The Newz

This was one of the funniest sketch comedy shows ever. It's truly a shame that it was on so late at night and very few people ever even caught it or remember it. It's also a shame that it didn't last. It was always laugh out loud funny. Especially the "scratchy post" skit. I can't wait until someone puts this onto DVD!! Shaun Alex Thompson should seriously have went on to do SNL after the Newz was canceled. I will also never forget when he said that he had lyrics to the theme song, so he started to sing them and all they were was "It's theee Neeewz with Shaun Alex Thompsooon!!! It's the Newz with Shaaaun Aleex Thompsoon!!!...". All of the cast-members started walking up to him and complaining that the theme lyrics only mentioned him alone. That was hysterical. Oh yeah then there was this sketch where this guy had to do a stereotypical accent whenever he talked to people. What a great show!! Let's bring it back!! All the best shows die young!! "The News", "The Edge", "Late World with Zach", "Arrested Devolpment", "The George Carlin Show",and so on, and so on.

If the other reviewer thinks Newz tried too hard, look at current Madtv episodes that are desperate for laughs. Just because a show is cheap and low-profile, it shouldn't be denied a chance. Look at "Almost Live", one of the chinciest comedy shows since SCTV and one of the greatest of all time. The Newz was not one of the greatest, but I remember it fondly and missed it when it disappeared. I remember "The Newz". Always worth a few good laughs every half-hour. Not so great that I even thought of it much since 1994, but I was checking out the page of a much better sketch show, "The Edge" and remembered. I would love to see this show again, although barring getting a job at the archive, I doubt I ever will. The Newz had a fresh cast, likable and the show had spunk. I remember a sketch where a lady at a deli keeps demanding the meat be cut "THINNAH!"...and a Bert & Ernie presidential campaign, and nothing else. Not bad, not classic.

I used to stay up at night and tape this show on a VCR that even at the time was old and decrepit. I would sit on the floor in front of the TV ignoring the pain in my knees so I could press the pause button when the commercials came on and have uninterrupted copies of all the episodes.

This aired in that era just before Mad TV began and slightly longer before it started to suck and when SNL was pretty much relying on a ceaseless parade of prop comedy. Like most sketch shows it was hit and miss as far as the comedy went. There were always the bits that dragged on, like the cop who could speak baby or those sketches that were obviously written so Stan Quash could scream at someone. But it was well worth sitting through to hear Tommy Blaze tell you what it was all about or when Shawn Alex Thompson made one of his hilarious films. And I always looked forward to the advice portion of the show with Abby and Andy.

As a sketch show it was pretty well done and it was rather a pity it didn't get a longer run. It was also a pity that most of the cast faded into obscurity because they were all quite talented, though I think Dan O'Connor and Brad Sherwood went on to do a few other things of note.

All in all it was a good show for the time and if you can find any bits on YouTube it's probably worth the three minutes of your life to watch.

The only thing I remember about this show is that they spelled the name wrong and it aired in the dead of night and basically passed by people because of this. Seriously, this thing was beaten by informcials and wasn't really that funny. The only thing this show really has to offer is a very esoteric time capsule about how sometimes low-budgeted shows were made and lasted for a long time in syndication and this came at the very end of that era. Maybe it had a funny sketch but a decade later I can't remember a funny thing about it.

Another the name is quite a misnomer. It had nothing to do with satire of the news but rather was a loose name to bind together a bunch of loose and very forgettable skits. SheTV was a lot more interesting and it only lasted six episodes.

Nearing 15 years later and I CAN remember many of the skits and shorts. The movie shorts by Shawn Alex Thompson were brilliant, My Beautiful Cigarette(might be My Lovely Cigarette) and Patterns were my favorites! Sketches like the Sesame Street parodies, Oopsy Digit, The Association for Apathy, Hooked on Phonics, not to mention Tommy Blaze's rants, were sooo good. Wish I could find the complete series to purchase!! It was on at one o'clock in the morning on what was then The WB-channel 11. I didn't and don't understand why that time slot. I think that is why this show didn't make it, because The Newz was as good as Kids in the Hall and much better than Saturday Night Live.