'Halt and Catch Fire' Co-Creator's Next Project? A 'Max Headroom' Reboot (deadline.com) 45
"A 1980s pop culture mainstay is plotting a comeback," reports Deadline.
"AMC Networks is developing a Max Headroom drama series reboot, with Matt Frewer set to reprise his role as the world's first artificial intelligence TV personality." Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell is writing the adaptation and is attached as showrunner for the project, which is produced by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah's SpectreVision and All3Media.
Known for biting commentary, quick wit and manic glitching, the supposedly computer-generated TV host played by Frewer was first introduced in the 1985 British cyberpunk TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. He became an instant pop culture phenom and went on to host a music-video show, star in ads for New Coke, appear on the cover of Newsweek and headline his own primetime series. Max Headroom aired on ABC for two seasons from 1987-88.
IGN notes that "Although Frewer is best known for Max Headroom, he recently had roles in Fear the Walking Dead and Orphan Black, and notably played the character Moloch in Zack Snyder's Watchmen."
"AMC Networks is developing a Max Headroom drama series reboot, with Matt Frewer set to reprise his role as the world's first artificial intelligence TV personality." Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell is writing the adaptation and is attached as showrunner for the project, which is produced by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah's SpectreVision and All3Media.
Known for biting commentary, quick wit and manic glitching, the supposedly computer-generated TV host played by Frewer was first introduced in the 1985 British cyberpunk TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. He became an instant pop culture phenom and went on to host a music-video show, star in ads for New Coke, appear on the cover of Newsweek and headline his own primetime series. Max Headroom aired on ABC for two seasons from 1987-88.
IGN notes that "Although Frewer is best known for Max Headroom, he recently had roles in Fear the Walking Dead and Orphan Black, and notably played the character Moloch in Zack Snyder's Watchmen."
Hope they don't ruin it (Score:2)
I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, given how quickly it got cancelled. In any case I'm hoping they don't follow the oh-so-trendy approach "let's mainly focus on overly angsty relationships between the main characters, and treat any story as an afterthought".
But yeah, the original show wasn't popular so I guess it won't be surprising if they decide to re-imagine it. Edison Carter is probably ready for Social Security, anyway.
Re:Hope they don't ruin it (Score:4, Insightful)
Pffft! As long as there are blipverts...
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The audience was small enough the first time around... they can't afford to kill any of them off!
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I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, ...
I have the entire series on DVD. (Found a box set on sale super cheap somewhere a while ago.)
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Me too! I ripped the DVDs, so the shows are sitting on my Jellyfin server right now...
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Me too! I ripped the DVDs, so the shows are sitting on my Jellyfin server right now...
And your login is?
I promise I won't tell anybody!
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The password is "hunter2"!
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The password is "hunter2"!
;-)
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The password is what? All I see is a row of stars!
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that's pretty much what halt and catch fire was before I stopped watching it a few episodes in
Also a big fan (Score:3, Interesting)
I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, given how quickly it got cancelled.
I think there are more around than most people realize, I am also a big fan and really loved that show. I think that we just didn't get captured in whatever they used to measure viewership at the time.
I'm sure the original concept will be heavily re-worked, but hopefully they can find a way to stick to the spirit of the original show. Going to be hard to do better though given how good the lead actor
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I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, given how quickly it got cancelled.
I think there are more around than most people realize, I am also a big fan and really loved that show. I think that we just didn't get captured in whatever they used to measure viewership at the time.
I'm sure the original concept will be heavily re-worked, but hopefully they can find a way to stick to the spirit of the original show. Going to be hard to do better though given how good the lead actor was in that role.
I should really try and re-watch it...
At this point, they should just be able to use Edison for the Mo-Cap, and do the rest entirely with CGI.
You should be able to Max with Desktop software.
Hacker fight scene (Score:5, Interesting)
I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, given how quickly it got cancelled. In any case I'm hoping they don't follow the oh-so-trendy approach "let's mainly focus on overly angsty relationships between the main characters, and treat any story as an afterthought".
There were quite a few creative ideas in the original movie. My favorite was two hackers having a fight... using a building as a weapon.
Edison Carter is trying to escape the building, and there's a hit squad in the building trying to kill him. Edison's overwatch keeps hacking into building resources (elevators, lights, door locks, and so on) in an attempt to get him out safely, while the hit squad's overwatch keeps hacking building resources trying to bring Edison face to face with the killers. Highly entertaining and suspenseful.
The GUI actions and ergonomics of the overwatch system were also highly creative: you could call up a schematic of the building, with all the cameras and doors and ventilation shafts labelled, and you could then click on a camera and see from that camera's point of view, or click on a door and be presented with a GUI of door options, and so on. 'Sorta like AR or VR, as applied to a physical building. Take some time to watch how the overwatch interacts with her computer, and think about how you would do the same actions in today's world.
I don't think it's possible for the new series to be as creative as the original movie, but we can hope.
Re: Hope they don't ruin it (Score:3)
Frewer could be around, but not as main character. Better to find some new fresh face.
My take on the show is that the networks didn't understand it or didn't want it because it challenged their business model too much.
Today with computer tech it would be easy to recreate Max Headroom with new actors and keep Max.
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I was a fan of the original show - I suppose there weren't many of us, given how quickly it got cancelled. In any case I'm hoping they don't follow the oh-so-trendy approach "let's mainly focus on overly angsty relationships between the main characters, and treat any story as an afterthought".
But yeah, the original show wasn't popular so I guess it won't be surprising if they decide to re-imagine it. Edison Carter is probably ready for Social Security, anyway.
So, they were the victims of their own predicted "Instant Cancellation" Ratings System?
Male Voices hardly ever change past Puberty. So long as Edison didn't get throat cancer or otherwise blow-out his voice, he should sound identical to when he voiced the original Max.
I prefered the tv movie (Score:3)
The series didn't have quite the same energy as the original.
Please don't fuck it up (Score:2)
It's hard to make a cyberpunk series now that reality has pretty much caught up to everything Max Headroom was depicting. We'd have to adapt the story. That's entirely possible, don't get me wrong, but you can't just use the same formula and hope that it somehow works.
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They are 100% going to fuck it up.
Max Headroom as a character is deeply satirical and criticizing of populism and the media - especially talk shows. He is a villain. Dumb, crass, bigoted, insincere, a conduit of propaganda and a tool of commercialism.
They absolutely will not get the joke, and they will fail to reformulate it properly.
=Smidge=
Re:Please don't fuck it up (Score:4, Insightful)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:Please don't fuck it up (Score:4, Interesting)
On the other hand, there's so much more fucked-up shit these days that this new show, if done properly, could go on pretty much forever.
Re: Please don't fuck it up (Score:2)
The catch is how to top some shit of today.
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The catch is how to top some shit of today.
Dat's da Trufe!
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That's about the only part that could work... if they have the balls to do it. There's plenty of bullshit that should be criticized, satirized and lampooned. But that will almost invariably piss off a LOT of people who are also very eager to cause a shitstorm because their very important agenda is being criticized, satirized and lampooned.
If they have the balls to actually pull it off, this could become a hit. If they don't, well, it won't be one.
Reality bears no resemblance to cyberpunk. (Score:2)
Not only have almost none of the possibilities imagined by cyberpunk materialized, but centralized control of information systems has actually suffocated away possibilities that used to be taken for granted. And there is no colorful band of humanist rebels bravely and effectively defying it through the power of imagination and personality: Just deluded couch potatoes ranting against their own reflections on sites owned by people they hate rather than turning their dam
Re:Please don't fuck it up (Score:4, Interesting)
On the plus side, Matt Frewer is ALWAYS fun to watch. So long as he's in it (shut up about Lawnmower Man 2) I'll be glad to watch (shut up about Lawnmower Man 2) because brilliant old Matt Frewer ALWAYS makes things worth (fuck Lawnmower Man 2)...
(but I like everything else he's done, from Meaning of Life to Perry Mason)
They will probably screw it up. But then, they can't remake the original, the whole world has changed - poking fun at corporatism, dangerous marketing, compromised journalism and sleazy politicians in pockets is now mainstream, almost the default. So they'll have to come up with some new angles, while keeping Max's essential irreverence.
Rick and Morty have been trying to do much the same thing, and struggling at it ever since season 3. Simpsons too, and many others.
The best we can hope for is some brilliant ideas for the first season or so, then a mercifully quick ending. And please don't focus too much on the CGI - groundbreaking visuals were a legit part of the show's appeal back in the day, but are now cheap and ubiquitous.
This just in... (Score:2)
In another sign that real creativity in the entertainment industry is dead and buried, once again the best a "production company" can come up with is a reboot of a luke-warmly received TV series from the '80s. Bravo boys, bravo.
Re:This just in... (Score:5, Insightful)
Please no (Score:3)
Please, just no. Not only do we not need any more reboots but the sci fi depicted in the original is so out of date by today's standards no one would even recognize it as a Max Headroom remake without the name attached.
Sounds odd enough to work. (Score:4, Interesting)
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I really loved HACF. Lee Pace and the rest of the cast were what keep me watching. Felt like it should have ran for one more season.
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Hmm, couldn't get into it. I liked Lee Pace's character and the general the getting the feel of the time it was portraying, but I could not take any more of that Cameron character, she put me off the show.
Don't know if she becomes less annoying or less prominent as the show went on...
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I had the same feeling. after 4 episodes the show got typically boring and dramatic unnecessarily.
the only scene that was fantastic was the BIOS reverse engineering done in the garage by the two male leads.
The tv show not so much.. (Score:2)
But they definitively should pull off the "1987 special airing" in PBS again.
Re: The tv show not so much.. (Score:2)
That will come with some club fed time
But when? (Score:3)
But when will it debut? Probably 20 minutes into the future.
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I'd give you an upvote, but apparently those aren't available to me.
Nicolas Cage as all the characters. (Score:3)
Won't happen but it would work and be hilarious.
And today I learned (Score:2)
that there WAS another franchise left over from my children that hadn't yet been screwed to death.
But fortunately, the corporate hive mind has found a way to fix that too. It's not like I needed happy childhood memories or anything, I guess.
I hope it doesn't miss the point (Score:3)
Max was always kind of misunderstood, I feel. He was so ominous, and creepy, and I feel the linked video does the idea justice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
I agree with the poster of the video: Max COULD be the perfect satire to the insane political propaganda and internet personality boom happening at the moment. Max's hyperkinetic, hypermasculine, almost nazi-like appearance could be an awesome force for real satire again if it gained traction. Max was the perfect "spokesperson" for the disaster that was New Coke. It's hilarious in retrospect.
Re: I hope it doesn't miss the point (Score:2)
it was fair better as a weekly comedy-politics talk show than as a drama miniseries. Give the Daily Show and others some competition and add a bit of weirdness to the world.
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You're both right. Science has marched on, though, and now Max will have to compete with vtubers. Maybe the writing team will be able to use this dynamic for additional comedy.
Like trying to capture magic in a bottle (Score:2)