Sunday October 09, 2005

Network Reloaded

I was just thinking the other day that next year will be the 30th anniversary of Network, Paddy Chayefsky’s sickeningly prescient look at what TV news would ultimately become. I’ve written about the movie before—for the long defunct magazine Gadfly—and I thought there might be a pitch in there for someone. But I’m happy to find out that George Clooney is on the case.

While promoting his Edward R. Murrow biopic, Good Night, and Good Luck—which he directed and co-wrote—Clooney let it slip that he’s planning to do a live telecast of Chayefsky’s script on CBS next fall. He previously did a similar production of Fail-Safe, also for CBS. Chayefsky’s florid script is incredible (save for some syrupy parts about William Holden’s marriage that haven’t aged so well), and Clooney seems to want to stay true to it, according to this bit in the Times.

Saying that everything Chayefsky predicted has come true may be a threadbare cliche, but the level of accuracy really is amazing. If you haven’t watched it recently, you should. It’s worth noting, however, that TV insiders didn’t find the movie all that fantastical when it was released. Barbara Walters may have feigned indignation, but Gore Vidal observed, “I’ve heard every line from that film in real life.” Meanwhile, Chayefsky—who won the first of his three screenwriting Oscars for the working class realism of 1955’s Marty—protested, perhaps a little too much, the characterization of Network as a satire. “I still write realistic stuff,” he told Time. “It’s the world that’s gone nuts, not me. It’s the world that’s turned into a satire.”

Posted by jim at 05:02 PM ||