Max Headroom

It "dawned" on me finally where I had seen the actor named "Frank" (Matt Frewer) from "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) and all these memories of my childhood came back (born in '79). I remember I watched it faithfully and although I was way too young to actually understand the satyric nature of the show, I was mesmerized by the early use of CG on the idiot-box. I can still see that guys head and the way the computer used to "chunk" when he talked. Funny how now, almost two decades later, we're still dealing with chunking in streaming audio and video feeds. Somebody knew which way the world was headed. Just a great show and I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane

I happened on the "Max Headroom: 20 minutes into the future" film on the cable channel Cinemax by accident in 1986 or so. The story, the setting, and the characters drew me in and I was blown away. Then I found out ABC would be doing a version with 3 of the main characters from the UK film - Matt Frewer, Amanda Pays, and William Morgan Sheppard as "Blank Reg".

While the ABC version was a good copy, like any copy, it just wasn't the same. The UK film, talk show, and ABC version spawned Max as a celebrity. He was everywhere including being a pitchman for Coke.

If you want the best "Max Headroom" experience, see the 1985 UK film. But if they ever broadcast the ABC series, see it.

What is ironic is that the motivation for the evil deeds of the corporate owners of Network 23 is what did in this series. It was put up against ratings giants "Dallas" and "Miami Vice" and canceled midway through their only season.

Here's a piece of trivia. Max Headroom was filmed at 30 frames a second instead of the standard 24 frames a second. One of the reasons was so the series could more easily incorporate video with film, but a welcomed side-effect was that it gave the show a Hi-Def, futuristic look on 1980s television. It really did look different from any other show on TV.

What's interesting is that some current shows on video shoot at 24 or 25 frames a second to look more like film. It would be interesting to see what some filmed shows would look like in HDTV if they were shot at at 30 frames a second. You would get true HD.

Which is, unfortunately, mostly what succeeds on TV these days. Shows such as Max Headroom are just too intelligent, and go over the head of Average Joe TV Viewer (or Average Joe TV Executive). With all the proliferation and specialization of TV channels these days, maybe some day we can have an "Intelligent TV Channel" where shows like these can flourish and those too dim to "get it" can just remove it from their channel rotation.

Max Headroom was brilliant. One of the most spot-on and funny pieces of satire ever produced. The fact that it was satirizing the very medium that produced it probably had something to do with its short life, as well. I mean, when you're satirizing stupidity, obviously stupidity is going to react, just by definition.

Any TV producers out there reading this -- there's an idea for you. Create an "Intelligent TV Channel", and give us shows like this, or Key West, Brimstone, Cupid, etc. You could even call it that, as a dig at the mindless drivel that pours off the screen most of the time.

Anyone who has Taped episodes, contact me. This was on FX?? When?

This was the most clever, prescient, witty, well produced, and subversive TV series ever created. I saw some of the shows, but then was expeditioning and missed many. MAX HEADROOM (the 85-86 TV series- I'm not familiar with the other permutations)was brilliant on 5 levels at once, like old Firesign Theatre skits, where one can watch again and again and see different levels each time. The money and production values were unprecedented (now each ER costs $14mil, God nows what Friends runs) in it's sly depiction of a media controlled hilarious nightmare world. Gonzo droll Matt Frewer did bang-up work as both a real TV reporter, controlled by the lush Amanda Pays via continuous links, and the sly double-entendreing computer generated Max. This was a searing critique of media run amok- everything was some brilliant trashing of some current or future trend (with Fear Factor losing me forever at the bull penis eating portion, they were prophetic). It saddens me that Frewer is trapped in lame para-psychological claptrap when he was so good in this unknown gem. Mike Hammerschlag