| Not Necessarily the News | |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Moffitt |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 72 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
| Release | January 3, 1983 (1983-01-03) – August 26, 1990 (1990-08-26) |
Not Necessarily the News (shortened asNNTN) is an American satiricalsketch comedy series first aired onHBO in September 1982 as a comedy special, and then as a series from 1983 to 1990. For most of the run, the series featuredAnne Bloom,Danny Breen,Rich Hall,Mitchell Laurance,Stuart Pankin andLucy Webb. For the final season, the series switched to a live, up-to-the-minute format and also included reports from many other correspondents includingWill Durst,Merrill Markoe,Richard Rosen andHarry Shearer.
The series was the birthplace of Rich Hall'ssniglets, which spawned a number of books. It also included early appearances fromJan Hooks, and, among the many writers the show employed, was the first credited professional television writing gig forConan O'Brien,Greg Daniels,Al Jean andMike Reiss. The show was considered an inspiration and a predecessor to future news satirical programs likeThe Daily Show,The Colbert Report, andLast Week Tonight, among others.
It featured sketches, parody news items, commercial parodies, and humorous bits made fromoverdubbing or editing actual news footage. It was based on the British seriesNot the Nine O'Clock News that had ended earlier in 1982.
The original format lasted until May 1989, when the series switched to a live, up-to-the-minute format in the style ofSaturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" andFriday's "Friday Edition".NNTN came to an end in December the following year with its final episode, a "Not Necessarily the Year in Review" special for 1990.
The show's first theme song was the instrumental bridge ofEric Clapton's cover of "Motherless Children". It was switched to "Hooray For The City" byJack Mack & The Heart Attack in 1985.
The series also spawned two specialized episodes that aired as occasional specials:Not Necessarily the Year in Review, andNot Necessarily the Sniglets.