Laughing out loud.

I have been watching the DVD collection of NEWSRADIO lately.

For those of you who don't know it, it was a sitcom set in a NYC radio station; it starred Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Maura Tierney, Dave Foley and Phil Hartman.  It bounced around the schedule from 1995 until 1999, and it was, in my opinion, one of the best written ensemble pieces I've ever watched; up there with CHEERS and FRASIER and THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW.

It got me thinking about Phil Hartman; and I wonder why nobody has written a biography about him.

We've  gotten various biographies over the years of the lives of some of the SNL alumni whose lives ended far too soon:  Belushi, Radner, Farley......and yet, not a word written about Hartman.

He was called, "the glue" in his tenure at NBC; he was the one that held the show together.  By all accounts, there wasn't a person who didn't like him, or didn't enjoy working with him, or who didn't cry when they heard of his murder.

I was saddened by the loss of such a talent; more sorry for the way in which the end came.  Certainly, there is a special sense of tragedy, being murdered by a loved one...even a loved one who was fighting demons of her own.

Perhaps nobody writes about him because the only truly salacious thing that ever happened to him were in the last moments of his life.  And he was asleep at the time.

No booze; no drugs; no spousal abuse.  Just oodles and oodles of talent; a vast collection of television character studies; and accolades from everybody he ever worked with.

My favorite was always Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

But I really liked NEWSRADIO.

Thanks, Phil.