TVSquad

Pushing Daisies, my favorite new show from last season, has just announced that Stephen Root is set to guest star on its upcoming season, which premieres October 1st. Although Root is probably best known as the Swingline Stapler-loving Milton Waddams from Office Space, he's no stranger to television. Root also played eccentric boss Jimmy James on the David Foley comedy NewsRadio for four years and currently voices Bill on King of the Hill.

Root is signed up for a four-episode arc on Daisies. His character apparently has a connection to both Ned and Chuck's fathers. Series creator Bryan Fuller says that "He stirs up a lot of hullabaloo for everyone, particularly Aunts Lily and Vivian."

Another week, another list issue of Entertainment Weekly.

I'm not sure what to make of all of these lists. We do them here too, but it seems to me the more giant lists that are done the more meaningless they become. This EW issue is "The New Classics," the 1000 best TV shows, movies, books, and music of the past 25 years. Since this is a television blog, I won't get into their book, movie, and music picks (but if I can just say as a side note, they pick both Clueless and The Naked Gun before L.A. Confidential?!), but let's talk about their TV choices.

And argue about those choices in the comments, of course.

All of these lists are starting to get more and more specific. This one is a list of the ten best sitcoms since 1980. Soon we'll have the 8 1/2 best hour long dramas that appeared between 1988 and 1994 on Sunday nights (that start with "J").

But lists always get us talking and this one has some great picks. Arrested Development fanatics will be glad to see their show on the list (I won't tell you where you'll have to click the link above), along with shows like Scrubs, Cheers, and Sports Night. But there is one show that is obviously missing. There might be more than one show that isn't on the list that should be, of course, but this show stood out to me immediately. Can you guess what it is? I'll name it after the jump but don't click ahead until you read the list and guess yourself.

This past weekend (May 24) marked the fourth anniversary of the death of comic and writer Drake Sather. No one knows what goes on in the mind of someone who takes their own life, but this guy was brilliant and quite funny. Besides his great standup work, he was a writer and producer on NewsRadio (he also played Jimmy James' attorney in two different episodes of the show), and also wrote for such shows as Saturday Night Live, Ed, The Dennis Miller Show, Sammy,The Naked Truth, Empty Nest, and The Larry Sanders Show. He also wrote the movie Zoolander.

After the jump is a standup routine from Sather, filmed at the San Diego Improv in 1992 (split up into three different videos). It's actually rather amazing that a lot of funny bits and lines that I've used over the past 10 years came from Sather.

So sad, but his work does live on.

We've already told you about the complete series Get Smart DVDs, but did you know that there was an updated version of the show, and it starred Andy Dick?! The complete series of this version is being released on DVD on June 3.

I actually knew about this, but I always thought it was just a pilot movie or a pilot that didn't go to series, but it actually lasted seven episodes on FOX. The odd thing is, it aired in 1995, when Dick started NewsRadio. Apparently he only appeared in the pilot (according to the IMDB link above) and then went on to NewsRadio from there. That sounds a little odd to me, since he played the son of Agent 86 and Agent 99. Plus he's on the cover of the DVD. Hmmmm. If anyone has any other information about the show let me know in the comments below.

After the jump, the opening credits of the show.

Update: According to TV.com, Dick was in every episode. Also, one of the extras on the set is in an episode of NewsRadio, which is understandable (plus an ep of T.J. Hooker, which is not).

(S03E02) Originally aired on September 25, 1996.

First off, can we all agree that none of the episodes in the fifth, Phil Hartman-less season of NewsRadio aren't even in the running for one of the best of the series?

OK, once we start with that, it's still ridiculously hard to pick an episode that stands out. So many episodes from the first three seasons (and several in the fourth) could easily fit into this category. So I'm not even going to attempt to pick one episode to talk about. Thanks for reading, and have a good day.

Oh, alright, if you insist. I'll go with "Review," from the third season.

I'm feeling a little melancholy today. This past Friday, a friend of mine lost two daughters in a senseless automobile accident. They were thirteen and eighteen; one having just started college and the other just entering the magical teen years. It was so sudden and insane that I can't really wrap my brain around it. As a parent, I can only begin to understand what he and the girls' mother are going through, but even then I'm sure it pales in comparison to the reality.

As I thought about this blog and things to post on television, I was struck by how death can have a dramatic and instant impact on a fictional show as well. Sometimes when an actor dies, the show is able to move on with relative smoothness, but other times there is an irreplaceable hole that just never seems to be filled.

This is one of the funniest videos I've seen all week, second only to the video of Miss Teen and her educational policy. It's Andy Dick outside of a nightclub, confronting a TMZ photographer.

It's not funny in one way, because Dick is obviously, um, a little out of it. But the funny parts are 1. Dick is wearing a dress shirt, tie, and shorts, and 2. Dick's "attack" is rather lighthearted, even if he does shove the camera (the cameraman jokes with Dick throughout the entire thing and gets off some funny lines). A random woman on the street shouts encouragement to Andy too.

The best part is he chases the TMZ guy a couple of blocks, and as an added bonus we get an accidental tour of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

OK, now most of you have to get your minds out of the gutter. Notice how that headline is phrased. It's not "Dave Foley can't sleep with Maura Tierney," as is I'm making statements about who Dave Foley can and cannot sleep with. It's "Dave Foley Can't Sleep (with Maura Tierney)," because it's the name of a web-only show that Foley has over at Super Deluxe.com called "Dave Foley Can't Sleep." Got that? Good.

In this episode, Dave Foley can't sleep (ha!) and leaves his bed (that's his real wife, by the way) and goes over to his computer to see which of his friends is online late at night. It just so happens that his former NewsRadio co-hort Maura Tierney is online, and they chat via webcam about dogs, drinking, and divorce. Video after the jump!

A lot of people have wanted to do this for a long time, and now Jon Lovitz has done it. It also brings up something from the past I wasn't aware of.

At L.A.'s Laugh Factory the other night, Lovitz and Andy Dick got into an argument about Phil Hartman's death and Andy Dick's drug use. Five months before Brynn Hartman shot Phil and herself to death, Dick allegedly gave her cocaine at a house party that Lovitz also attended. Brynn Hartman had been sober for ten years, and now Lovitz blames Dick giving her the cocaine as the reason why she got hooked again and killed Hartman and herself five months later.

New TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow (a whole bunch!).

• Batman Beyond - Season 3
• Christy - Complete Series
• Deadliest Catch - Season 1
• Garfield and Friends - An Ode To Odie
• JAG - Season 3
• Justice League Unlimited - Season 2
• Kong: The Animated Series - Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and gift set
• Masters of Horror - Pro Life
• Maude - Season 1
• McHale's Navy - Season 1
• Miami Vice - Season 3 and Season 4
• Mythbusters - Mega Movie Myths
• Newsradio - Final Season
• Run's House - Season 1 and Season 2
• Sleeper Cell - Season 2
• The Wild, Wild West - Season 2

I have to admit, I didn't watch NewsRadio too much when it originally aired. Sure, I'd catch an episode now and again, and always thought the show was very smart and very funny, but it wasn't until recently that I've been able to go back and catch up on the show through repeats. I do recall, however, that after Phil Hartman's death in 1998 I watched the show even less. It was hard to imagine the show without him, and while I like Jon Lovitz just fine, for me the series ended with Hartman's death.

The fifth and final season, which comes out on DVD March 20, begins with the episode "Bill Moves On" in which the team mourns the death of Bill McNeal, the arrogant radio personality portrayed by Hartman. I think many fans consider this the worst season, which is understandable. Still, if you're like me you hate to have any kind of gap in your DVDs, and you'll probably purchase it anyway. The set will retail for $39.95.

Last year I introduced the term "fanesia" on this blog. It's a word that means "fan amnesia," those moments of a TV show that you simply forget ever happened, because they're illogical, hurt the show, or just make you feel bad and/or angry. I think it's time for another five:

1. Toby was the leak (The West Wing): I don't know what happened here. Whether the character was written off because actor Richard Schiff wanted to leave or NBC wanted to cut some payroll, the way it happened was a real kick in the stomach to longtime fans of the show. Not only that Toby would leak info about a secret military plane (he wouldn't), but that President Bartlet would just fire him so coldly and bring up their history in such a nasty way. Sure, these two butted heads many times, but it was always out of caring and love for each other. Great to see Bartlet pardon him as his last act as President and invite him to the opening of the library, but still. Aaron Sorkin must have thrown something at his TV when this happened.

In my mind, Toby just quit the White House to go teach at Columbia.

It's Halloween, and even though I'm going to be handing out Halloween candy all night (translation: I haven't gotten a trick or treater in 10 years so I'll be eating all the candy myself as I sit on the couch), I'm going to find some time for TV watching.

I think I'll start off with something funny, so I'll put in that NewsRadio episode where Jimmy doesn't want to invite the WNYX gang to the annual Halloween party because nobody (except Matthew, of course) gets into the spirit. Then after that I'm thinking of watching either Fright Night or the original Night Stalker movie with Darren McGavin. Oh, and there's a new Criss Angel Mindfreak that might be worth checking out.

Of course, I have to squeeze in Standoff in there (new time, 8pm), since I'm reviewing it, but am I the only one who is losing patience with this show?

What is everyone else watching tonight?

Oh, I wish I had this on tape.

Andy Dick was the guest on Martha Stewart's show today, and it was...surreal. When she announced that he was on the show, the first thing I thought of was, who booked him? She's actually going to have a conversation with Andy Dick? They're actually going to let him handle sharp knives and glue guns? This was going to be some interesting daytime television.