Root Returning To ‘Newsradio’ As Eccentric Owner Of Station
The sitcom actors are back in town - back from filming TV movies or treading the boards of summer theaters or simply vacationing someplace where they hope autograph hunters will let them be. They are back at their jobs, coming into the studios five days a week to read, block and rehearse.
This year Stephen Root is among those returning to Hollywood, picking up where he left off last season as Jimmy James, the New York radio station owner on NBC’s “NewsRadio.”
Created by Paul Simms, a staff writer for the ultra-satirical magazine “Spy” and producer/writer of the talk show parody “The Larry Sanders Show,” “NewsRadio” begins its new season Sept. 19. The sitcom debuted in March, stepping into a Tuesday night time slot sandwiched between hit sitcoms “Wings” and “Frasier.” The prime slot was made available by the early demise of “The Martin Short Show.”
The show’s cast list boasts “Saturday Night Live” alum Phil Hartman playing the somewhat grandiose, on-air talent Bill McNeal. Others in the ensemble cast have earned their stripes in less successful sitcoms such as Andy Dick (the fledgling reporter), who was in the ‘90s attempt at the ‘60s hit “Get Smart.” Others are relative newcomers to the sitcom arena, like Vicki Lewis (the smart-mouth secretary), a dancer.
Then there’s Root. He’s had spot TV appearances, such as the lawyer who was afraid to go to court on “Roseanne” and recurring stints on “L.A. Law” and “Sweet Justice,” as well as a starring part as a sheriff in the brief series “Harts of the West.” Root can also boast having done a couple of movie scenes with Robert De Niro in “Stanley and Iris.”
On “NewsRadio” Root is the sort of tidy bulk that makes for instant presence, an essential quality for Jimmy, who might be described as a no-nonsense eccentric, a man with a straight forward approach to achieving the ridiculous, an innate skill for pushing ahead with a wild idea and a direct way of avoiding the consequences of his convictions.
In real life, Root says, he’s nothing like Jimmy James. His hair is not slicked back, and he’s “a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy,” he says.
“Jimmy’s the furthest thing possible from the real me,” the low-key actor opines while taking a break during the first rehearsal week for the fall season.
But aspects of his character aren’t all that far from Root. He found the best aspects of Jimmy’s personality in the style of his father, R.C., a Wyoming cowboy turned construction supervisor. “My father was the sort of man who, faced with a problem, would say, ‘give me the information, here’s the decision, let’s go.’ Jimmy is like that,” explains Root, who says the character as first conceived was more predictable.
“But I took it and bent it a bit, and then I was encouraged to make it a little more bent. And now it’s pretty bent,” says Root. “This is not some stodgy business man. This is someone who might be an idiot, or he might be a genuis. Whichever, he keeps his employees - and his audience - guessing.” Born in Florida, Root, 44, attended the University of Florida as a broadcasting major but took an acting class and was hooked. When The National Shakespeare Company held auditions in Florida he tried out and was signed on, gaining invaluable experience for three years playing “the clown roles” around the country. Then Root headed for offBroadway.
“I had no doubts. I stuck it through. I believe that’s half the deal. There are lots of good actors,” says Root. “It’s not enough to just be a good actor. You’ve also got to have the tenacity to stick to it when you are not making money.”
On “NewsRadio” Root may play the boss able to “come in whenever he feels like it and mess with everyone’s head”, but he says he’s entirely in the hands of the show’s creators when it comes to whatever crazy idea Jimmy is going to espouse next.