|
''Max Headroom'' is a British-produced American satirical science fiction television series by Chrysalis Visual Programming and Lakeside Productions for Lorimar-Telepictures that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot produced by Chrysalis, ''Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future''. The series is often mistaken as an American-produced show due to the setting and its use of an almost entirely American cast along with being broadcast in the United States on the ABC network. Cinemax aired the UK pilot followed by a six-week run of highlights from ''The Max Headroom Show'', a music video show where Headroom appears between music videos. ABC took an interest in the pilot and asked Chrysalis/Lakeside to produce the series for American audiences.〔(Stone, Morton and Jankel at the ICA )〕 The show went into production in late 1986 and ran for six episodes in the first season with eight being produced in season two. ==Television series== In 1987, the story told in ''Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future'', a made-for-television movie shot in 1985, formed the basis of a drama television series. The film was re-shot as a pilot program for a new series broadcast by the U.S.-based ABC television network. The pilot featured plot changes and some minor visual touches, but retained the same basic storyline. The only original cast retained for the U.S. version series were Matt Frewer (Max Headroom/Edison Carter) and Amanda Pays (Theora Jones); a third original cast member, W. Morgan Sheppard, joined the series as "Blank Reg" in later episodes. Among the non-original cast, Jeffrey Tambor co-starred as "Murray", Edison Carter's neurotic producer. The series is set in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks. Even the government functions primarily as a puppet state of the network executives, serving mainly to pass laws — such as banning "off" switches on televisions — that protect and consolidate the networks' power. Television technology has advanced to the point that viewers' physical movements and thoughts can be monitored through their television sets; however, almost all non-television technology has been discontinued or destroyed. The only real check on the power of the networks is Edison Carter, a crusading investigative journalist who regularly exposes the unethical practices of his own employer, and the team of allies both inside and outside the system who assist him in getting his reports to air and protecting him from the forces that wish to silence or kill him. The series began as a mid-season replacement in spring of 1987, and did well enough to be renewed for the fall television season, but the viewer ratings could not be sustained, due perhaps to direct competition with CBS's Top 20 hit ''Dallas'' (also produced by Lorimar) and NBC's Top 30 hit ''Miami Vice.'' ''Max Headroom'' was canceled part-way into its second season; the entire series, along with two leftover episodes, was rerun in spring 1988, during the Writers Guild of America strike. A cinema spin-off titled ''Max Headroom for President'' was announced with production intended to start in early 1988 in order to capitalize on that year's U.S. presidential election,〔Marilyn Beck, ("Max Headroom On Way To B-b-big Screen" ), Chicago Tribune, Dec. 10, 1987; retrieved January 27, 2013〕 but it was never made. Comico comics also had plans to publish a graphic novel based on the story, but never fulfilled them. A few posters were produced for comic shops, with a picture of Max Headroom saying ''comics will never be the same again''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Max Headroom (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|