NEWSRADIO: COPY MACHINE (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedies about the employees of WNYX, an all-news radio station in New York City. A man from the accounting apartment named Ted is accidentally killed when his tie becomes stuck in the copy machine and he chokes to death. No one in the office seems to know him at all, and none are grieved by his passing. Mr. James, however, seems to believe that Dave is holding back considerable grief for Ted, although Dave asserts that he is fine. Joe feels responsible for Ted's death due to modifications he made to the copy machine. He retreats to the men's bathroom, where he tries to flush his tools down the toilet so he won't cause any more accidents. Lisa attempts to convince him that Ted's death wasn't his fault. Matthew and Beth try to get Dave to "vent" his anger about Ted's death, although he again insists that no such anger exists. Ted's college roommate Jack arrives; Dave pretends to be upset about his death so as not to upset him. Jack is to deliver Ted's eulogy and wants to get information about the last few years of Ted's life. Bill overhears this and takes Jack aside, fabricating a story about him and Ted serving in the army together. Beth comes in to talk to Jack as well, but goes off-topic and discusses how much she misses Catherine. Matthew comes to Jack with a song he purportedly wrote about Ted, although it soon becomes clear that the song has no relevance to Ted whatsoever. Joe's co-workers try to urge him to return to his work, but he continues to refuse. To demonstrate to Joe that Ted's death was accidental, Dave recreates the circumstances of Ted's death and uses the copy machine with his tie dangling over the feeder. During the demonstration, Dave gets his tie caught in the machine and must be rescued by his co-workers before he chokes to death. Dave still insists it was an accident, but Joe opens up the machine in order to repair it. Inside, he finds a paper jam and discovers a suicide note written by Ted. The note explains that he modified the copy machine to serve as a method of suicide; Joe no longer feels guilt for Ted's death. Later, Jack says goodbye to Dave and admits that not only did he not know Ted at all, but that he avoided him in college since he was "kind of an ass." Dave finds that he feels strongly about Jack's attitude despite his lack of a connection with Ted and realizes that his death affected him more than he realized. The episode ends as Dave finds himself delivering Ted's eulogy, discovering to his discomfort that Ted was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: April 8, 1998 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:55396
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1995-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Simms … Executive Producer, Created by
- Brad Grey … Executive Producer
- Bernie Brillstein … Executive Producer
- Joe Furey … Co-Executive Producer, Director
- Josh Lieb … Co-Executive Producer
- Drake Sather … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Kent Zbornak … Producer
- Lewis Morton … Co-Producer
- Alan J. Higgins … Co-Producer
- Sam Johnson … Co-Producer
- Chris Marcil … Co-Producer
- Julie Bean … Associate Producer
- Jeffrey Goldstein … Associate Producer
- Orit Schwartz … Associate Producer
- Ian Dye … Music by
- Mike Post … Theme Music by
- Dave Foley … Cast, Dave Nelson
- Stephen Root … Cast, Jimmy James
- Andy Dick … Cast, Matthew Brock
- Maura Tierney … Cast, Lisa Miller
- Vicki Lewis … Cast, Beth
- Joe Rogan … Cast, Joe Garrelli
- Phil Hartman … Cast, William "Bill" McNeal
- Tom Gallop … Cast, Jack
- Christopher Randolph … Cast, Paramedic