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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1977)
Network’: hilarious, disturbing satire By GLENNA WHITLEY Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay is the brilliance behind the movie “Network.” Lilting, and almost lyrical, his script is a hilarious satire on the television industry. But the movie is disturbing as well. It aims at the heart of the now TV generation. “Less than three per cent of you read books,” shouts Peter Finch in an impeccable perform ance as Howard Beale, the Mad Prophet of the Airways. And the accusation hits home. Finch plays an aging, alcoholic anchorman who is fired because his news show has low ratings. In desperate attempt to regain at tention, he announces that he’ll commit suicide on the air. The network executives are aghast. The ratings go up 15 per cent. In order to save face, Beale is given a chance to apologize on the air. Instead, he begins to shout about what “bullshit” life is. The audience response is tremendous. The network begins to pro mote Beale as an “angry man, ar ticulating the public’s anger at the hypocrisy of our times.” Behind the camera Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall and Ned Beatty vie for power trying to survive in the volatile broadcasting indus try. Dunaway is Diana Christen sen, a coolly ambitious woman in the network’s programming de partment with the instincts of a barracuda. She comes up with an idea for a new hit show — “The Mao Tse- Tung Hour. The network pays the Ecumenical Liberation Army for home movies of their bank rip-offs and kidnapings. Any re- semblence to the Symbionese Liberation Army is purely inten tional. One of the funniest scenes in the film shows the complications that arise when a terrorist gang. a kidnaped heiress, a female black communist militant and ■contract problems and distri bution rights in the gang’s hide out. Meanwhile, Beale suffers a breakdown and begins to rant about a vision he had. He ap pears to be insane. Christensen capitalizes on this and turns his ravings into the No. 4 show on TV. It’s surpassed only by Six Million Dollar Man, All in the Family, and Phyllis. William Holden is excellent as the craggy, middle-aged news man from the early days of tele vision. He s lost in the new cor porate world of broadcasting and seeks to regain his manhood in an affair with Christensen. She’s beautiful, but cold and heartless. In bed with Holden, she maintains a running conver sation on her network problems. Holden, as Schumacher, de scribes Diana as “TV incarnate, indifferent to joy, oblivious to suffering, reducing war, pain, love and death to the level of TV banality. Robert Duvall is perfect as the corporate man. He lives only for approval from the chairman of the board. Ned Beatty, who has been ex cellent in his recent movies, gives still another outstanding performance as Jensen, the pres ident of CCA, the corporation that owns the network. He uses Howard Beale to spread the gos pel of corporate religion. “Network” is outrageously funny. The characterizations are superb. Chayefsky’s dialogue is too wordy at times, but the over all effect is successful. Chayefsky blasts the institu tion of television with his satire. But the parody is too close to the truth for comfort. The hard hitting ending makes a person wonder exactly to what lengths television would go for good rat ings. Low ratings don’t threaten CBS ‘Who’s Who’ series UnitMt IntArnaHnnnl Who “ L#=» will K#* crw=»nr1ir»(7 Who S Who after all 60 ]V United Press International NEW YORK — A series of events has stirred some questions about what’s what with “Who’s Who,” but a spokesperson for CBS said neither low ratings, pre-emption, nor executive shuffles pose a threat for the news magazine format program. “Who’s Who,” or “Son of 60 Min utes” as it was called by some, went on the air earlier this year with Dan Rather, Charles Kuralt and Barbara Howar emphasizing the “people” aspect of the news. Executive pro ducer was Don Hewitt, who also is executive producer of “60 Min utes.” Now Hewitt has decided that the double chores are more than he can handle and that he has neglected “60 Minutes.” He will drop “Who’s Who” to concentrate on “60 Minut es.” John Sharnik, CBS vice president for public affairs broadcasting, who has been the vice presidential-rank overseer for both “60 Minutes” and “Who’s Who,” also will become act ing executive producer for “Who’s Who.” Because he will be spending a lot of time with the new show, another news department vice pres ident, Bob Chandler, will handle the VP chores for “60 Minutes.” What that means in terms of cor porate ladder climbing is uncertain, but it won’t effect the future of “Who’s Who.” In the meantime, “Who’s Who” also was pre-empted this week by Bill Moyers’ CBS Reports on “Arizona, Here We Come!” That, CBS explains, is because the net work only allows the news division a limited amount of time. It must pre-empt one of its own shows to allow time for a special. And “Arizona” bumped “Who’s Who.” There wouldn’t be any question about “Who’s Who” if it scored as high in the Nielsen ratings as “60 Minutes,” which consistently ranks in the top 20 and often hits the top 10. The week ending Feb. 20, “Who’s Who” ranked 65th on a list of 69. CBS says it will go along with ONE GALLON DECANTER Fcaturat snap-look spout and loak- proof oosor. REG. 1.19 TWIN PACK SUMMERS EVE Roadi-to-nso disposable doucho. Rro-miiod, pro-measured. CONTACT LENS LENSINE Contains 2-oz. solution, eloanar and Ians carry ease. RUBBERMAID DRAINER Dish drainer for sanitary air dry- in(. Choice of colors. RUBBERMAID ICE DIN Convenient storage sorvor for ortra iea cubas. I REG. 1.79 LATHER LOTION MULTI SCRUB 9-ouncos soaplass cleanser for oily (kin. ‘Tha ssrash.’ ELIXIR NOVAHISTIME 4-ouncas doconfastant with anti histamine. For colds I hay fovar. TWO PIECE RATH SET Two-pieeo tank cover sot in a choice of decorator colors. SCOTCH BRITE SCOUR PADS Clean and scrub pads for all your scouring needs. REG. 39' COLD CAPSULES ■ 12 capsules relieves stuffy nose, reduces ehost congestion, controls cough. (0 (Q| REC. R OH REG. 1.29 LONG LASTING BEN-GAY 2-ounca panatrating heat lotion for roliaf of minor pains. ALLPURPOSE FLASHLIGHT By BM6. Dopondablo. Non-corrosive motal. Compact sin. SIX PACK SPONGES Color pak. Always stay soft. Each 1-7/8” x 3-7/9” x 9-7/9". NASAL SPRAT AFRIN Decongestant. Uniquely long-acting for up to 12 hours. EXTRA STRENGTH TYLENOL 60 tablets axtra pain roliof. Con tains no a:oirin. RUBBERMAID BAG HOLDER Koops grocery bags in one con venient place. Holds all sizes. “Who’s Who” — after all “60 Min utes” took several years to take off and it didn’t have to compete with “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley.” The Fonz and friends were in the top two spots in the Nielsen ratings, and ABC dominated the top ten, with only CBS’ “M-A-S-H” and “One Day At A Time” keeping ABC from a clean sweep. For those who think ABC can do no wrong, the last show on the list also was an ABC entry — “Most Wanted,” 69th on a list of 69. The 10 top network television programs for the week ending Feb. 20, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., were: 1. “Happy Days,” 2. “Laverne & Shirley,” 3. “How The West Was Won” ABC Monday Movie, 4. “M-A-S-H,” 5. “Charlie’s Angels,” 6. “Secrets” ABC Sunday movie, 7. (tie) “One Day At A Time” and “Six Million Dollar Man,” 9. “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry” ABC Friday movie, 10. “Welcome Back, Kot- ter.” TV network stars compete United Press International HOLLYWOOD — The athletes among network television series battle one another again Feb. 28 for supremacy in a variety of events. Volleyball, rowing, swimming, golf and a tug-of-war will be included. Last year the ABC team won in a close finish against the NBC hot shots with CBS dragging home a poor third. All three captains returned for this year’s clash — Telly Savalas of “Kojak” CBS, Bob Conrad of “Baa Baa Black Sheep” NBC and Gabe Kaplan of “Welcome Back, Kotter” ABC. Conrad claimed his squad lost on a disputed call in the relay race. “Nobody is going to win on a fluke,” he claimed. To decide the winner, a foot race was arranged be tween Conrad and Kaplan. Kaplan, a nightclub comic, easily outdis tanced his stubby legged chal lenger. $100 billion in oil can be drilled, researcher says A Texas A&M University petro leum researcher told an Abilene group perhaps as much as $100 bil lion in “unrecoverable” oil could be added to the state’s economy by using high pressure air. “High pressure air may be used to increase the oil recovery for some oil reservoirs,” said Dr. Paul B. Crawford at the Monday meeting of the West Central Texas Section of the Society of Petroleum Engi neers. Crawford is the assistant director of the Texas Petroleum Research Committee and a professor of petro leum engineering at A&M. The pioneering work on oil recovery by high pressure air injection has been conducted by the committee. “Texans now have 100 billion bar rels of oil underground classified as unrecoverable,” Crawford said. “If through research we can get only 10 per cent of this oil it will mean 10 billion barrels of extra oil. At $10 per barrel that will add $100 billion to the economy of Texas,” he said. “This is sufficient money to provide six million man years of employment at an average pay of $15,000 per year. It is vitally important that the required re search be continued to win a part of the unrecoverable oil.” Until now natural gas has been in jected to increase the oil recovery and it has done a good job, but natural gas is scarce and is now sell ing for two dollars per thousand cubic feet,” Crawford pointed out. “New and less expensive oil recov ery methods must be developed to provide the energy we need to warm our homes and run our busi- 3-C CORRAL THE BEST BAR-B-Q IN TOWN! Chicken-Fried Steak and Salad Bar $2.75 1808 BARAK LANE (East of 29th St.)