March 31, 1987 - May 5, 1988
ABC Science Fiction - 14 Episodes
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Cast:
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While this unusual series was not a hit, it certainly
showed that TV in the '80s had not lost its ability to
innovate--or to make fun of itself. The setting was a rather
grim futuristic era where television was everywhere, even
built into the sides of trash cans in the slums. In fact, it was
illegal to turn it off. There were thousands of stations, all
vying for viewers; this was the ultimate consumerist society,
and advertisers ruled the airwaves. "Ratings" were
everything, and were reported every second. Any
program that started to slip was canceled immediately!
Max Headroom was the ultimate star of the video age, a
computer-generated character who popped up on to screens
at the oddest times, making sarcastic comments about his
human creators' foibles. He belonged to top-rated Channel
23, and was created by its brilliant research head Bryce,
who had modeled him after ace reporter Edison Carter.
Unfortunately Bryce had not yet worked out all the kinks--Max
looked a little angular, moved with jerky motions, and spoke
with a distinct stutter. But, like Edison, Max had a mind of his own.
Most episodes had Edison chasing around the cold, cruel city
to expose the corruption and crime that was evidently rampant.
Armed with a powerful minicam he could uplink into the network
from anywhere and go live nationwide, in between shootouts,
druggings, and explosions. Back at the control room his
beautiful assistant, Theora, monitored his movements from a
computer console, while Bryce tried to work out bugs in the all-
pervasive computer system, and keep butt-in Max out of the way.
Ben Cheviot was the generally supportive head of Channel 23,
who sat with the other bosses around a huge oak table in a
darkened room staring at a giant screen, on which an advertiser
would usually say "your ratings have started to slip in the last
few minutes...get them back up or else, Mr. Cheviot." Then
Murray, the newseroom director, would fight to get Edison
just a little more time to crack the latest scandal wide open.
Edison's chief rivals and sometime allies in the field were Blank
Reg and his partner, Dominique, who ran a scruffy underground
channel which lacked the power and money of Channel 23, but
made up for that with ruthless aggressiveness. The character
of Max Headroom was originally conceived by producer Peter
Wagg for a 1984 British TV movie starring Matt Frewer, and
spread to the U.S. via the Cinemax cable network (doing an
interview show) and use in Coca-Cola commercials.
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From EpGuides.com Max Headroom From The Internet Movie Database Max Headroom From TV.com Max Headroom From Wikipedia the Max Headroom chronicles Fan Site by "Blank James" Gifford Max Headroom From The Museum of Broadcast Communications Max Headroom From WhatPort:80 Max Headroom From Retro Junk | |
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