All episodes Season 1 S01E05 1987-04-28 60 min 1980s ABC

Max Headroom

War

TV Flash files “War” as hour 5 of 14 in the TV Flash guide — Max Headroom (1987–1988) on ABC, season 1, episode 5, aired 1987-04-28, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 14 in the Max Headroom guide, hour 5 of 6 in season 1. It aired 1987-04-28 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Security Systems” (S01E04). Next is “The Blanks” (S01E06).

Max Headroom — War (S01E05)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

A terrorist group called the White Brigade claims responsibility for a series of live, televised bombings, with the aid of one of Network 23's competitors, BreakThru TV. Carter and company investigate and soon uncover the truth: the terrorists are working with a sleazy programming package distributor who sells exclusive rights to coverage of their attacks to finance their activities.

Viewer FAQ

Where does War sit in the Max Headroom guide?

S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 14 — hour 5 of 6 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.

When did Max Headroom S01E05 air?

War aired 1987-04-28 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Is Max a real CGI character?

Stuttering computer-generated host as the 1980s sold it — Frewer in a dual role, chrome as aesthetic. The ads sometimes outshone the ABC series. The blipverts are the sting.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Twenty minutes into the future: stuttering computer-generated host, TV-news as authoritarian weather, and cyberpunk chrome on ABC of all places. Matt Frewer's Max became a Coke pitchman who sometimes outshone the series. Brief, glossy, and still the weirdest primetime warning about media monopolies America accidentally aired. The blipverts still sting.

Two seasons. Fourteen hours. ABC, 1987–1988, after Channel 4 U.K. origins: investigative reporter Edison Carter and his digital alter ego expose corporate media dystopia — twenty minutes into the future. That is the window, not a chrome souvenir. Max Headroom, from George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton, put Matt Frewer in the dual role of Carter and the stuttering computer-generated host, with Amanda Pays and Chris Young. Cyberpunk visual language on American network primetime, however briefly. TV-news…

Open the Max Headroom package · Season 1 hub

Filed against

Also in season 1

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