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To fill the void in my heart that Spin City left- and to get myself to stop watching the same show over and over- I took a chance on another 90's workcom, NewsRadio, which also has a bunch of episodes uploaded on Dailymotion (though not all of them like Spin City). The first few episodes I watched, I couldn't get into it, because I was subconsciously comparing it to Spin City the whole time. But I remembered that the same thing had happened to me when I first started watching Spin City, and then a few scenes made me laugh, and now I'm breezing my way through season 3- I watched about 8 episodes straight yesterday.

Anyway, as long as I'm comparing NewsRadio and Spin City, I wanted to quickly jot down some character comparisons:

Mike/Dave: The protagonist of their respective series, the boss who's in charge of a bunch of quirky characters, played by a Canadian actor with a history in comedic acting who shares the same first name as their character.

Nikki/Lisa: The neurotic subordinant who is dating the boss. (That's really all that connects them, though- Nikki was her own character for two seasons before she and Mike started dated, and she's not as career-focused as Lisa. Lisa reminds me a bit more like Amy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.)

Stuart/Bill: The egotistical co-worker with a perverted streak who annoys everyone else (though Stuart is WAY more perverted and much less egotistical than Bill is- in fact, I find Bill fairly likable despite his pompousness, whereas I loathe Stuart for literally being a sexual harasser who never gets called out on his actions)

Stacey/Beth: The secretary to the boss, and that's where the similarities end (Stacey is kind of a sassy "tough girl," Beth is a quirky, childish cutie)

James/Matthew: The semi-competent, naive, innocent coworker

Janelle/Catherine: The sensible Black woman who is fed up with everyone else's shenanigans

The Mayor/Mr. James: The eccentric boss to whom the other boss reports

That leaves out Paul and Carter (from Spin City) and Joe (from NewsRadio). I just can't find anyone who fits Joe's personality on Spin City, and the same goes for Carter. Paul, being The Friend No One Likes, would match up with Matthew just as well as James, though they're disliked for completely different reasons (plus, some of the characters on NewsRadio actually seem to tolerate Matthew, whereas none of the characters on Spin City ever really appreciate Paul).

I wish Andy Dick wasn't, well, a dick, because this is my first exposure to his actual work after hearing about a ton of sketchy/scummy stuff he's done in the past, and I find Matthew hilarious- when I was looking up the cast after watching two episodes, I said to myself "oh no, please tell me that quirky guy isn't the one played by Andy Dick..." I can't completely separate the actor and the character, so I don't like Matthew as much as I would ordinarily. The two funniest actors on NewsRadio are definitely Stephen Root (who also plays Fuches on Barry!)- he steals nearly every scene he's in, but the hardest he ever made me laugh was where he put a heart-shaped box of chocolates through a paper shredder and then said in a "whaddaya know" type tone, "Shreddin' a heart. If that ain't a metaphor for... something, I don't know what is"- and Phil Hartman, whose performance is the only reason the character Bill works as well as he does. He was incredible.

I just realized, I don't think I ever made an official list of my favorite Spin City characters in order, so here goes:

1. James
2. Stacey
3. Mike
4. The Mayor
5. Nikki
6. Carter
7. Janelle
8. Paul
9. Stuart

I guess if I include Stacey (who wasn't in the first season or the fourth) then I should include Caitlin as well, who only appeared in the fourth season. I guess I'd put her below Janelle. I honestly don't hate her, and I think Heather Locklear did a fantastic job, but... eh, I don't care for her dynamic with Mike, which is really what the character was all about.

In terms of funniest actors, I'd say it goes:

1. Michael J. Fox (no one is better, swear to god)
2. Barry Bostwick
3. Richard Kind
4. Alexander Chaplin
5. Connie Britton
6. Jennifer Esposito
7. Michael Boatman
8. Victoria Dillard (it's unfortunate that Janelle was such a straight role, she never got to show much comedic range)
9. Alan Ruck (I'm sure he himself is funny but I just hate that character so much, nothing he says is funny to me)

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I'd been avoiding the last two episodes of Spin City season 3 because that's when everything goes downhill for the show (Mike and Nikki break up, then season 4 starts and Stacey is gone and the plots get dumb and drawn out and poorly-written), but I just watched "Klumaggedon Part 1" and am now going to watch Part 2. And like I say every time I watch this... what the fuck is wrong with Mike in these episodes?!?! Why couldn't he just tell Heidi straight up that he was committed to Nikki and didn't want her the way she wanted him? I mean... maybe I don't get it because I've never been in a relationship, but I'm pretty sure the mature thing to do when your attractive ex comes back to you in hopes of starting a relationship again and you're currently dating someone else, is to go "I'm actually seeing someone right now and it's serious, sorry not sorry" instead of "well, we have fun, we're not getting married or anything." I KNOW that the whole thing happens because Mike is afraid of commitment so he doesn't want to admit it to himself, but all that avoidance does is make him extremely uncomfortable when Heidi comes on to him (and I hate that she doesn't take no for an answer!). And then at the end, the thing that leads to Nikki breaking up with him is "Even though I totally wanted her, I avoided the temptation!" Like... you don't TELL YOUR GIRLFRIEND THAT. It feels so contrived. All I can say is, even though I think it's a damn shame that they only got to be openly in a relationship for one episode before breaking up, Nikki dodged a goddamn bullet. Also, Stacey (who checks in to make sure Mike and Heidi aren't up to anything in his office, and then calls Nikki at home to inform her of what she witnessed) is a great friend.