Not Necessarily the News

This was back in the day just around the rise of VHS/beta. SO HBO was still the premier channel to get latest release, which at that time was about three years after box release. This show did a lot of dubbing and re-editing so that political figures were saying comedic lines. The sniglet series was also hilarious, and Rich Hall wrote several books containing sniglets. For example, he gave a definition to the act of shaking out only two pills from a bottle, and defined the dirt that the vacuum cleaner can't get at the edge of the floorboard. There were also commercial parodies, one for a hearing aid which drowned out yelling wives and grandchildren. A great show and was not only ahead of its time compared to the daily show, but funnier, too.

As I Fondly Remember the Outrageously Funny Satire From this Show,It's Criminal that HBO Hasn't Cashed in and released it on DVD! A great Selling Slogan Would be "It's time To Laugh (at Reagan) Again!",Even if you Voted for Reagan Back in the Day! The Previous Reviewer Probably Didn't Pay Attention to It at all,when the Series was on the Tube;I believe The Show's Release on DVD would Sell Very Well,and Bring Back the Memories of what Good Times the '80s were; This Show is just as funny as 'Saturday Night Live';So,I Appeal to You Sir:Who are You to Decide how such A Entertaining Show Would Do in this Day on DVD? I Say to HBO: Put It Out On DVD,And Bring Back The Laughs!

Political satire of today has much to learn from Not Necessarily The News. The humor is generally steeped in topical humor pertaining to the politics of the Regan White House era, yet there are no golden calves, as they're not afraid to poke silly fun at both sides of the political aisle. They focus on being funny, rather than remaining politically correct.

Some of the highlights are Mitchell Laurance in his Phil Noir sketches, Rich Hall with his sniglets, and the many and sundry "commercials" the entire crew put together to break up the news stories. All of it wrapped up in a mock-up of serious newscasting. Brilliant stuff!

A now-forgotten series that was based on a British news parody, "Not the Nine O'Clock News" (1979).

NNTN was a fierce reaction to the goofy Americanism founded by Ronald Reagan and the weird policies and attitudes of that time. When Reagan left office, they even made a "tribute" to him in a special.

NNTN used news clips and warped them into biting satire. When NNTN was on, it was deadly.

It also launched the careers of Rich Hall (who left the show and made "guest appearances" thereafter) and Stuart Pankin.

Maybe someday HBO will re-air the series, or re-release it on video, or perhaps a network like Fox will syndicate it. It's a pity, because NNTN has more perspective on that shameful decade than most real news services.

How can you tell a real fan of the show? They'll know what a Sniglet is.

his proud little word "sniglet, " thou for the life of me, I can't remember how he applied the word. I do remember however, that his use of the word was one of the unfunny moments To Me of a show that otherwise kept me in stitches and almost busting a gut every time it was on the tele. BTW, I thought Goldie was a regular; No ???