:34:01
Your "Network News Show" will need help
if it's going to hold.
:34:04
Beale doesn't do the "angry man" thing
well at all.
:34:06
He's too kvetchy.
He's being irascible.
:34:08
We want a prophet, not a curmudgeon.
He should do more apocalyptic doom.
:34:11
I think you should have some writers
write some jeremiads for him.
:34:16
I see you don't fancy my suggestions.
:34:21
You're not serious?
:34:23
I'm serious.
:34:26
The fact is, I could make
your Beale show...
:34:28
the highest-rated news show in TV
if you'd let me have a crack at it.
:34:33
What do you mean,
"have a crack at it"?
:34:35
I'd like to program it for you.
:34:37
Develop it.
:34:39
I wouldn't interfere with
the news itself, but TV is show biz...
:34:43
and even the news has to have
a little showmanship.
:34:47
My God, you are serious.
:34:49
I watched your six o'clock news today.
It's straight tabloid.
:34:53
You had a minute and a half of that lady
riding naked in Central Park...
:34:57
but you had less than a minute
of hard national and international news.
:35:00
It was all sex, scandal,
brutal crime, sports...
:35:02
children with incurable diseases
and lost puppies.
:35:06
So I won't listen to protestations
of high standards of journalism...
:35:09
when you're on the streets, soliciting
audiences like the rest of us.
:35:12
All I'm saying is, if you're going
to hustle, at least do it right.
:35:16
I'm going to bring this up at tomorrow's
meeting, but I don't like hassles.
:35:19
I was hoping we could work this out
between us. That's why I'm here.
:35:24
And I was hoping you were looking for
an emotional involvement...
:35:27
with a craggy, middle-aged man.
:35:30
I wouldn't rule that out entirely.
:35:36
All right, Diana...
:35:38
bring up all your ideas at the meeting,
because if you don't, I will.
:35:43
I think Howard's making
a goddamn fool of himself...
:35:45
and so does everybody that Howard
and I know in this industry.
:35:49
It was a fluke.
Didn't work.
:35:53
So tomorrow, Howard goes back
to the old format...
:35:56
and all of this gutter depravity
comes to an end.