LOS ANGELES, Sept. 23 -- When 'NewsRadio' begins its fall season tonight, the first order of business at mythical radio station WNYX will be to deal with the loss of cast member Phil Hartman, who was shot and killed by his wife in May at their home in Los Angeles. The NBC comedy will explain the loss of Hartman's character -- vain newsman Bill McNeal -- by having his colleagues gather to mourn his death from a heart attack. Jon Lovitz will join the cast Oct. 7, playing Max Louis, a radio news veteran who has worked at 37 stations -- and been fired from all of them. Lovitz, a former co-star with Hartman on 'Saturday Night Live,' says he was reluctant to take the 'NewsRadio' job at first because he didn't want it to appear as though he was capitalizing on his friend's death, and he 'didn't want to face the fact that he was gone.' But he says producers persuaded him that it 'felt right,' and asked him how he would feel if they got 'the wrong guy' to replace Hartman in the ensemble. Lovitz concedes he 'can't fill his (Hartman's) shoes' and he expects to be criticized. He says 'a lot of people will slam me, and I don't care because he was my best friend...it's like I'm helping out my brother.' He told the Los Angeles Times the cast has made him feel welcome, and cast member Vicki Lewis told the paper she and the other actors were relieved when they heard that Lovitz was joining the cast, because 'he's so funny.'
Lovitz, who has made a specialty of playing likable jerks, says part of his new character will be 'like how Phil really was in real life, which was just a very up and outgoing man, very nice.' Hartman's wife, Brynn, shot the actor in the couple's bed, and then killed herself. ---
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