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Posted on 04/08/2026 4:27:50 PM PDT by Rummyfan
Photo At first glance, watching the Criterion Collection‘s new 4K Blu-Ray release of 1976’s Network, it’s hard at first to match up the volcanic anger of Paddy Chayefsky’s writing with what we remember about the state of television in the mid-1970s. It all seems so quaint and nostalgic in retrospect — the news came in reassuringly small dabs of a half-hour of local info at 6 p.m., followed by a half-hour of national news at 6:30, rather than today’s competing 24-hour news channels on the cable dial.
Weeknights ended with the urbane yet accessible and largely politically neutral Johnny Carson at 11:30. The NFL meant a few hours of local games on Sunday afternoons and the big weekly primetime matchup on Monday nights, rather than the ability to choose the games you want to see, and a league-owned 24/7 cable channel. Daytime programming consisted of endless game shows, and primetime programming consisted of endless cop shows and sitcoms. The most radical thing on network television was NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which had only just debuted in the fall of 1975, and in its first few years, the sting of its hard left political worldview was mitigated somewhat by its often incredibly funny writing, and the manic energy and charisma of its now legendary initial cast.
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Now I think Tucker Carlson was them both beat
Chayefsky’s finest moment. Glad it’s in Criterion’s hands.
Haven’t seen it but will put it on the list.
I always thought Bill O’Reilly was Howard.
He is a Beale wannabe also.
Too many Talking Heads are “Mad as Hell”.
I watched Network on Youtube last night- such a good movie and a great reminder. It gave me pause, realizing how long ago it was made.
“DON’T F___ WITH MY DISTRIBUTION COSTS!”
One of the finest documentaries ever produced.
I am shocked MS NOW doesn’t carry “The Mao Tse-Tung Hour”.
I was in my 20s in the 1970s and working full time while attending college, so I didn’t watch a lot of TV back then but I sure miss Johnny Carson.
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