This post originally appeared at Mental Floss. 

Entertainment gossip rags are all abuzz discussing the pros and cons of a possible Dwight Schrute (of The Office fame) spinoff TV series. No doubt the producers and agents involved are too blinded by dollar signs to take the time to examine the fates of previous spinoff shows based on “can’t miss” popular characters. We hereby submit 11 such shows that barely made it past the drawing board.

Think the networks pulled the plug too early? Would you have watched any of these?

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W*A*L*T*E*R

This M*A*S*H spinoff had as complicated a broadcast history as plot backstory. Gary Burghoff, who’d played the loveable Cpl. Radar O’Reilly at the 4077, provided a bit of background for his upcoming solo series during a special guest appearance on an episode of yet another ill-fated spinoff, After M*A*S*H. There we learned that Radar’s (oops – he made it clear in the pilot that his name was “Walter”) farm had failed and he’d shipped his mom off to live with an aunt. He’d married a woman named Sandy who left him for another man during their honeymoon. He now lived in St. Louis with his cousin and was a rookie cop on the local police force. The first episode showed hapless, naïve Walter exhibiting typical Radar-like behavior, such as getting embarrassed when breaking up a fight at a strip club, and buying a soda for a kid he falsely accused of committing a crime. The pilot episode of W*A*L*T*E*R aired just once (on July 17th, 1984; the series was not picked up), and only in the Eastern and Central time zones thanks to CBS affiliates cutting to live coverage of the 1984 Democratic National Convention at 9:00pm.

Facts of Life: Next Generation

The proposed Facts of Life spinoff had several working titles but never made it past the two-part Facts of Life finale entitled “The Beginning of the Beginning.” It was to be a vehicle for Lisa Whelchel, whose snooty Blair Warner character would buy the financially troubled Eastland School and become its new headmistress.

The Art of Being Nick

Scott Valentine was introduced as Nick Moore, Mallory’s love interest on Family Ties, during the series’ fourth season. Nick was a retro-hippie “environmental” artist who made sculptures out of garbage and whose grungy appearance and lack of scholastic ambition was a sore point with Steven, Elyse and Alex. Audience reaction to Nick was so positive that not one but three different pilots for a spinoff series were filmed in 1986. The one that made it to the air in 1987 was The Art of Being Nick and co-starred a pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Even though the ratings were encouraging, NBC honcho Brandon Tartikoff nixed the series, preferring to keep the Nick character as a semi-regular on Family Ties.

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Martial Arts legend and actor Jackie Chan has cashed in on his fortune from his blockbuster films with a brand new private jet.

According to Shanghaiist, Chan just purchased a new Embraer Legacy 650 and had it painted in a unique dragon livery. The Legacy 650 is one of Embraer's top of the line executive jets. Before modifications, it looks like the plane has a starting price of $29 million.

We really like the way "Jackie" is written on the tail. It looks like traditional Chinese art has merged with an Austin Powers-esque psychedelic style.

Like it or loathe it, you have to admit that this plane has a unique look. Considering this is the Year of the Dragon, it is also very appropriate.

Take a look at the plane's first public appearance in Singapore over the weekend (YouTube via Shanghaiist):

Take a look at some more unique planes >

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Thanks to the videos he posts to YouTube, Jimmy Kimmel is bringing in between $1 and $2 million in revenue a year, the Wall Street Journal's Christopher Stewart reports.

Kimmel's YouTube presence is made up of eight to 12 clips a day of material that either got cut from the regular show or builds on his most popular skits. His channel has ~314,000 subscribers and 40 million total view, the show told the WSJ — about 230,000 per video.

Stewart writes:

The YouTube notion came in 2008, as Mr. Kimmel noticed that posted clips from his made-up battle with Matt Damon were getting millions of views across the Web. As the core age of late-night TV hovered in the 50s, Mr. Kimmel saw an opportunity to grab a younger audience. "We saw people putting it up [online] and thought, 'We should do this ourselves,'" he said.

And Kimmel's success also seems to be deflating the idea that a web presence would drain away viewers of its TV counterpart: Kimmel's ABC show is the only major late-night program to see a year over year increase in viewership.

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Scarlett Johansson's boyfriend, ad exec Nate Naylor, sucker-punched a guy at an East Village bar two months ago, according to Gawker.

The bloody nose was over a woman ... and not Scarlett Johansson, according to Gawker's anonymous witness.

Apparently Naylor punched an ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in the face after he ran into them at a bar. Then he hid in a bathroom until security pried him out.

There was no explanation for Naylor's motive.

Naylor is a creative executive who most recently worked at Wieden & Kennedy in Amsterdam and has been working as a successful freelancer since 2010.

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A cloud of hair spray engulfs Louise Maselis as she studies her reflection in the mirror backstage at Chelsea art gallery EyeBeam Atelier, minutes before the Christian Siriano runway show.

This is Maselis' first New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and she's reveling in the excitement and the fast-pace nature of it all.

"I'm really, really excited and not too nervous for my first season," said the 19-year-old Belgian beauty. Siriano's show was the fourth of the week for Maselis, who also walked for Cynthia Rowley this season. Maselis has been modeling for four years.

At Siriano's show, Maselis told us about her favorite part of the former "Project Runway" winner's collection.

"The entire thing, it's amazing and so cool," Maselis said. "I love the inspiration. I love the makeup. It's based around vampires and bats. It's very rock-chic. I love it."

The dark lips and pale faces helped the models embody the vampire-look. And the clothes they wore on the runway had wings, so that they truly did resemble bats.

The hour before the runway show begins, each model is surrounded by at least three makeup or hair artists who perfect her runway look. There's a quick walk through, so the models get a feel for the runway. Christian Siriano even gave the group a demonstration of the perfect runway turn.

Maselis wore a bold black sparkly piece during rehearsal. Here she strikes a pose for us.

Another model gets her hair done. Most of the girls had long hair in the show.

We're talking really long.

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Fans were angered if they tried to purchase Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection via iTunes soon after her death. The music distributor raised the prices significantly within a half hour of her passing Saturday, according to Digital Spy. 

Spy first reported a three pound increase in Houston's UK-single disc The Ultimate Collection (similar to Houston's US The Greatest Hits).  

Although many are pointing the finger at Apple for exploiting Houston's death, The Guardian reported Sony Music is responsible for the price hike. 

But as of Sunday, the album returned to its original price. Currently, The Greatest Hits is the second biggest-selling album behind Adele's Grammy winning 21.

As of today, here are Houston's three most expensive albums we found on iTunes:

Whitney Houston - iTunes essential ($18.45) 

Whitney - The Greatest Hits ($14.99)

Whitney Houston - The Deluxe Anniversary Edition ($14.99)

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Tributes to Whitney Houston helped Sunday's 54th Annual Grammy Awards draw more than 39 million viewers, the second-largest audience ever for the show, according to preliminary numbers.

The show, which aired on CBS, was the most-watched since 1984, when Michael Jackson won a record-setting eight awards.

It was up more than 40 percent over last year's ceremony in the ratings, scoring a 14.1 in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, according to the preliminary numbers.

That would match the highest rating since the 14.2 in 1990, when Bonnie Raitt led with four awards. (1990 was also the year Milli Vanilli won the Best New Artist Award, which was revoked when it was revealed that the duo had not sung on their album.)

The Grammys also had a 14.1 in 1993, when Eric Clapton dominated with six awards.

Before the Grammys, "60 Minutes" at 7 p.m. aired an interview with Adele (who went on to receive six Grammys) that scored a 2.9/8 and 14.5 million total viewers. It was up 93 percent in the demo from the last "60 Minutes" original airing two weeks ago. CBS was easily the highest-rated and most-watched network, averaging an 11.5/27 in the demo and 34.5 million viewers.

ABC drew the second-highest ratings of the night, but dropped off dramatically from CBS's numbers. "America's Funniest Home Videos" at 7 enjoyed a modest boost with a 2.0/5 in the demo and 7.7 million total viewers, while "Once Upon a Time" was down 14 percent from its most recent original airing two weeks ago with a 3.0/7 in the demo and 8.6 million total viewers. "Desperate Housewives" at 9 slid to a series low, dropping 31 percent to a 1.8/4 in the demo and drawing 6.3 million total viewers, while "Pan Am" closed out the night at 10 with a 42 percent nosedive from its last original airing three weeks ago, dropping to a series low of 0.7/2 in the demo and 2.6 million total viewers. Overall, ABC averaged a 1.9/4 in the demo and 6.4 million total viewers.

Fox ran a "Bob's Burgers" repeat at 7, followed by "The Cleveland Show" at 7:30, which posted a 1.2/3 in the demo and 2.7 million total viewers. "The Simpsons" at 8 drew a 2.0/5 in the demo and 4.3 million total viewers, while "Napoleon Dynamite" at 8:30 received a 1.7/4 in the demo and 3.8 million total viewers. "Family Guy" at 9 took a 2.5/6 in the demo and 4.9 million total viewers, while "American Dad" finished the night at 9:30 with a 1.7/4 in the demo and 3.5 million total viewers. The network was third in ratings and fourth in viewers, averaging a 1.7/4 and 3.6 million.

On NBC, "Dateline" from 7 to 9 grew 33 percent from its last original airing five weeks ago, posting a 1.6/4 in the demo and 6.7 million total viewers, while "Fear Factor" from 9 to 11 dropped 35 percent from its most recent telecast on Jan. 9, hitting a series low in the demo with a 1.5/3, with 3.7 million total viewers. NBC was fourth in ratings and third in viewers with a 1.5/4 and 5.3 million.

This post originally appeared at The Wrap.

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After having recently purchased a $3.95 million Tribeca loft, Naomi Watts and her partner Liev Shreiber are putting their house in Brentwood, Calif. on the rental market for $20,000 a month, according to Trulia.

The rumor, Trulia says, is that Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom have moved in, though the house is due to go on the market on March 1. 

A throwback to a French country villa, the couple's mansion features beautiful views of the California countryside.

The house is very bright, with high ceilings.

Source: Trulia

The future tenants can relax in the media room.

Source: Trulia

The courtyard is accessible from the dining room.

Source: Trulia

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Earlier today, journalism guru Jim Romenesko tweeted that a columnist had admitted that he had written a article called 'Why Teachers Have Sex With Their Students' because he thought it would get a lot of pageviews.

And he was no doubt right about that.

I was certainly curious about the answer to that question, so I clicked on the link. And as I did so, I also thought, "How refreshing--a journalist who actually cares about writing stuff that people want to read. Maybe we should hire him."

Alas, when I landed on the column, I found that it was just a bait-and-switch--a technique in which someone puts an interesting-sounding headline on a boring article and makes the reader feel duped and annoyed for clicking.

The column was indeed titled "Why Teachers Have Sex With Their Students" (or something close), but then in the first sentence the writer announced that the column was not actually about that topic at all--that he had just titled it that because he thought that would make people read it. And then he went off on one of those snooty sermons about how pedestrian and base Internet readers are for clicking on stories about topics like "Why Teachers Have Sex With Their Students."

I've read enough of those that if I never read another one it will be too soon.

But, still, hoping to learn why teachers have sex with their students (I'm a parent, and as much as I never even want to contemplate this topic, I also don't want to be in denial about it), I pressed on until the end.

Only to find that the bastard didn't even answer the question!

So I had to answer the question myself.

I asked Google: "Why do teachers have sex with their students."

And Google instantly produced links to a bunch of articles on this precise topic.

According to the first couple of articles (no, this was not exhaustive research), here are some common reasons teachers have sex with their students:

• Love.  In perhaps the most famous case of a teacher having sex (and kids) with her student, 34-year-old wife and mother Mary Kay Letourneau was thrown in the slammer for the "child rape" of a 13-year old student named Vili Fualaau. Letourneau was let out after 6 months, whereupon she was found in a car having sex with Vili again. Letourneau was sent back to prison for many years. When she got out, she married Vili, with whom, by that point, she had had two kids. They sold the video rights to their wedding for $750,000 and sold a book entitled, "Only One Crime--Love." The book was published in France, not America.

• Loneliness.  According to an article on Oprah's site, sometimes teachers who have sex with their students are at a difficult place in their lives: "An impending divorce helped push 27-year-old Pamela Rogers into getting intimate with her 13-year-old student in 2004, says Joan Schleicher, a Nashville forensic psychologist who testified in court on her behalf. "She was demoralized and feeling empty inside, and he was the one to whom she could turn her attention." As the relationship progressed, Rogers (a former homecoming queen now serving an eight-year sentence) began, as many of these women do, to live in a world of "magical thinking," Schleicher says. "And she responded to that instead of the rules of society."

• Lust.  Again, according to Oprah's site: "I've had cases where a teacher starts out seeing a kid simply to tutor him, but soon they begin talking about their personal lives and what music they like, then they're listening to iPods together and texting each other, and suddenly it's like a dating relationship," says Robert J. Shoop, PhD, director of the Cargill Center for Ethical Leadership at Kansas State University and author of Sexual Exploitation in Schools.These teachers have a poor concept of boundaries, so they don't recognize when they've crossed the line into inappropriate behavior, says Shoop. Even as police handcuffed her, Debra Lafave, the 23-year-old Florida teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old student, admitted in an interview that she didn't feel she'd committed a crime—"I was thinking of [myself] as a young girl who just got caught with her boyfriend."

• They themselves were sexually abused as kids or had their minds otherwise warped. Again, Oprah: "Such arrested development may result from having been sexually abused themselves as children, says Larry Morris, PhD, a Tucson-based forensic psychologist and author of Dangerous Women: Why Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters Become Stalkers, Molesters, and Murderers."But most of these women come from conflict-ridden families where they didn't learn healthy social skills. Many learned to get their emotional needs—for love, attention, approval—met through sexual behavior." Once they start teaching, if faced with some kind of serious stressor (marital problems, for example) in addition to the right child sitting in their class, it's not a far leap to sex offender."

And then there are some more theories, advanced by writer David Kupelian in this article.

• More time for unsupervised contact, thanks to both parents working.  Folks who hang out together unsupervised are apparently more likely to have sex.

• "Cell-phone technology, text messaging and e-mail afford opportunities for teachers and students to communicate privately that didn’t exist a generation ago." More texting, apparently, leads to more sex.

• "The explosion of hardcore pornography, especially online, has resulted in the exposure of children to graphic sexual images to a far greater degree than at any time in history." More porn apparently leads to more sex.

Now, all of these reasons and theories, of course, seek to explain the more socially acceptable form of teachers having sex with students, which is women teachers having sex with post-pubescent male students, some of whom apparently consider the experience their "lucky day."

The other kind of sex with students--the kind perpetrated by serial child-molesters, usually men, some of whom apparently go into teaching as a way to get a steady flow of potential victims--is a whole different discussion (and far more horrifying).

SEE ALSO: Wives Are Most Likely To Start Cheating On The Day After Valentine's Day

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After hosting a post-Grammy party at the Playboy Mansion Sunday night Diddy was driven to the hospital for an extreme migraine, TMZ reports. 

The hip-hop mogul was taken to the UCLA emergency room by his camp when he returned home from the party. He has since been released and is reportedly feeling better. 

A source told TMZ that the headache was "unrelated to anything that went down at the Mansion." 

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Before the Academy Awards became more about "Best Dressed" than "Best Picture," they were a popular awards show that showed film clips so that people watching from home could decide which films they actually wanted to see.

In recent years, the Oscars, now in their 84th year, have become more about the celeb attendees, what they're wearing and who their dates are than the films themselves.

But if you haven't yet gotten around to seeing all of the nine films nominated for "Best Picture," here are all of the trailers in one place so that you can decide what you need to see (and what you can skip) before the big show on Sunday, Feb. 26.

And if you're entering an office Oscar pool, we want you to win.

CATEGORY: BEST PICTURE

BEST PICTURE: "THE ARTIST"

BEST PICTURE: "THE DESCENDANTS"

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Who is that 19-year-old on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition?

You're not alone if you didn't know who Kate Upton was.

Upton was already a successful model, but her breakthrough came less than a year ago following a viral YouTube video of her doing the Dougie at a Clippers game. (And if you don't know what the Dougie is, it's a dance described in "Teach Me How To Dougie" by Cali Swag District.)

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Yesterday, Brad Pitt spoke to NPR about his character in the Oscar nominated film Moneyball as well as his role as a producer in the film.

His character is Billy Beane, the manager of a cash-strapped baseball team with dreams of turning it into a powerhouse squad. The film is based on a true story.

We can't say we're surprised that the film has garnered such critical acclaim, it's adapted from a book by Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker and The Big Short, and the film was written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.

Here are a few excellent quotes from the interview, and you can listen to it in full here.

• Pitt on his character: "I like him for his idiosyncrasies — that he can't watch the games without getting too emotional, that he often has food down his shirt, that he tends to break a few chairs now and then," Pitt says. "These things make him human."
  
  
• Pitt on making the film authentic: "We had a work session where about 30 scouts came in and out," Pitt says. "We're all riffing, and after it, [director] Bennett Miller said, 'Look at these faces: This is what we have to do — we gotta get these guys in the scene.'
  
  
• Pitt on the challenges of making the film: "We came up to the last minute," Pitt says. "We were supposed to be filming days before, [but] the studio didn't like the price. They had no problem with the story, but at that price, they could not justify it. And we could not bring it down to a price that both sides would be happy with, so we had to start over."

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• George Clooney's "Descendants" daughter, Shailene Woodley, strips down on the cover of Vs. Magazine—for photog Drew Barrymore.
• It wasn't a hacker! Oprah apologizes for tweet encouraging Nielsen viewers to watch her network instead of the Grammys.

• President Obama says his "thoughts and prayers" are with Whitney Houston's family, especially daughter Bobbi Kristina.

• "White Collar" star Matt Bomer comes out of the closet at an L.A. awards show. Yup, he's gay.

• Gisele Bundchen is done talking smack on the football field and is back on her home turf, the runway.

• 62-year-old Ivana Trump struts her stuff on the beach in a bikini.

• Watch Taylor Swift's new "Safe & Sound" music video for "The Hunger Games."

• Wendy Williams breaks down as she talks about her own past crack addiction in the wake of Whitney Houston's death. “It’s been almost 15 years since I smoked last from a crack pipe," revealed Williams.

                     Watch the emotional clip below:

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Kate Upton is burning up the internet after her barely there Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.

Before she was a "supermodel," however, she was just an ordinary model, doing ads.

She appeared in the Victoria's Secret catalog and also shot a forgettable online ad for Sobe the water and tea brand.

Currently, she's about to star in a sexy new ad for the Hardee's/Carl's Jr burger chain, writhing around on a car at a drive-in while eating a Southwest Patty Melt. The ad agency behind that campaign is 72andSunny.

2010: Upton modeled for bag designer Dooney & Bourke—fully clothed.

Garage clothing: Her modeling work for this small chain appears to have all but disappeared from the web.

She was in the Guess campaign a year ago—hard to believe she was unknown at the time.

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Celebrities and designers took a moment out of their hectic New York Fashion Week schedules to tell Business Insider their Valentine's Day plans.

While most are spending the lovers' holiday with their children, Camila Alves says "every day is Valentine's Day" with her fiancé Matthew McConaughey.

See who else has a hot date tonight.

Watch below:

Produced by Dan Goodman

Goldie Hawn

President Barack Obama

Kim Kardashian

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The infamous White House crashers, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, are the gift that keeps on giving. 

After the couple broke up this past September, the "Real Housewives of D.C." star and now ex-husband, Tareq, is reportedly suing Journey rocker, Neal Schon for $50 million, according to Gossip Cop.

Salahi suggests he lost out on revenue from future television offers with his ex Michaele after she reunited with her former beau, Schon.  

In addition, Salahi claims Schon emailed him a photo of his genitals and called him to announce when he and Michaele were having sex. 

TMZ obtained documents filed in Virginia reporting Salahi is suing for $50 million in emotional distress, defamation conspiracy and interfering with a contract. Plus, he's seeking $450,000 in punitive damages. 

Sounds like a bunch of bologna for seeing Schon's salami. 

Check out Neal and Michaele's latest music video below.

Now Read About 20 Other Hollywood Odd Couples >>

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Yesterday an editor at The Sun, the controversial and incredibly well-selling British paper, fired back at the British establishment and News International with an article that defended their roles as journalists and accused the police of conducting a "witch-hunt" after numerous arrests of their staff.

It was a valiant cry and we're sure evoked some sympathy for the tabloid journalists.

Of course, that won't last long.

Take a look at tomorrow's front page:

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If you've ever seen the 1976 movie Network, you'll know the unforgettable scene in which TV news anchor Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch) has a mental breakdown while on-air.

Ignoring the teleprompter, he breaks into one of the greatest soliloquies of American cinema, a wandering but coherent rant about the banks, crime and unemployment.

Finally, he urges his viewers to throw open their windows and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!"

Today, Network feels as fresh and vital as it did 36 years ago, and not just because Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight won Oscars for acting in it.

It's because the movie predicts everything about modern media in the 21st Century—from reality TV and YouTube to Glenn Beck and the tabloid news format. And it did so 20 years before the internet even existed.

It's spooky how much the movie got right about the direction of the news business specifically, and the media generally.

If you haven't seen the movie, take this opportunity to see the famous 'mad as hell!' speech

Note that the script, written during the mid-1970s recession, could describe 2012 with hardly any changes:

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 TVs 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 all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and 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 my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

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 crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.

You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! 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!!

If Beale's speech feels familiar, that's because it is: Glenn Beck borrowed his entire paranoid persona from Beale.

When Beck's advertisers deserted his show after he made increasingly intemperate remarks—he called President Obama a racist at one point—the network kept him on because his verging-on-crazy personality gained a huge following.

'Network' predicted the rise of Tabloid TV.

In the movie, Beale's "mad as hell" rant becomes an instant hit with audiences, and his network, UBS, gives him his own tabloid TV show, grabbing even bigger ratings.

But tabloid TV wasn't invented until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before then, TV news even at the local level was a sober affair. Across the board, it looked the way PBS Newshour looks now: Anchors read their scripts, unadorned with captions or graphics, and reported footage was given extended airtime. Not everything was "Live!" "Local!" and "Late-breaking!"

Tabloid TV was invented in 1989 by Joel Cheatwood, then a news producer at Miami's WSVN. Cheatwood is now Glenn Beck's producer.

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