References
(A small piece of the fun of a Sorkin script is all the references he throws out.)
- In 101 - The Pilot
- News programs report on Wes’s on air rant by comparing it to the fictional rant in the movie “Network”. Later Jordan says that a good thing that has come out of Wes’s rant is it got people talking about Paddy Chayefsky (who’s screenplay for “Network” won him an Oscar and got “Network” named as one of the 100 Greatest American Movies by the American Film Institute). The review printed in Amazon’s page for the DVD:
Media madness reigns supreme in screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky’s scathing satire about the uses and abuses of network television. But while Chayefsky’s and director Sidney Lumet’s take on television may seem quaint in the age of ‘reality TV’ and Jerry Springer’s talk-show fisticuffs, it’s every bit as potent now as it was when the film was released in 1976. And because Chayefsky was one of the greatest of all dramatists, his Oscar-winning script about the ratings frenzy at the cost of cultural integrity is a showcase for powerhouse acting by Peter Finch… who… plays a veteran network anchorman who’s been fired because of low ratings. His character’s response is to announce he’ll kill himself on live television two weeks hence. What follows, along with skyrocketing ratings, is the anchorman’s descent into insanity, during which he fervently rages against the medium that made him a celebrity…. Through it all, Chayefsky (via Finch) urges the viewer to repeat the now-famous mantra ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!’” to reclaim our humanity from the medium that threatens to steal it away. –Jeff Shannon - May come up in 102 “The Cold Open”
- P.G. Wodehouse
- Tim Russert (NBC)
- Stephanopoulos (ABC)
- Blitzer
- Bill Maher
- Barbra Streisand
- Michael Moore
- Mark Wahlberg - host
- The White Stripes is the musical guest
- Roseanne Barr
- Commedia dell’Arte (see FAQ)
- Garry Marshall
- Happy Days
- Moliere parodies
- Kanye, Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Gwen Stefani, Stone Temple Pilots, Green Day
- Esa-Pekka Salonen and the L.A. Philharmonic. LA Opera Chorus. the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. After that try the USC or UCLA orchestras.
- Terre Haute
- Ralph Reed, Donald Wildmon
- Jay, Conan, Dave, SNL
