Category: Max Headroom

Security Systems Inc. is the world’s leading provider of personal and corporate security and surveillance, with access to more priveleged information than any single government in the world. And now a hostile takeover of SS is in the works, and while the company’s CEO says she’s terrified of the prospects, she outwardly seems calm – and Edison smells a rat. But when he persists in questioning her, he suddenly discovers that his credit and his ID won’t work anywhere. He can’t go home, can’t go to Network 23, and the Metro Cops are hot on his tail. Edison winds up getting help from Blank Reg and Dominique, but he’s going to need more help from Max and Bryce – and he can’t even hope to approach the Network 23 building without being arrested. Bryce is the only one with the hacking skills necessary to make Edison a citizen again and uncover the secret of who’s buying out SS…but even he may be outmatched by the SS central computer.

written by Michael Cassutt
directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
music by Cory Lerios

Guest Cast: William Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg), Carol Mayo Jenkins (Valerie Towne), J.W. Smith (Rick), Concetta Tomei (Dominique), Ricardo Gutierrez (Martinez), David Allyn (SSI Tech #1), Peter Mins (SSI Tech #2), Julia Calderon (Mrs. Rebus), Santos Morales (Mr. Rebus), Sally Stevens (voice of A7), Mark Voland (SSI Guard)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A news package broker contacts Network 23 and offers exclusive access to a terrorist group – for a premium, of course. Cheviot refuses to buy, and when the White Brigade blows up an entire city block, only rival network Breakthru TV has coverage of the event. Network 23’s board fumes over Breakthru’s sudden ratings surge – in the middle of a global rating sweep – but they jump at the chance of having Edison Carter expose the sinister link between Breakthru TV and the terrorists themselves. Edison eventually tracks the terrorists to their headquarters, and finds that their entire war is being fought on television, a war of publicity with as few casualties as possible to avoid negative reaction from the viewers. But when the bombers feel that their deal with Breakthru TV is no longer serving their cause, they change their policy regarding casualties…in a drastic way.

written by Martin Pasko, Rebecca Parr, Michael Cassutt, and Steve Roberts
directed by Thomas J. Wright
music by Cory Lerios

Guest Cast: Gary Swanson (Frank Braddock), Virginia Kiser (Formby), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkof (Pat Zein), Richard Lineback (Hewett), Robert O’Reilly (Croyd Hauser), Lisa Niemi (Janie Crane), J. Michael Flynn (Lucien), Arsenio “Sonny” Trinidad (?), Ricardo Gutierrez (Martinez), Tom Miller (Breakthru TV Reporter), Michael Colin Ward (Officer Wendt), Randall Caldwell (Phil), Yana Nirvana (Police Chief), Spencer Allan (Breakthru TV Anchor)

Notes: Guest star Robert O’Reilly may be best known to genre fans as Gowron, the leader of the Klingon Empire in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. This episode is also the source of the series-defining exchange: “Since when has news been entertainment?” “Since it was invented.”

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Just as Simon Peller wins another term through the public telelection system, satellite signals go haywire, interrupting broadcasts on all the networks. And TV isn’t the only thing affected – even bank service has been disrupted. Then an ultimatum is issued: if Peller doesn’t reverse his policy of imprisoning all blanks – unregistered citizens with enough computer know-how to remove their identities from the central computer – the central computer will be crashed. Bryce and Theora hatch a plan to find the hackers by getting their attention with the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world – Max himself. But when the hackers take the bait and keep him, not allowing Max to return to Bryce’s computer, Edison has to resort to more extreme measures to keep a systems crash from laying the city to waste at sundown…and someone he considers a friend may be on the wrong side of the fight.

written by Steve Roberts
directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
music by Cory Lerios

Guest Cast: William Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg), Peter Crook (Blank Bruno), Virginia Kiser (Formby), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkof (Pat Zein), Howard Sherman (Simon Peller), Concetta Tomei (Dominique), Lisa Niemi (Janie Crane), Elizabeth Gorcey (Woman), Tom Everett (Tracher), Rob Narita (Ronald), Kenneth White (Police Officer), John Durbin (Police Officer), Lycia Naff (?), Cynthia Stevenson (?), Brian Brophy (?), Sandra Sexton (?), John Fleck (?), and Fang

Notes: This is the first episode where Bryce’s alma mater, the Academy of Computer Sciences, is mentioned; Blank Bruno was Bryce’s instructor before going underground.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Hackers are disrupting network transmissions by hacking into satellite transmissions with their own high-power signals. Cheviot assigns Bryce the task of tracking down the pirates, and Bryce finds the source of the rogue signal – and then hesistates, pointing the finger instead at Blank Reg’s Big Time TV van. Metrocops arrest Reg, and Dominique pleads with Edison to help clear her husband’s name. Theora discovers that the real source of the signal was the Academy of Computer Sciences – Bryce’s alma mater. Edison susepcts (and Max knows) that Bryce falsified the coordinates given to the authorities. But given the tight-knit nature of the ACS students, and Network 23’s sponsorship of the school, does Edison stand a chance of clearing Reg’s name?

written by David Brown
directed by Victor Lobl
music by Michael Hoenig

Guest Cast: William Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg), James Greene (Judge Wade), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkof (?), Sharon Barr (?), Concetta Tomei (Dominique), Dick Patterson (Headmaster), Mya Akerling (Partridge), Christopher Burton (Stratton), Barry Pearl (Judge), Melissa Steinberg (?), Maureen Teefy (Shelley Keeler), Bill Dearth (Prosecutor), Paul Martin (?), Joe Hart (?), Sue Marrow (?), Tom Fitzpatrick (?)

Notes: This episode features one of Max Headroom’s most spot-on prophetic moments, with a pretty accurate prediction of the kind of home shopping networks which are fairly common now. Before you dismiss it as an easy prediction, check the original airdate of the episode and think again.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Televangelism is just as prevalent in the future as in the present, and nowhere is this as evident as with the Vu-Age Church, the first religious organization to operate primarily on TV. But Vu-Age’s promises of video resurrection have gotten Murray’s attention, and he assigns Edison to the story. But somewhat atypically, Edison shows little enthusiasm for the prospects of blowing a resurrection scam wide open. As it so happens, Edison’s lack of enthusiasm is centered more on Vu-Age’s high priestess, Vanna Smith, who is also an old flame of his. When Edison refutes her claims that video resurrection is a reality, Vanna Smith points out that Edison’s own alter-ego is proof to the contrary. When she and Edison start to rekindle their old relationship, Murray wonders if there’s less to the story than he imagined, or if Edison’s losing his edge.

written by Michael Cassutt
directed by Tom Wright
music by Chuck Wild

Guest Cast: Dayle Haddon (Vanna Smith), Hank Garrett (Network 23 Board Member), Lee Wilkof (Network 23 Board Member), Sharon Barr (Network 23 Board Member), Gregory Itzin (Vu-Age Salesman), Rosalind Chao (Angie Barry), Michael Margotta (Male producer), Peg Stewart (Female producer), Brenda Hayes (Jennifer Marks), Gary Ballard (Humphrey Marks), Clarence Brown (Vu-Age Client), Dale Raoul (Vu-Age Client), Ron Ray (?), Larry Spinak (?)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The latest telelection is upon the public, and a vicious mudslinging war is being waged on the airwaves by incumbent Simon Peller and rival candidate Harriet Garth. Network 23 is squarely in Peller’s court, but Garth is being backed by Network 66 – where Ned Grossberg, the unscrupulous ex-Network 23 executive who was ousted after the Blipvert scandal, is slowly taking control. While Edison and Murray fight to keep 23’s coverage above the war of words, Grossberg is playing all sides against the middle, and his aim is to take over Network 66 from the inside, not to propel a particular candidate into office. And if that means engineering a political scandal that not only takes down Garth, but destroys the career of Edison Carter as well, Grossberg won’t hesitate to do it.

written by Steve Roberts
directed by Janet Greek
music by Michael Hoenig

Guest Cast: Charles Rocket (Ned Grossberg), Caroline Kava (Harriet Garth), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkoff (Pat Zein), Sharon Barr (?), Howard Sherman (Simon Peller), Rosalind Chao (Angie Barry), Andreas Katsulas (Bartlett), Brett Porter (?), Stephen Elliott (Thatcher), Karen Hensel (?), James F. Dean (?), John Hamelin (?), Donald Burda (?), Lisa Peders (?), Rachelle Ottley (?), Brian Little (?), J. Jay Smith (?), Saida Pagan (?)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Edison is doing an exposè on “dream houses” – a new industry in which people pay to experience the immersive, tactile sensations of others’ dreams – when he encounters an old rival and fellow report, Paddy Ashton. An articulate Irishman who seems out of place as a drifting blank, Paddy still harbors a bit of a grudge against Edison, but also still harbors a dream of being back in the news business. When Paddy turns up dead mere hours after Edison shares a drink with him, Edison latches on to something Paddy was trying to tell him about: dream donors. For some people to buy dreams, others must donate them, usually earning a pittance in the process. Paddy was managing to eke out an existence selling his dreams, but something was troubling him toward the end. Edison goes undercover, going into the dream house as a donor, where he finds that the dream house attendants have been forcing their donors to have more intense subconscious sensory experiences, even if it kills them with their own nightmares.

teleplay by Steve Roberts
story by Charles Grant Craig
directed by Todd Holland
music by Chuck Wild

Guest Cast: W. Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg), Mark Lindsay Chapman (Paddy Ashton), Jere Burns (Breughel), Concetta Tomei (Dominique), Jenette Goldstein (Velma), Ron Fassler (Mr. Grieg), Vernon Weddle (Mr. Finn), Robin Bach (Ticket booth man), Vince McKewin (Dream house attendant #1), Stephen Pershing (Dream house attendant #2), Ron Narita (Male interviewee), Steven Rotblatt (Blank), Timothy Dang (?), Peter De Anello (?), Patricia Veselich (Female interviewee), Gary Dean Sweeney (?), Dalton Younger (?), and Fang

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A huge residential building collapses, taking many of its residents with it. Edison is assigned to the story, and when he arrives at the scene of the disaster, he’s stunned to see the survivors rejoicing at the rescue of television sets instead of people. Despite the magnitude of the collapse and Edison’s live coverage, Big Time TV pulls ahead of Network 23 in the ratings with a mind-numbingly dumb game show – the same show being watched by all of the survivors of the building. A cop at the scene suspects something as up, but when he shares his suspicions with Edison, he’s found dead a while later. Despite Reg’s annoyance that his viewers want it run for the 11th time in a row, “Whacketts” even pulls ahead of Network 66. Edison and Bryce discover that a subliminal video signal is embedded into the one episode of “Whacketts” that keeps running, a signal that forces its viewers’ brains to produce an addictive stream of endorphins. The more people watch, the more hooked they become – and if Ned Grossberg succeeds in wooing Dominique into selling “Whacketts” to Network 66, the entire population could become addicted…just like Max.

teleplay by Arthur Sellers
story by Dennis Rolfe
directed by Victor Lobl
music by Michael Hoenig

Guest Cast: W. Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg), Charles Rocket (Ned Grossberg), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkof (?), Sharon Barr (?), Concetta Tomei (Dominique), Bert Kramer (Biller), Bill Maher (Haskel), Andreas Katsulas (Bartlett), Richard Frank (Lt. Rico Ziskin), Lawrence Lott (Network 23 Anchor), James F. Dean (Chief Negotiator), Craig Schaefer (Cop #1), Morgan Walsh (Cop #2), Edward Beimfohr (?)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Edison tries to find out more about Zik Zak’s latest promotional gimmick, the free Neurostim bracelets given away with every Zik Zak burger pack. Whatever it’s doing, it’s certainly driven sales of the burgers sky-high. But Edison’s prying isn’t necessarily welcomed by Zik Zak, and since they’re Network 23’s corporate sponsors, they set out to derail his investigative report by making sure he receives a particularly addictive one. As Edison soon discovers for himself, Neurostim is a mental narcotic, granting its users any dream they wish, at least in their own minds. Bryce thinks the only way to help Edison shake off his Neurostim addiction is to restore his personality by patching Max through the bracelet…but Edison is tired of competing with Max for attention, even in his dreams.

written by Arthur Sellers and Michael Cassutt
directed by Maurice Phillips
music by Michael Hoenig

Guest Cast: Sab Shimono (Pat Zein), Hank Garrett (?), Lee Wilkof (?), Sharon Barr (?), Jim Piddock (Mr. Kelly), Evan Kim (Mr. Chen), Jacque Lynn Colion (Burger Lady), Edward Wiley (Zik Zak Waiter), Michael Margotta (Sully), Martin Azarow (Punk), Billy Beck (Frank Knight), Roger Hampton (Sgt. Compton), Michael Strasser (Scumball Announcer), Joan Severance (Edison’s dream girl), Julie McCullough (?), Tom Dugan (?), Michael Dobo (?), Frank Kahlil Wheaton (?), Saida Pagan (?)

LogBook entry by Earl Green