Before Robert Pattinson’s ‘Primetime’, This Twisted Thriller Exposed The Dark Side Of Exploitative TV
In this day and age, exploitative media seems almost quaint. Social media has made it easy to farm outrage and engagement for clout, but it learned how to do so from somewhere. In that regard, television shows like To Catch A Predator (2004) were ahead of their time, for better or worse. Here was a television program that only became bigger and more provocative the longer it went on. People loved tuning in and watching the misery of predators as they were brought to justice, and it became must-watch TV.
But one movie predicted this. Primetime (2026) may be framing To Catch A Predator as this sensationalized show that changed television forever, but in reality, it was just fulfilling a decades-old prophecy. A prophecy by the mad prophet of the airwaves that warned of the commercialization of media, a media looking for higher and higher viewership to the detriment of quality journalism, taste, and the pursuit of the almighty dollar. If you’re interested in seeing how media can warp and twist our own values for entertainment, then you need to watch Network (1976) over on Amazon Prime Video.
What Is ‘Network’ About?
From its conception, Network was an angry satire of the state of media in the 1970s. Director Sydney Lumet and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky intended for Network to be a sobering reflection on the angry state of the world caused by the fallout of Watergate and the Vietnam War.
The film follows Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch in his final role, an old journalist slowly losing his grip on sanity after learning he’s being let go. He promises to kill himself on national television, but following a huge ratings spike, the network executives at his company UBS, decide to keep him on. His friends, most notably his old colleague Max Schumacher, played by William Holden, try to get him help, but the young upstart head of programming Diana, played by Faye Dunaway, sees Beale’s surging popularity and reputation as an angry and vindictive voice of the people as an opportunity to salvage a flailing company and bring it back from the brink of irrelevancy.
In a way, it mirrored To Catch A Predator’s rise and fall. There’s no denying that To Catch A Predator had altruistic reasons for its creation, much like how Max wanted Howard to stay on so he could resign with dignity, befitting the long and respectable career. But once studio executives realized that people liked watching his ramblings, that focus shifted, and then it became about giving the public what they want, taste be damned.
How Did ‘Network’ Predict The Rise Of Exploitation?
Network is a thinking man’s satire. It frames Howard's descent into mania both as a tragedy and a natural evolution of people’s desire to be entertained.
Audiences loved to see and hear him, and his famous “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore” has become one of the most well-known quotes in all of cinema. When Howard first said it, he was frustrated by the indignation filling the world and by how people like him just needed to let their rage out. But what first began as a call for action turned into a catchphrase. Commercialized, commodified, and devoid of all meaning. If The Truman Show (1998) is meant to be life-affirming and shows how people can escape the all-encompassing effects of television and media on our everyday lives, Network says we’re too late. We already deluded ourselves into enjoying other people’s suffering, and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Once Howard gains enough notoriety to earn his own show, the Howard Beale Show, every rant he spews ends with him passing out. When he meets with the head of the UBS, he’s barely coherent, rambling to any passerby incoherent gibberish. But that isn’t enough for the network, as Diane tries to start up yet another provocative program, this time negotiating with a terrorist group to have them send footage from their raids for television. But then again, that’s nothing new for television networks. They see a hit, and they try to push the boundaries of taste to get more of that sweet, juicy viewership.
Does The Message Of ‘Network’ Still Hold Up Today?
That all may have been true back in 1976, but now it’s 50 years later, and television is no longer as dominant as it once was. How much of Network actually holds up today as a satire of the media? Unsurprisingly, quite a lot.
Network claims that exploitation only has a limited shelf life, and after a while, Howard’s brand of shock-and-awe rambling begins to lose its luster. In the age of social media, drama and controversy are so commonplace that it’s easier than ever to lose interest once people become accustomed to it, and that loss is only muddied further when outside forces get involved. For Network, it’s when the head of UBS decides to make Howard into a mouthpiece for his pro-capitalism spiel. For To Catch A Predator, it’s when NBC saw itself as the makers of the news rather than reporters of it.
There’s also the fact that many companies, shows, or people will court controversy in order to mine clout from it. The phrase “any publicity is good publicity” is especially provocative in Network. UBS executives tell Max they’re fielding thousands of negative phone calls a day, and the FCC launches an investigation into their business practices, but their ratings don’t stop rising, so who cares about the chatter? Companies don’t care if something is a bad influence or offends people. They only care about watching numbers go up, and when they don’t, they’ll dispose of it and move on to something else. Exploitation is ephemeral. Once the well is dried up, it’s time to start looking for new pastures to exploit.
