazon
This is the season where "Newsradio" really defines itself. Matthew becomes weirder, Dave and Lisa are free to interact with the rest of the staff while still displaying the dysfunction of their relationship, Stephen Root's Jimmy James dominates every scene he's in without dominating the show, the supporting characters are all refined and zany, and Phil Hartman is well, just a reminder of what comedy lost.

Looking back at "Newsradio," I'd forgotten how unconventional it was, despite the conventional three-camera shoot, typical office setup and NBC-regulated "one black person" dynamic. It's the office comedy before there was "The Office." It's the oddball newsroom politics, romances and gossip of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," but actually funny. It's a show that would be a one-camera or narration show today, but even with the traditional setup, it does the job better than most ("Malcolm In The Middle," "Bernie Mac," "War at Home," anyone?).

The guest stars are a treat, too. We get Jon Stewart before he was famous (and gray-haired), James Caan being a straight man to Matthew and Bill's antics, Bob Costas getting major dialogue and kicking Joe Rogan's ass, Chuck D and Phil Hartman talking rap and gettin' paid, and much, much more.
Not to mention, for some odd reason, there's an episode where the cast is hundreds of years in the future on a space station. You can't beat that.

Little in the way of special features, but the blooper reel is more than 11 minutes long and pretty solid. There's a good amount of commentaries, as well, and my favorite, no annoying 10-second loop of the theme song when you're flipping through the menus.