ABSTRACT
In the futuristic society portrayed in Max Headroom, computers are ubiquitous, and the whole society is linked together by them. Max Headroom takes place in a futuristic nightmare society and recalls the dystopian societies found in films such as Mad Max, though it is not quite as extreme and does not posit a nuclear holocaust and wasteland. In Max Headroom, the situation is not quite as extreme as in "1984", but television does play a major role in the series: it keeps the masses occupied and prevents social chaos. This means that any cessation of television for an extended period of time is a threat to the society, which is posited as existing just at the edge of anarchy. The existence of a program such as Max Headroom shows that there is nothing in the medium of television that prevents directors and producers from creating superb shows.
