dave foley

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!

I think it can be universally agreed that the fifth season of NewsRadio - the final season - was by far the worst season of the series. Not only was Phil Hartman killed during the hiatus, but another cast member (Jon Lovitz) came on board and just didn't fit in to what the rest of the group had built over the previous four seasons.

The season kicks off with the "Bill Moves On" episode, where the gang has just returned from Bill's funeral (he died of a heart attack), and everyone mocks Dave's 2 hour eulogy. Matthew doesn't really believe Bill is dead, everyone thinks Lisa is drunk, and Catherine (Khandi Alexander) returns to the show for one episode. This is one of the better episodes of the last season, because it's important to the show's history and (as is revealed on one of the commentaries), they didn't really rehearse it or do any run throughs. It was hard enough getting through it once on tape night. The tears you see are real. It ends with everyone taking an item off Bill's desk to remember him. Jimmy takes the whole desk. A nice tribute.

For two reasons. The obvious reason is because Phil Hartman isn't in the picture. Instead, we get Jon Lovitz, who pretty much made the last season of the show unwatchable (except for a couple of episodes). He was really out of place as a regular cast member on the show (though he was great in the guest roles he had earlier in the series), and his character was completely unlikable.

But the second reason I'm not thrilled with the pic is that the original artwork on the box actually had Phil Hartman on it (you can see it here). The cast was standing in front of a picture of Hartman. In the new version, the cast is standing in front of a picture of New York City. Yeah, Hartman wasn't in the last season, but wouldn't that have been a nice nod to Hartman in the final set? The first episode of the season is about Bill McNeal's death, after all.

The fifth season set will be released on March 20.

Actually, make that two.

Several months ago, I pointed out that the DVD version of the NewsRadio episode "The Injury" (the one where Matthew hurts his hand) is the edited version. In the subplot where Bill is doing on-air commentaries about broadcasters using the word "penis," Dave confronts Bill, and besides Dave saying the phrase "per penis" (referring to how much money Bill be have to pay as a fine), Bill calls Dave a penis under his breath. Both of these mentions of the word penis are not in the version on the DVD.

But I was watching the episode on TBS today (stations are starting to air NewsRadio again, including TBS and Nick at Nite) and it aired unedited! All the penises were intact (so to speak). I'm now wondering why the version shown on television has all mentions of a naughty word but the DVD version is edited? I understand that the episode wasn't shown until the third season (even though it was filmed in the second season) because of all of the penis mentions, but why is the original version intact on TV but censored on the DVD?

And I'm still wondering why the swears on the NewsRadio DVD commentaries are bleeped out. Seems odd to me.

(S01E07) Along with Mary Tyler Moore and Amy Sedaris, I've always had a crush on Janeane Garofalo. I remember being happy when this episode came on, since I had loved her standup and her work on The Ben Stiller Show (with Andy Dick). She plays Nancy, Dave's ex-girlfriend who seems nice on the outside but is really kind of a nut. She comes to New York City to be with Dave, who never quite told her that they were officially broken up.

Meanwhile, Jimmy meets a business and technology "visionary" named Tom at a conference and arranges for him to be interviewed by Bill, but that doesn't turn out quite as Jimmy or Dave had hoped...

(S01E05) This episode has one of my favorite scenes of any sitcom ever. It's a scene that probably wasn't even that funny on paper, but Phil Hartman makes hysterical.

The plot: while Jimmy gives Dave the task of deciding who gets what bonus this year (and who gets "the shaft" - nothing), Bill has to contend with fellow employees leaving food and drink on his desk.

(S01E04) For some reason, I think this might have been the first episode of NewsRadio that I ever watched. That seems right to me, and I think I've seen it more times than any other NewsRadio episode, except maybe the episode where Matthew tries to get Dave to let him do a story about Dilbert.

This is the episode where we really see Dave getting in over his head as news director and his employees trying to take advantage of him. During a subway crisis, Dave wants the whole team to snap into action and cover the incident, but everyone is too obsessed with the new desk that Dave got Matthew.

• "I'm not trying to be sexist, but women do laundry better than men!" - Tom, about losing the challenge and having to wash the team clothing, on Hell's Kitchen.
• "A child born in Africa today has a 1 in 3 chance of being adopted by Angelina Jolie." - David Letterman, reading a list of facts.
• "Everybody lies on their resume, OK? I wasn't one of the Zoom kids either." Joey, about why he lied about having a dance background, on Friends.
• "You think that's a comeback, what about Patrick Dempsey?" - Dave Foley, after Phil Hellmuth mentioned a player at the World Series of Poker who came back to win after having only one chip left, on Celebrity Poker Showdown.
• "What exactly did she need the pianist for?" - Jon Stewart, after showing a clip of Connie Chung on top of the piano, which the pianist wasn't playing, on The Daily Show.
• "Ask about our rips in the space-time continuum and our jacuzzi suites." - voiceover on The Soup, about the movie The Lake House
• "Reuben says he knew someone was using his credit card when his statement showed he had bought something called 'a salad?' - David Spade, on Reuben Studderd winning a lawsuit against someone who used his credit card, on The Showbiz Show.