Line #3 YMMV/NewsRadio


1	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: In "Space", there is an unseen small alien in Dave's office that him and Lisa panic about for a minute until Jimmy squishes it with a dictionary. It happens right before the end, it doesn't connect to anything before or after, and it doesn't get brought up again.
2	%%* Crazy Awesome: Jimmy; the man's house is ''named'' "Fort Awesome". What more do you want?
3	* FanPreferredCouple: Many fans wish Dave and Lisa had gotten back together in the end.
4	* FridgeBrilliance: In the episode "Twins", it's revealed that Bill is the real cause of the budget shortage by [[spoiler:convincing Jimmy to pay him sixteen times what he should be paid. The lowest average salary of a radio personality is about $30,000 per year. Assuming Bill was being paid the lowest amount at first (which he almost certainly was not), his new salary would have been $480,000, nearly one hundred thousand more than the maximum broadcasters are paid]]. No wonder WNYX was hemorrhaging money.
5	* HarsherInHindsight: In the episode "Massage Chair" when Mr. James has Dave cut the budget to the free snacks in the break room, Bill leads a revolt (more of a protest really) against Dave. Later in "Twins", it is revealed that Bill is actually the cause of the stations budget problems ([[spoiler:being that he somehow convinced Jimmy to pay him sixteen times his paycheck]]).
6	** Creator/PhilHartman's last scene on the show before he was murdered made light of the apparent death of one of his fellow cast members.
7	** There are multiple references to violent deaths and crazy girlfriends. Including but not limited to; "You're just like Linda, EXCEPT CRAZY!", "Does it involve a gun with a built-in mouthpiece?", "She tried to set fire to my hair while I slept. As if that wasn't bad enough, two weeks later she breaks up with me.", an episode ends with him realizing that a stalker has cut the brake line of his car ("CHECK YOUR BRAKES"), said stalker at one point saying "You're a dead man Bill [=McNeal=]", a psychic tells him he WILL live a ridiculously long time. Jokes about the death of other characters are few and far between. [The example mentioned above about Dave, two references to Jimmy jumping out the window, in the dreams episode, and in the episode where he is in a fight with Beth.]
8	** Somewhat subverted in the {{Bizarro Episode}}s "Space" and "Sinking Ship" where [[spoiler: everyone dies except for Bill and Matthew]].
9	** In the season 3 HalloweenEpisode, a psychic reads Bill's palm and predicts his future, she predicts that Bill will die on March 8, 2032 at 4:20 PM. In actuality, Creator/PhilHartman was killed on May 28, 1998, shortly after wrapping up season 4 by his wife Brynn, who [[AteHisGun later turning the gun on herself]]; later that year his character Bill [=McNeil=] [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim died of a heart attack off-screen]].
10	** Any jokes about crazy girlfriends can also be hard to take when one remembers how badly Dave Foley suffered from his divorce settlements after the series ended.
11	* HilariousInHindsight:
12	** In ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin President]]'', Jimmy James, with no prior political experience, decides to run for president on a whim, using vague and populist slogans and insisting he's an "everyman" despite using his immense wealth to fund his campaign. [[StatusQuoIsGod He drops out]] after revealing he has an ulterior motive to running: [[spoiler: to meet women]]. This episode contains several accidental parallels to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, almost seeming like a parody 20 years before its time.
13	** Matthew defeated Joe in an "Ultimate Fight" contest on the episode "4.20". Joe Rogan would go on to work as a TV announcer for the UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship.
14	** In "Houses of the Holy" Joe subs for Catherine when she's out sick and does a phenomenal job on the air. Joe Rogan would go on to host a very popular podcast.
15	** "The Real Deal with Bill [=McNeal=]" seems almost like a precursor to RealLife crank [[Series/TheOReillyFactor Bill O'Reilly]]. Crossed with TearJerker since, had Hartman lived to have seen O'Reilly's success, he likely would have done an awesome parody of him somewhere.
16	** In one episode, Bill launches an editorial against rap lyrics (you know, after everybody else stopped). At one point, he mentions with disgust that the rappers refer to themselves with [[NWordPrivileges "the n-word"]]. Confused, Matthew replies "Nerd?" A few years later came the rap group N.E.R.D. (And no, the "n" doesn't stand for the "n-word".)
17	** In "Chock", Bob Odenkirk's character states that he quit the law firm to get the capella group back together. [[Series/BetterCallSaul Hmm, Bob Odenkirk working at a law firm?]]
18	* {{Moe}}: Beth gets upset when Lisa is voted "cutest reporter" in a magazine, because "once they start calling pretty people cute, [[InsistentTerminology it devalues the whole word]]. What's going to happen next? Cute exotic people, cute sexy people? It is [[SeriousBusiness very important]] that the word "cute" remain precise terminology to the people who truly have cuteness, like ''me''!"
19	* {{Padding}}: The alien scene in "Space" (see BigLippedAlligatorMoment).
20	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/JonStewart, Creator/PattonOswalt, Creator/BenStiller, Creator/DavidCross and Creator/BobOdenkirk all made guest appearances of varying importance on the show before they were more widely known. For younger viewers, they're likely to see this show and think, "Hey, is [[Creator/JoeRogan that]] the host of ''Series/FearFactor''[=/=][[UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship UFC]]?"
21	* SeasonalRot: Some say it's because Creator/JonLovitz was a poor substitute for Creator/PhilHartman. Others say that too many years of being ScrewedByTheNetwork had begun to take its toll on the staff's creativity. Whatever the case, it's pretty much agreed that the fifth and final season was inferior to the ones that came before it.
22	* ShippingBedDeath: Subverted.
23	* SpiritualPredecessor: Can be seen as this to ''Series/ThirtyRock''. Dave Nelson is the OnlySaneEmployee who has to manage a staff of nut jobs, and somehow channel this insanity into something resembling a professional broadcast over the air. Dave's boss and mentor is a somewhat ethically challenged high-powered capitalist businessman who likes to micromanage what should be a tiny part of his empire.
24	%%** Could also be considered a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''.
25	* UnintentionallySympathetic: In "Luncheon at the Waldorf", after Beth kisses Bill, he goes on and on about how violated and unsafe he feels. The tone of the episode implies that we are supposed to see it as an exaggeration for laughs. However, Beth's actual description of the kiss sounds tantamount to a sexual assault. Even if Beth was just swept up in the moment, Bill's attitude of feeling violated in completely valid. It doesn't help that the station was worried about Bill making some sort of pass at Beth [[DoubleStandard but just seems to be confused that she would try something]].
26	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
27	** Matthew in "Big Day". While we are supposed to agree with Dave that no one should get the shaft (no bonus) and that Matthew especially shouldn't because getting the shaft for three years has hurt his feelings a whole lot. However, later episodes show that Matthew does little to no actual work, to a point that it's clear that the only reason he is still has a job at WNYX is that he is friends with everyone there. In fact, even in the episode itself, Matthew admits to often coming in late and leaving early. That being the case, Matthew doesn't really deserve a bonus.
28	** And again, when Matthew got fired, he didn't make it easy to feel bad for him considering that, by the time he was actually fired, he was spending most if not all of his time at work playing solitaire instead of working. Even when he eventually gets hired back, he doesn't really make any effort to do anything differently.

Context YMMV / NewsRadio