A ratings phenomenon.

A presenter, Howard Beale, who has been dumped by his wife and television company, is going through a breakdown on screen. This in front of millions of Americans, in his final week of broadcasting.

But his raves are making the ratings sky rocket. Then he is propped up by the television network. They christen a new show: the Howard Beale Show.

It’s funny, but seriously, this kind of scenario is not my cup of tea. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I was put-off at first. Too inhumane. Why even watch it happen?

I watched it on the movie Network. 

The Howard Beale Show

Network is a satire of the television industry, released in 1976.

It puts a mirror to the corruption and shallowness of ratings television, which is about whatever works or is perceived to work.

The Howard Beale Show is a show that works. It came along by accident when Howard is going through a breakdown. His raves go down a treat.

All the network see is money.

The public embrace him. He speaks their language—he’s honest, brutal and tells it like it is—all wrapped up in an effective whimsy that they take to their breast.

But the network does not know what he will say next. This may turn their fortunes from hero to zero.

Decency

Rating fluctuations is the fickle nature of ratings television. At the whim of someone fragile like Howard Beale, ratings instability is acerbated.

When it comes down to it, ratings hero Howard Beale is experiencing a breakdown; there’s a more pressing matter at hand. Howard Beale is a human being, not a statistic.

Beale is given to rants and raves and the others just want to make a buck out of him. He shouldn’t be a pawn in the rating’s game for his on screen raves and rants.

Ironically, Beale is the most human of the television people. He is going through a crisis with its share of revelations and concerns. This makes him the most honest.

A producer (played by William Holden) is being human when he sees Beale in trouble. In the sense that he sees Howard needs to be stood down because he is going through a breakdown.  He sees the need for decency.

The point of all this is that Network is about compulsive television, compulsive for the producers of television and the audience. Despite a milieu of making a buck no more and no less, the makers of this film seem to call to truth, love and decency.