The first official week of the 1998-99 television season takes care of some old, sad business that is tinged with a bit of irony.
Not only does NBC’s “NewsRadio” begin a new run of episodes with a tribute to the late Phil Hartman in its new time slot Wednesday, but the network’s “3rd Rock From the Sun”–which now precedes “NewsRadio” –also finds the beginning of its new season affected by the death of Hartman, who was killed in May by his wife in an apparent murder-suicide.
Hartman’s Bill McNeal, the smug radio news anchor at fictional WNYX in New York, suffers an off-screen heart attack, and the season premiere (8:30 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5) opens with the staff of WNYX gathering after McNeal’s memorial service. (Original cast member Khandi Alexander, who left the series last season, returns in a special appearance.)
It was a “cathartic” episode for the cast and crew to work on, according to executive producer Josh Lieb. It also was an effective way to mourn the loss of the character and celebrate the life and talent of the man.
“Phil was the consummate performer,” says Lieb, 26, who is still so moved by Hartman’s absence that he takes several pauses before continuing with a conversation.
Meanwhile, Hartman figured in “3rd Rock’s” cliffhanger in May, playing a loony character named Randy, who alien-napped wacky Harry (French Stewart) because Harry was dating Randy’s ex-girlfriend Vicki (played by guest Jan Hooks).
“We went through many changes about it, how to dignify his memory the best way,” says “3rd Rock” star John Lithgow. “We shot it one way and we edited it yet another.”
There was even talk of recasting the character. But Lithgow says the decision was to “leave it untouched,” and instead “we decided to do a little montage, so that it recapitulated the end of the last episode.”
Hartman’s last words in the finale may have given producers Bonnie and Terry Turner (who also worked with Hartman on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”) the answer to how to put together Wednesday’s season debut.
In the cliffhanger, Harry takes an incoming message from the “Big Giant Head,” the four aliens’ supreme leader, in Randy’s presence. “This ain’t no normal runt,” Randy says. “I got me a bona-fidy freak! There could be money in this. Oh yeah!”
As Wednesday’s episode unfolds (8 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5), we find Harry has been sold to a circus by Randy, performing duties as a freak known as Hargo the Alien.
The writers didn’t need Randy the kidnapper to continue the storyline, and “that was the most important thing,” says Lithgow, 52. “The writers are resourceful enough to figure out a way to keep the story going and leave Phil’s performance untouched.”
Like “3rd Rock,” the producers of “NewsRadio” thought of taking some other steps before deciding on the storyline. But their steps would have been more extreme: Discontinue the show altogether.
Although a critical hit for its controlled insanity, “NewsRadio” was never a ratings success, and its renewal for a fifth season came as a surprise. As it stands now, the series has an order for just 13 episodes instead of a full season of 22.
But in the end, Lieb says it wouldn’t have done Hartman justice to discontinue the series. Lieb is confident the right decision was made, judging from the few episodes that already have been shot.
“We’ve done some work that Phil would have been proud of,” says Lieb, who takes over as executive producer this season from creator Paul Simms, who is a creative consultant but who is also producing a midseason replacement series about a group of Peace Corps-like workers called “Overseas.”
Next week’s episode of “NewsRadio” introduces Hartman’s friend Jon Lovitz as Max Louis, McNeal’s former radio partner when the two worked together on a show called the “Indianapolis Morning Zoo.”
(Lieb said the name of that fictional program changed almost several times a day; every time the writers based a “Morning Zoo” in a certain city, it had to be changed because there are so many “Morning Zoo” radio shows around the country.)
The insecure Louis will slowly “blossom” at WNYX, says Lieb, and although plans for the character are still “fluid,” he may find a romantic admirer in flighty secretary Beth (Vicki Lewis).
It’s no secret that Lovitz, who worked with Hartman on “Saturday Night Live” and appeared as other characters on two previous episodes of “NewsRadio,” was initially apprehensive about filling in for his late friend. But Lieb says the comic has been a joy to work with.
“There was no one else we could think of to play this character except Jon,” he adds.
Both Lithgow and Lieb agree there wasn’t anyone like Hartman.
“It really shook us badly, particularly when you work in comedy,” Lithgow says. “Comedy suddenly seems so completely irrelevant in moments like that.”
