European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Television my Max headroom debuts on an screens by Sarah Bottorff they say Mhz in i yeas created when some television geniuses were Toltl to create character and a Pool for it to series Vith Only the words mtg cops As a clue to  their Bosses wanted. Makes you wonder what words launched Max headroom magnum on .1 video i inc maybe whatever it was Here was definitely Genius at work. This show is like looking Inlo a video game like playing for an hour without having to put in a Quarter. It is All laps and  and lightning changes of direction nil tapping sound and beeps and Cam Pulcer Ler Ninal hums All dark scenes where Only the computer screen shines with Light. I think in s one of the Best shows i be seen this year. My friends without exception have All looked at me very strangely when i Lold them not to miss Max hts Harooni Well ire for yourself. Ii starts Friday in .1tl . An is really Good science Filion. Vou can Lei that sum people were actually thinking when  this series which is More than you Tan say fur to lot of to shows. For instance the horrible thins i he network is cling is producing a split second commercial designed to stimulate vie tvrs nerves to .1 frenzy of need for a sponsor s product. What they re trying to cover up is that viewers nerves can be so stimulated that it kills them. All right sounds silly?.Well what Aboul the concept of Max headroom himself he s created when a Young computer Genius tries to read the thoughts of the to reporter Carter and curls up producing in image on computer of Carter s mind an image of a Square Jawed stuttering my Max headroom who promptly escapes into the computer system Anil pops up on television screens nationwide telling people what schmucks the network people Are. Well i guess that sounds fairly silly too. Maybe my friends in right maybe i am losing my mind. Bui i  like Max Henr Tronni Max the to series disappeared Inlo the to Voitik vis quickly As Max the character slipped into the computer system ii did t survive Inlo the 19i1h-fi9 to season although the Max character appears in various channels  music videos. And with the 19b8-u9. Season ratings just in it s about inc time of  network executives  will disappear in 19h9, and what Wilt survive. Well get a second or third year of some shows others will never be seen again. Already renewed according to announcements list week arc thirlus Omeline. Knots Landing  and Falcon Crest Funky Brewner is cancelled. It s a fairly Safe bet that shows in the top it of Nielsen rated show for this season will survive to the next. All but the 10th Are shows the armed forces radio and television network is sending or soon will be sending to . Stations in Europe. There my be something to worry about though with tour of duty 771h in the list of 10.1 shows4fl fours 73rdand Beauty ill i it beast Anil , which arc lied at 69th place. The lop 10 shows in order Are the Cusby Shaw , a different world cd Viva 60 mini itch Gahlen girls tvs to s the Boss murder she Ratet imply Vesi and anything but a of. This is seb s week to get  Beach which stars with its Pilot film wednesday at 9 1 5 . A Friend of mine insists lie s never seen a show plunge so fast from spectacular Pilot to so so series. Some of the episodes in the Middle of this China  s first year were pretty Ordinary it s True. But most were close to fantastic. The Pilot film is indeed he Besl Showoff the Seasor year though. Sed in a pretty military related week has also ended tour of duty and started Trie dirty dozen Lime to be announced anal is gelling a i a to round out the picture at 10 10 . Saturdays. Americans in an s area who Are dying to see 5mr trek the next generation and an reports there Are a Bunch of them who want to know when Well be gelling the show mag he want to see the heating  at 3 . 2 in he . The children s show returns in an with a behind the scenes look a i the Star trek show a titled by in of. It fun Varrin series  Lavar Turton. I m probably not i he Besl judge of read Iii Kain in. My 5-year-old Nephew though reports thai it s kind of Boring. Also resuming on an is Bronx zoo with de Asner fou Ceranti playing the principal in in explosive Bronx High school Al 8 . Saturday 7 in the . If you Haven t seen it before it s in the category of nol bad. Ii moves fast and the characters arc All likable. One of those shows in the ironing Board category this is a Good show to in lab while you re doing something else like ironing. To adored and vilified celebrates 50th birthday by Howard Rosenberg los Angeles times it is adored and it is vilified. It is feared by some As a mind Allering drug or3 subliminal messenger ridiculed by others As a bowl tube an idiot Box. To some it is a revolus Ion a religion Juile simply the most profound development of modern times. This year american Ink vision turns so. On april 30,1939r Abc decided in launch n regular service starting with president Franklin 0, Roosevell s opening address at the new York world s fair. Only a shrinking minority of americans can recall when there was t to or even when it began it barely crawled in 19 9, slept through world War ii awoke and by Gan to walk Only Iii the Laic 1940s. Ii grew a full head in the los. It seems like Only yesterday Tinl television was All jangly legs and pimples uhen americans plopped to dinners on to tables in front of to sets and got excited watching even the test pattern. It seems like yesterday  Betty furriers was unable loosen the door of a refrigerator  Ihu was demonstrating in a live commercial. After she repeatedly failed to Budge the door stage lands had to come Over and yank it open. Well Furness said Aboul the fridge it s usually  Flash Back to 1 Iso and you see Faye Emerson s ratings soar As her necklines plunge return to 1952 and you see Early morning to born when Abc s j today show takes to the air. Relive 1956 and you see Alta i Hunlley Brinety report premiere on nut forging the Way for anchors to become the gleaming Hood ornaments of news and the messengers who overshadow the message. The same year you see the declining age of live drama and the emerging of the big Money quizzes to he followed by the quiz show scandals. Rerun the 1960s and you see live to coming the aftermath of president Kennedy . Vou seets making in Vietnam warns available to american Homes As f troop and Hagin heroes. You see the arrival of i minutes the lbs series thai would prove thai prime time news shows can be Lom Mercia Suc Cemes.  1970s and you webs All in the Rimi a redefine situation comedy. Vou see pc s  uverpvolulifinl70 saturday nights. You see Abc s Neh int ?e Wec hours to fur the serious minded. Look Back at 1910 and you Sou Ronald  begin to of Eccl to significantly As nut Only a great communicator but As a great de regulator who placed his Trust in Market Fortes to Day 38 purdent of the nation s households  at least one to Sel. The  household has a set on More than seven hours a Day and the typical viewer watches to Al least our hours a Day. Mure than half the Nalion s households  for Cable giving viewers so Many channels to choose among that their thumbs Are gelling raw from Ope Raling their Remote control devices. In shrinking the Globe television has altered our perceptions of ourselves and others. Thanks to to for example Mikhail Corban Hev is nol merely a soviet Leader peering Over the kit Mlin Wall. He has Access to our Homes live from Havana or London As easily As president Bush does live from the while House. Vel even As to has expanded our International Outlook and made us smarter in a me areas it has just As surely fractured attention spans and hampered learning skills in other area s. So Muc h on to is capsule Zed miniaturized or abridged. There Are a multitude of studies on to that yield a multitude of conflicting data. To s  Impact May never be known or Al the very least May vary from generation  and depend on other environmental factors. To is now so vast and powerful that its influence extends  areas of society bul none mors so  politics. The fusion of television and politics is almost Complete. The single biggest expenditure of a political Campaign is inevitably television. Candidates reach the electorate through i Levision to  election a candidate increasingly has to perform Well on television. The president communicates to the people through television. Whsle television does Best though is shape political agendas. Ii does that by telling us what to think about if nol what to think. Meanwhile to s Impact will grow As its technology grows. As to begins its second 50 years the technology will be exciting. The predictions Are that to screens soon will be almost paper thin that site Lille dishes will be tiny enough to keep on j table that to. Will be in he. And of course Thor  be High definition to screens with vastly More reception lines screens tint will produce sharper clearer pictures with no interference Hollywood wives in High definition it s almost Loo exciting i o imagine. That Content is what television is really about though in t it the technology has always been exciting at its various stages of development. H s the human Factor the programming that inevitably lags behind. In 193fl, . While predicted that to would be til her a new and  of the. General peace or a saving radiance in the  in its first so years it s been bothapri/27, St rift Magazine