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When MGM premiered NETWORK in New York Nov. 14, 1976, its portrait of TV news was considered cartoonish satire, but 49 years later it seems entirely too real.

Director Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky exposed TV’s willingness to do anything to boost ratings & revenues. Chayefsky’s story centers on Howard Beale, news anchor for the fictional UBS-TV. Peter Finch played Beale, whose ratings are falling until he announces on air he’s going to kill himself on next week’s show. But when his audience share suddenly soars, programming chief Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) launches an angry show about radical extremists, starring Beale as “The Mad Prophet of the Airwaves.”

Cooler heads like network news president Max Schumacher (William Holden) don’t prevail and Beale’s on air madness continues — until he unexpectedly changes gears, losing his audience and his value to UBS (no spoilers here in case you still haven’t seen it).

Beale tells his millions of viewers to open their windows and scream into the night, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” It brings to mind contemporary TV news personalities for whom audience manipulation is routine.

Beale’s message is still one of the best known movie lines. Ironically, it wasn’t delivered exactly as written because Finch added the word “as” between the words I’m & mad — and there was no other footage available to use to edit it. Chayefsky’s deal had guaranteed that none of his lines would be changed unless he approved. He also had the right to be on set daily and to physically be very close to the actors. To make such proximity work, cinematographer Owen Roizman created what was called “Paddy’s Light,” illuminating where he could stand without ruining a take.

Because the networks disliked how NETWORK portrayed them, they wouldn’t make their studio and control room facilities available for shooting in New York. It was too costly to build them, so those key NETWORK scenes were filmed in Toronto at CFTO-TV. Beale’s intense “Mad as Hell” outburst was so physically demanding on Finch, who had a history of heart trouble, that he could only do about three of the four two-and-a-half-minute takes that Lumet wanted. Take three ended about half-way through when Finch just couldn’t continue.

NETWORK brought Oscars to Chayefsky for original screenplay, Dunaway for lead actress & Beatrice Straight for supporting actress as the longtime wife Schumacher cheats on with Christensen. Finch died in January 1977 — before winning his best actor Oscar posthumously. He was the only posthumous acting Oscar winner until 2008 when Heath Ledger won for  Best Supporting Actor.

Straight’s win was notable as she was only seen in NETWORK for five minutes and two seconds — making hers the shortest Oscar winning performance ever.