Unfortunately for those look for Blu-ray, we need to clarify that this is a review of the standard DVD release of Newsradio: The Complete Series. Don't worry, it's still as great as the series.

STUDIO: Sony
RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2008
STARRING: Dave Foley, Maura Tierney, Phil Hartman, Khandi Alexander, Vicki Lewis, Andy Dick, Stephen Root, Joe Rogan, and Jon Lovitz
CREATED BY: Paul Simms
FEATURES:
Newsradio: The Complete First And Second Seasons
- Season Two Gag Reel
- Commentaries on 20 episodes from the Cast and Creators Featurette
- Filmographies
- Weblinks
Newsradio: The Complete Third Season
- Season Three Gag Reel
- Commentary on 10 Episodes from the Cast and Creators Featurettes
Newsradio: The Complete Fourth Season
- Gag Reel
- Cast and Crew Commentaries
- Short Film
Newsradio: The Complete Fifth Season
- Season Five Gag Reel - Deleted Scenes

Most of us who love TV on DVD can feel a little overwhelmed by just the shelf space that it takes to feature our favorite shows on our display. Have you SEEN the cases for the three seasons of Deadwood? Combined, they practically take up a whole shelf of their very own. I love the show but it's become a space-saving crisis. Don't get me (or, more accurately, my wife) started on how much room I need for eleven seasons of The Simpsons.

One of the best developments of the year has been the advent of space-saving complete series sets. Now that so many shows are available on DVD, why not combine them into easier-to-manage, more affordable packages and try and get the people who didn't pick them up one season at a time? Sony is doing just that with three shows this week, the best of which is an underrated classic from the '90s, Newsradio, which you can now own in one box instead of the four volumes that made up the five seasons previously available. Good Times and Sanford & Son are also available in complete series sets that will save you space and money. As for time, it's still gonna take a lot of it.

The most impressive thing about these new complete series sets from Sony is the price. You can complete seasons of three shows that ran for five seasons or more for an SRP under $59.95. Some sites are even selling them for close to $40. For the two shows that ran the longest - Sanford & Son and Good Times - that breaks down to about thirty cents an episode and it doesn't even touch the special features or space-saving nature of the sets. It's an incredible deal.

Having said that, the actual packaging itself does play into the cheap factor. I haven't anything this poorly produced in years. Basically, all Sony did was take all of the available discs for Newsradio, Sanford & Son, and Good Times and put them on spindles, like the ones you see for blank CDs. There's a shockingly cheap plastic case surrounding the spindle and the cover box with a foldout cover that lists the episodes. That's IT. Technically, nothing separates the 12+ DVDs in each set. They're just piled on top of each other. When you're trying to save space and money, it makes sense to go as cheap and practical as possible, but it seems like there's middle ground in packaging that has yet to be discovered.

As for the shows themselves, you're probably more familiar with Sanford & Son and Good Times, so allow me to focus on Newsradio, one of my personal favorite shows of the last twenty years. I've long said that the best sitcoms are only as good as their worst supporting actor. I'm a fan of the ensemble piece and the one on Newsradio was spectacular. Back when Dave Foley was still hip, Maura Tierney wasn't doing drama, and Andy Dick was normal. Even Joe Rogan was funny. The cast of Newsradio had a chemistry that was ridiculously good.

When one of the funniest men to ever grace the small screen, Phil Hartman, passed away and was replaced by Jon Lovitz, a funny man in his own right, but the show fell apart, proving that the initial cast had a chemistry that just couldn't be recreated. You know pretty quickly if you want to spend 3300 minutes-plus with Sanford & Son and Good Times, but you might be on the fence with Newsradio. Judged purely on a laughs-per-dollar scale, you won't find a better deal on DVD this season. The fact that it takes up less space than just one season of Deadwood is a just a bonus.