Network Monologues

Network (Schlesinger)

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SCHLESINGER: These are those four outlines submitted by Universal for an hour series. You needn”t bother to read them. I”ll tell them to you. The first one is set in a large Eastern law school, presumably Harvard. The series is irresistibly entitled The Young Lawyers. The running characters are a crusty but benign ex-Supreme Court Justice, presumably Oliver Wendell Holmes by way of Dr. Zorba. There is a beautiful girl graduate student and the local district attorney who is brilliant and sometimes cuts corners. The second one is called The Amazon Squad. The running characters are a crusty but benign police lieutenant who”s always getting heat from the Commissioner, a hard-nosed, hard-drinking detective who thinks women belong in the kitchen, and a brilliant and beautiful young girl cop fighting the feminist battle on the force. The next one is another investigative reporter show. A crusty but benign managing editor who”s always getting heat from the publisher.More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Hackett)

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HACKETT: I got a hit, Schumacher, and Ruddy doesn”t count any more. He was hoping I”d fall on my face with this Beale show, but I didn”t. It”s a big, fat, big-t -d hit, and I don”t have to waffle around with Ruddy any more. If he wants to take me up before the C.C. and A. board, let him. And do you think Ruddy”s stupid enough to go to the CCA board and say: “I”m taking our one hit show off the air?” And comes November Fourteen, I”m going to be standing up there at the annual CCA management review meeting, and I”m going to announce projected earnings for this network for the first time in five years. And, believe me, Mr. Jensen will be sitting there rocking back and forth in his little chair, and he”s going to say: “That”s very good, Frank, keep it up.” So don”t have any illusions about who”s running this network from now on. You”re fired. I want you out of your office before noon or I”ll have you thrown out.More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Howard Beale)

Category: Role: From: Actor: Writer:

I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s no one anywhere that seems to know what to do with us. Now into it. We know the air is unfit to breathe, our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad. Worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in a house as slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster, and TV, and my steel belted radials and I won’t say anything.” Well I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crying in the streets. All I know is first you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, “I’m a human being. God Dammit, my life has value.” So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” I want you to get up right now. Get up. Go to your windows, open your windows, and stick your head out, and yell, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Things have got to change my friends. You’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Network (Howard)

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HOWARD: (serene, sits behind his desk) What”s happening to me, Max, isn”t mensurate in psychiatric terms. This is not a psychotic episode. It is a cleansing moment of clarity. (stands, an imbued man) I am imbued, Max. I am imbued with some special spirit. It”s not a religious feeling at all. It is a shocking eruption of great electrical energy: I feel vivid and flashing as if suddenly I had been plugged into some great cosmic electromagnetic field. I feel connected to all living things, to flowers, birds, to all the animals of the world and even to some great unseen living force, what I think the Hindus call prana. It is not a breakdown. I have never felt so orderly in my life! It is a shattering and beautiful sensation! It is the exalted flow of the space-time continuum, save that it is spaceless and timeless and of such loveliness! I feel on the verge of some great ultimate truth. You will not take me off the air for now or for any other spaceless time!More Monologues from “Network”

Network

From:

 I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV’s while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

In this famous scene from Network, veteran TV journalist Howard Beale, whose live rants are being exploited by his tv station, snaps and encourages the viewers at home to show the world that they’re mad at the injustices taking place, while the station is more interested in the ratings and is therefore overjoyed that the broadcast is becoming a phenomenon, with people heeding Howard’s advice. Peter Finch posthumously won the Academy Award for his performance as the crazed and exuberant journalist Howard Beale.

Network (Max)

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MAX: (exploding off the chair) I”m tired of this hysteria about Howard Beale! (raging around the room) And I”m tired of finding you on the goddamned phone every time I turn around! I”m tired of being an accessory in your life! And I”m tired of pretending to write this dumb book about my maverick days in those great early years of television! Every executive fired from a network in the last twenty years has written this dumb book about the great early days of television! Nobody wants another dumb book about the great goddamned early days of television!After six months of living with you, I”m turning into one of your scripts. But this isn”t a script, Diana. There”s some real actual life going on here. I went to visit my wife today because she”s in a state of depression, so depressed my daughter flew in from Seattle to be with her. And I feel lousy about that. I feel lousy about the pain I”ve caused my wife and kids. I feel guilty and conscience-stricken and all those things you think sentimental but which my generation called simple human decency. And I miss my home because I”m beginning to get scared s -less. It”s all suddenly closer to the end than to the beginning, and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me, with definable features. You”ve got a man going through primal doubts, Diana, and you”ve got to cope with it. Because I”m not some guy discussing male menopause on the Barbara Walters show. I”m the man you presumably love. I live right here. I”m part of your life. I”m real. You can”t switch to another channel.I just want you to love me, Diana. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. You understand that, don”t you?*For the version that was done in the Broadway play starring Bryan Cranston, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

After six months of living with you, I”m turning into one of your scripts. But this isn”t a script, Diana. There”s some real actual life going on here. I went to visit my wife today because she”s in a state of depression, so depressed my daughter flew in from Seattle to be with her. And I feel lousy about that. I feel lousy about the pain I”ve caused my wife and kids. I feel guilty and conscience-stricken and all those things you think sentimental but which my generation called simple human decency. And I miss my home because I”m beginning to get scared s -less. It”s all suddenly closer to the end than to the beginning, and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me, with definable features. You”ve got a man going through primal doubts, Diana, and you”ve got to cope with it. Because I”m not some guy discussing male menopause on the Barbara Walters show. I”m the man you presumably love. I live right here. I”m part of your life. I”m real. You can”t switch to another channel.I just want you to love me, Diana. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. You understand that, don”t you?*For the version that was done in the Broadway play starring Bryan Cranston, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

I just want you to love me, Diana. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. You understand that, don”t you?*For the version that was done in the Broadway play starring Bryan Cranston, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

*For the version that was done in the Broadway play starring Bryan Cranston, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Max)

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MAX: It”s too late, Diana! There”s nothing left in you that I can live with! You”re one of Howard”s humanoids, and, if I stay with you, I”ll be destroyed! Like Howard Beale was destroyed! Like Laureen Hobbs was destroyed! Like everything you and the institution of television touch is destroyed! You are television incarnate, Diana, indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. The daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split-seconds and instant replays. You are madness, Diana, virulent madness, and everything you touch dies with you. Well, not me! Not while I can still feel pleasure and pain and love!More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Max)

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MAX: Well, I”m just tired by all this hysteria about Howard Beale. And I”m tired of finding you on the goddam phone every time I turn around. I”m tired of being an accessory in your life. After six months of living with you, I”m turning into one of your scripts. But this isn”t a script, Diana. There”s some real actual life going on here. I went to visit my wife today. She”s so depressed my daughter flew in from Seattle to be with her.Yes, I feel lousy about that. I feel lousy about the pain I”ve caused my wife and kids. I feel guilty and conscience-stricken and all those things you think sentimental but which my generation called simple human decency. And I miss my home because I”m beginning to get scared s -less. It”s all suddenly closer to the end than to the beginning, and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me. You”ve got a man going through primal doubts, Diana, and you”ve got to cope with it. Because I”m not some guy discussing male menopause on the Barbara Walters show. I”m the man you presumably love. I”m part of your life. I live here. I”m real. You can”t switch to another station.I just want you to love me. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. We”re born in terror and we live in terror. Life can be endured only as an act of faith and the only act of faith any of us are capable of is love. You understand that, don”t you? (The phone rings. They stare at one another. Finally she picks it up.) You are a wasteland, Diana.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

Yes, I feel lousy about that. I feel lousy about the pain I”ve caused my wife and kids. I feel guilty and conscience-stricken and all those things you think sentimental but which my generation called simple human decency. And I miss my home because I”m beginning to get scared s -less. It”s all suddenly closer to the end than to the beginning, and death is suddenly a perceptible thing to me. You”ve got a man going through primal doubts, Diana, and you”ve got to cope with it. Because I”m not some guy discussing male menopause on the Barbara Walters show. I”m the man you presumably love. I”m part of your life. I live here. I”m real. You can”t switch to another station.I just want you to love me. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. We”re born in terror and we live in terror. Life can be endured only as an act of faith and the only act of faith any of us are capable of is love. You understand that, don”t you? (The phone rings. They stare at one another. Finally she picks it up.) You are a wasteland, Diana.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

I just want you to love me. I just want you to love me, primal doubts and all. We”re born in terror and we live in terror. Life can be endured only as an act of faith and the only act of faith any of us are capable of is love. You understand that, don”t you? (The phone rings. They stare at one another. Finally she picks it up.) You are a wasteland, Diana.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Diana)

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DIANA: Did you know there are a number of psychics working as licensed brokers on Wall Street? (she sits across from Max, fishes a cigarette out of her purse) Some of them counsel their clients by use of Tarot cards. They”re all pretty successful, even in a bear market and selling short. I met one of them a couple of weeks ago and thought of doing a show around her. The Wayward Witch of Wall Street, something like that. But, of course, if her tips were any good, she could wreck the market. So I called her this morning and asked her how she was on predicting the future. She said she was occasionally prescient. “For example”, she said, “I just had a fleeting vision of you sitting in an office with a craggy middle-aged man with whom you are or will be emotionally involved.” And here I am.More Monologues from “Network”

Network (Diana)

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DIANA: Last night Howard Beale went on the air and yelled bulls – for two minutes and we”ve got press coverage you couldn”t buy for a million dollars. Did you see the overnights on the Network News? It has an eight in New York and a nine in LA and 27 share on both cities. I can tell you right now if we put Beale back on tonight the show will get a 30 share at least. I think we”ve totally lucked into something.Yes, I think we should put Beale back on the air tonight and keep him on. Frank, that dumb show jumped five rating points in one night! We just increased our audience by twenty or thirty million people in one night. You”re not going to get something like this dumped in your lap for the rest of your days and you just can”t p – it away. Howard Beale got up there last night and said what every American feels – that he”s tired of all the bulls -. He”s articulating the popular rage. I want that show, Frank. I can turn that show into the biggest smash on television.I see Howard Beale as a latter-day prophet, a magnificent messianic figure, inveighing against the hypocrites of our times, a nightly Savonarola, Monday through Friday. I tell you, Frank, that could just go through the roof. And I”m talking about a six-dollar cost per thousand show! Do you want to figure out the revenues of a strip show that sells for a hundred thousand bucks a minute? One show like that could pull this whole network right out of the hole. Now, Frank, it”s being handed to us on a plate. Let”s not blow it.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

Yes, I think we should put Beale back on the air tonight and keep him on. Frank, that dumb show jumped five rating points in one night! We just increased our audience by twenty or thirty million people in one night. You”re not going to get something like this dumped in your lap for the rest of your days and you just can”t p – it away. Howard Beale got up there last night and said what every American feels – that he”s tired of all the bulls -. He”s articulating the popular rage. I want that show, Frank. I can turn that show into the biggest smash on television.I see Howard Beale as a latter-day prophet, a magnificent messianic figure, inveighing against the hypocrites of our times, a nightly Savonarola, Monday through Friday. I tell you, Frank, that could just go through the roof. And I”m talking about a six-dollar cost per thousand show! Do you want to figure out the revenues of a strip show that sells for a hundred thousand bucks a minute? One show like that could pull this whole network right out of the hole. Now, Frank, it”s being handed to us on a plate. Let”s not blow it.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

I see Howard Beale as a latter-day prophet, a magnificent messianic figure, inveighing against the hypocrites of our times, a nightly Savonarola, Monday through Friday. I tell you, Frank, that could just go through the roof. And I”m talking about a six-dollar cost per thousand show! Do you want to figure out the revenues of a strip show that sells for a hundred thousand bucks a minute? One show like that could pull this whole network right out of the hole. Now, Frank, it”s being handed to us on a plate. Let”s not blow it.*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”

*For Paddy Chayefsky”s original film version of this monologue, click here.More Monologues from “Network”