Posted: 8/7/2009 9:40:21 PM EDT
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I just finished watching Network for the first time ever.
That was the best commentary on the absurd, out of control monster that has become network television that I have ever seen. Especially Howard Beale's commentary on the generation raised by the tube, who don't know anything, who don't read anything, who accept everything told to them by the tube, and the tube feeds them bullshit. A FUCKING MEN. And that was the 70s. If only they could see the monster it's become now. Full on propaganda service, make and break candidates, elect the president, tell people what to think and present it in snarky ways and tell them they thought of it themselves and they're actually free thinkers. Spot. On. 
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Good reference, even though the speech is really sort of a brainless illustration of base reactionism.
But since you brought it up, on a whim, I bought the DVD set of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip a few months ago, cheap from amazon. It's an interesting attempt to create a successful, intelligent, and intellectually and politically controversial, not actor's-butt controversial, drama on prime time, network TV. It failed, miserably, for various reasons, and that's part of why it's so fascinating. However bad TV has been, it's clearly gotten a lot worse. Is there even a single good family show, or a single intelligent show, anywhere on network TV these days? It's all CSI, it's all cute actresses or handsome actors standing in an interview room pretending to be police officers. And that's in the rare cases when any attempt at story driven shows is made. When it's not, you just see the half-assed phoned in reality TV. The opening of the pilot episode of Studio 60 is the head writer of an SNL type show giving an impromptu Network style speech, denouncing the mindless masturbatory Idiocracy "ow my balls" standard that's taken over network television. He, and, presumably, Sorkin, attribute this to a corporate fear of offending religious groups and other special interests, and I disagree with him about that, and the show's ratings were slammed as a result of it, but I found the audaciousness of the claims to be refreshing. It's the rare show that dares to take positions, rather than trying to be palatable, affordable, baby food. Over time, it tried to balance its own positions, and kept overcorrecting, until network pressure made Sorkin turn it into this weird Buddhist self-immolation, where the last third of the first and only season is in some ways written to fail, and thus reinforce in reality the points raised early on in the fiction; that there's no place for intelligent programming in modern network television. It also has pitch perfect acting, and Sorkin's typically exceptional (albeit often liberal) writing. If you liked Network, I'd suggest you pick up the DVD set of Studio 60. Amazon has some new third party copies starting at $15. |
Maybe, or maybe not. 
I think he's absolutely right. He doesn't know what to do, but he does know that first we have to get mad as hell and decide we're not going to take it. That's what's wrong now, the people with their heads up their asses run wild, even are now running with near total impunity two of the three branches of the fedgov, and all the normal people with jobs and families and who live in the real world just stay complacent and just want to be left alone. They won't be left alone until they stop being complacent. And I will definitely look into Studio 60, thanks for the suggestion. |
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Well, defiance has certainly come out the champion against complacency, time and time again.
While wikipedia'ing Network, after thinking about this thread, I came across this absolutely fucking awesome moment in Academy Awards history, courtesy of Paddy Chayefsky, whose response to Redgrave starts at about the 40 second mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwH-46ovlo Let me know what you think of Studio 60, if you end up getting it. |
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Quoted:
Well, defiance has certainly come out the champion against complacency, time and time again. While wikipedia'ing Network, after thinking about this thread, I came across this absolutely fucking awesome moment in Academy Awards history, courtesy of Paddy Chayefsky, whose response to Redgrave starts at about the 40 second mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwH-46ovlo Let me know what you think of Studio 60, if you end up getting it. HA! Fantastic, that response was perfect. And, also, this was the scene I was talking about earlier, found it. I couldn't have said it better.
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Ned Beatty's speech regarding corporate cosmology applies equally well to today as it did then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqEcLlp_Big |