Classic Films

Network:

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beatrice Straight, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ned Beatty, Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, Best Film Editing -- Alan Heim, and Best Picture

Writer Paddy Chayefsky was eerily prescient in his screenplay in three significant ways. First, the screenplay pertains to the goings-on at UBS, the fictional fourth network existing alongside the non-fictional ABC, CBS, and NBC. In 1987 Fox became the real fourth network. Second, in her speech to her employees about her goals for UBS, Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) says, "I don't want conventional programming on this network. I want counterculture, I want anti-establishment", the type of programming delivered by FOX with its two debut series, Married... with Children (1987) and The Tracey Ullman Show (1987). Third, Diana Christensen's creation of the show about the Ecumenical Liberation Army and its criminal activities is prescient of "reality TV" in that, as a result of the writers' strike of 1988 (which lasted twenty-two weeks), FOX started to run low on new content. To replace it, the network bought the show Cops (1989) (which featured police officers trying to thwart criminal activity). Despite very noteworthy predecessors, such as An American Family (1973), which depicted the experiences of the Loud family, and Scared Straight! (1978), some consider Cops (1989) the true progenitor of the long-running trend of "reality TV".