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Before 24-hour cable news networks and politically polarizing punditry, there was the 1976 film Network, which we investigate with guests Doug Gobeski and author Amber Elby. How do we see the movie today when so many of its predictions have come true? Is there any way to remake or update this movie? What’s the whole point of that love story between Faye Dunaway and William Holden? Doug knows, and he’s got evidence!
Clarifications:
It’s strange that we NEVER mention director Sidney Lumet or screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky by name in the episode, both prolific, successful and extremely talented folks. Which is too bad, because I looked up how to pronounce BOTH names before we recorded!
Of course, we speculate a lot about how this might have been viewed in the 70’s without having someone on the show who might have actually seen it in the 70’s. It’s always tough to prepare an episode with that sort of diligence, so you’ll have to forgive us. Are you one of those people? Let us know what you thought about Network on Twitter!
We were able to confirm the story about George Clooney showing Network to some younger folks via this Deadline article. This was in preparation for his planned live television staging of Network, which never materialized in part because of what he learned!
And you can buy Amber Elby’s first novel Cauldron’s Bubble and second novel Double, Double Toil on Amazon right now, and you really should!
Things We Mention:
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Moonraker (1979)
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
RoboCop (1987)
Spring Forward (1999)
“The Newsroom” (2012-2014)