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* MysticalPlague: There's a throwaway joke in one episode where it's casually mentioned that there is another plague of frogs in Egypt that they could do a story about again.
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'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK, to the extent where the show did a crossover with British InstrumentalHipHop collective Music/ArtOfNoise in 1986. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

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'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK, to the extent where the show did a crossover with British InstrumentalHipHop collective Music/ArtOfNoise in 1986. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard Creator/WMorganSheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.
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trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup


* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Probably the TropeCodifier in its "with Internet" form. When the show was made, AOL was brand new, [=CompuServe=] was hip and hot, college students were just starting to get email addresses, and the Web was still years away. Nevertheless, Theora and the other controllers clearly are accessing something Internet-like and providing the info to Edison et. al. This was terribly prescient at the time, but now suffers from SeinfeldIsUnfunny.

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* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Probably the TropeCodifier in its "with Internet" form. When the show was made, AOL was brand new, [=CompuServe=] was hip and hot, college students were just starting to get email addresses, and the Web was still years away. Nevertheless, Theora and the other controllers clearly are accessing something Internet-like and providing the info to Edison et. al. This was terribly prescient at the time, but now suffers from SeinfeldIsUnfunny.
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---> "The thing that even now gave them [the members of the board] a feeling of discomfort was that the face staring back at them was that of a boy of sixteen."

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---> "The --->"The thing that even now gave them [the members of the board] a feeling of discomfort was that the face staring back at them was that of a boy of sixteen."



--> '''Max:''' Who's calling the tu-tu-tuneup? Who's in cru-cru-cru-cruise control here? I'll tell you who: Me! Me! Max Headlamp!

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--> '''Max:''' -->'''Max:''' Who's calling the tu-tu-tuneup? Who's in cru-cru-cru-cruise control here? I'll tell you who: Me! Me! Max Headlamp!



-->'''Carter''': This is Edison Carter, coming to you ''very much'' live and direct from Network 23.

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-->'''Carter''': -->'''Carter:''' This is Edison Carter, coming to you ''very much'' live and direct from Network 23.

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* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The sequence from the US pilot showing the exploding blipverts viewer was ''very'' gruesome for 1980s network TV, and those familiar with the UK version, which used the same effects, were surprised to see it included in the US version virtually intact.



%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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** ...and, by extension, TwentyMinutesIntoThePast

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** ...and, by extension, ** TwentyMinutesIntoThePast
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Max Headroom, a plastic-coated stammering faux-CGI host full of sardonic wit played by the frankly underrated Canadian actor Creator/MattFrewer, made his debut in April of 1985 in a British one hour pilot entitled ''Max Headroom: TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture''.

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Max Headroom, a plastic-coated stammering faux-CGI host full of sardonic wit played by the frankly underrated Canadian actor Creator/MattFrewer, made his debut in April of 1985 in a British one hour pilot one-hour PilotMovie entitled ''Max Headroom: TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture''.
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** To the point that it is ''illegal to turn them off.'' People resort to throwing blankets over them when they don't want to watch. There are even televisions in homeless camps.
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The pilot wasn't picked up, but the rights to the Max Headroom character were sold to the makers of a music-video program on British television, on which Max appeared later in 1985. The Max Headroom show was the first to play with the music-video format, with Max frequently talking over lousy videos and making jokes, or cutting the video off partway through, a technique later picked up by WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead and other satirical video shows. The character was later picked up by Coca-Cola, for [[CharacterCelebrityEndorsement a series of TV spots for New Coke]] and appeared on T-shirts and mer-'''''*BZZZZZZZZZZT*'''''

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The pilot wasn't picked up, but the rights to the Max Headroom character were sold to the makers of a music-video program on British television, on which Max appeared later in 1985. The Max Headroom show was the first to play with the music-video format, with Max frequently talking over lousy videos and making jokes, or cutting the video off partway through, a technique later picked up by WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead and other satirical video shows. The character was later picked up by Coca-Cola, for [[CharacterCelebrityEndorsement a series of TV spots for New Coke]] and appeared on T-shirts and mer-'''''*BZZZZZZZZZZT*'''''
mer-'''''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle *BZZZZZZZZZZT*]]'''''
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope


* CrapsackWorld: Let's put it this way: Instead of foodstamps, the government gives the needy free TV sets. [[UpToEleven And only because]] the TV is used mainly for [[MoreThanMindControl population control.]]

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* CrapsackWorld: Let's put it this way: Instead of foodstamps, the government gives the needy free TV sets. [[UpToEleven And only because]] because the TV is used mainly for [[MoreThanMindControl population control.]]
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'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK, to the extent where the show did a crossover with British InstrumentalHipHop collective Music/ArtOfNoise in 1986. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

to:

'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK, to the extent where the show did a crossover with British InstrumentalHipHop collective Music/ArtOfNoise in 1986. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

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Back in [[TheEighties the 1980s]], it looked like computers were going to be able to do just about anything. It also looked like [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese businessmen were going to economically conquer the world]]. And it looked like corporate greed was going to grow and grow until the average citizen was a virtual slave to the mega-corporations who would happily destroy the environment, culture, history, and basic human liberty all in the name of profit. Come to think of it, not much has changed and those things look more likely to happen now than back in the 1980s (only with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]] instead of Japan).

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Back in [[TheEighties the 1980s]], TheEighties, it looked like computers were going to be able to do just about anything. It also looked like [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese businessmen were going to economically conquer the world]]. And it looked like corporate greed was going to grow and grow until the average citizen was a virtual slave to the mega-corporations who would happily destroy the environment, culture, history, and basic human liberty all in the name of profit. Come to think of it, not much has changed and those things look more likely to happen now than back in the 1980s (only with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China]] instead of Japan).
profit.



Episode recaps can be seen [[{{Recap/MaxHeadroom}} here]].
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For parodies of and homages to ''Max Headroom'', see MockHeadroom

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For parodies of and homages to ''Max Headroom'', see MockHeadroom
MockHeadroom.

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For parodies of and homages to ''Max Headroom'', see MockHeadroom




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* MockHeadroom
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* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Breughel and Mahler.
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'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

to:

'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK.UK, to the extent where the show did a crossover with British InstrumentalHipHop collective Music/ArtOfNoise in 1986. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

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* SchizoTech: TropeNamer for TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, but the cars are all from TheFifties.
** And whenever a computer keyboard was shown, it was actually the keyboard from an antique manual typewriter.

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* SchizoTech: TropeNamer for TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, but the cars are all from TheFifties.
**
TheFifties. And whenever a computer keyboard was shown, it was actually the keyboard from an antique manual typewriter.typewriter. Perhaps this was done to suggest a UsedFuture?
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A totally unlikable TeenGenius [[BrainUploading generates an AI copy of Carter's mind]] to cover up his disappearance, but the copy is somewhat unstable and has a bad stammer. He takes his name from [[LineOfSightName the last thing Edison had seen]] before his injury: a sign on the gatepost reading "MAX HEADROOM: 2.3 METERS".

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A Bryce Lynch, a totally unlikable TeenGenius TeenGenius, [[BrainUploading generates an AI copy of Carter's mind]] to cover up his disappearance, but the copy is somewhat unstable and has a bad stammer. He takes his name from [[LineOfSightName the last thing Edison had seen]] before his injury: a sign on the gatepost reading "MAX HEADROOM: 2.3 METERS".
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A totally unlikable TeenGenius generates an AI copy of Carter's mind to cover up his disappearance, but the copy is somewhat unstable and has a bad stammer. He takes his name from [[LineOfSightName the last thing Edison had seen]] before his injury: a sign on the gatepost reading "MAX HEADROOM: 2.3 METERS".

to:

A totally unlikable TeenGenius [[BrainUploading generates an AI copy of Carter's mind mind]] to cover up his disappearance, but the copy is somewhat unstable and has a bad stammer. He takes his name from [[LineOfSightName the last thing Edison had seen]] before his injury: a sign on the gatepost reading "MAX HEADROOM: 2.3 METERS".
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** ...and, by extension, TwentyMinutesIntoThePast
Willbyr MOD

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[[quoteright:192:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lt/max2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:192:Max himself.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/max_headroom_cast.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:And the cast of the series.]]

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[[quoteright:192:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lt/max2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:192:Max himself.]]

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1638567261011807700
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/max_headroom_cast.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:And the cast of the series.]]
org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxheadroom.png]]
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* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture



* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture

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* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture\n



* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture:
** TropeNamer -- appears onscreen at the start of the movie and every TV episode.
** In the TV series, Bryce Lynch was born in 1988. The teleplay book of the original movie gives Bryce's age as 16, pinning the setting down to about 2004, in the line:
---> "The thing that even now gave them [the members of the board] a feeling of discomfort was that the face staring back at them was that of a boy of sixteen."



* CityWithNoName: With a small dose of WhereTheHellIsSpringfield? Both American and British accents are ubiquitous and it's ambiguous what continent the series takes place in. WordOfGod is that it is a post-apocalypse dystopian Los Angeles. This can actually be confirmed in ''The Blanks'' when we get a view of the skyline.



* [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything The Terrorists Who Don't Do Anything]]: Deconstructed in the episode "War" where the organization White Brigade has struck a deal with a news reporter: they blow up abandoned buildings, and tell the reporter beforehand. The terrorists get publicity for their cause, and the reporter can break the news about the "terrorist strikes" before the competition without anyone actually dying. Everyone wins. Subverted in the end, as the White Brigade decides to start targeting populated places after all.



* TheCity: With a small dose of WhereTheHellIsSpringfield? Both American and British accents are ubiquitous and it's ambiguous what continent the series takes place in. WordOfGod is that it is a post-apocalypse dystopian Los Angeles. This can actually be confirmed in ''The Blanks'' when we get a view of the skyline.
* [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything The Terrorists Who Don't Do Anything]]: Deconstructed in the episode "War" where the organization White Brigade has struck a deal with a news reporter: they blow up abandoned buildings, and tell the reporter beforehand. The terrorists get publicity for their cause, and the reporter can break the news about the "terrorist strikes" before the competition without anyone actually dying. Everyone wins. Subverted in the end, as the White Brigade decides to start targeting populated places after all.



* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture:
** TropeNamer -- appears onscreen at the start of the movie and every TV episode.
** In the TV series, Bryce Lynch was born in 1988. The teleplay book of the original movie gives Bryce's age as 16, pinning the setting down to about 2004, in the line:
---> "The thing that even now gave them [the members of the board] a feeling of discomfort was that the face staring back at them was that of a boy of sixteen."
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'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

''Series/MaxHeadroom'' straddled the line between BlackComedy and (mostly) serious CyberPunk for two half-seasons before being cancelled and largely forgotten. Many believe [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the network intentionally killed it]], scheduling it opposite two hugely popular shows, ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and ''Series/MiamiVice'' (where, ironically, Matt Frewer played a villain in a two-parter shortly after his show was cancelled).

to:

'''''*BZZZZZZZZZT*''''' Er, [[DoNotAdjustYourSet we apologize about]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion_incident that]]. Moving on. Max Headroom was a huge hit, especially in the UK. But it was in the US that the pilot was picked up. [[TransAtlanticEquivalent Sort of]]. It was remade by Lorimar in 1987 as the first episode of the ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' ''Max Headroom'' TV series, keeping only Frewer, Pays, and Morgan Sheppard (Blank Reg) from the original cast, and substantially rewriting the second half of the movie (but using all the video effects so the money budgeted to effects could be used elsewhere). The TeenGenius was changed from a villain to an unwitting patsy, and Max's role was greatly increased; in the original, Max and Edison never met, and Max spent the rest of the movie as a VJ for a pirate TV station. In the series, he and Edison became partners, breaking the Blipvert story together.

''Series/MaxHeadroom'' ''Max Headroom'' straddled the line between BlackComedy and (mostly) serious CyberPunk for two half-seasons before being cancelled and largely forgotten. Many believe [[ScrewedByTheNetwork the network intentionally killed it]], scheduling it opposite two hugely popular shows, ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and ''Series/MiamiVice'' (where, ironically, Matt Frewer played a villain in a two-parter shortly after his show was cancelled).
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Though Max was the star of the show, he was really a very minor character. The story followed IntrepidReporter Edison Carter (also Frewer) and his [[MissionControl "controller"]] (i.e. director) Theora (Amanda Pays, who later played fanfic-favorite Phoebe Green on ''Series/TheXFiles'') as he attempted to uncover a conspiracy revolving around the {{Blipvert}}, a highly compressed advertisement his station had recently adopted, which had the unfortunate side effect of causing some viewers to explode. In his daring escape from security with orders to kill, he is gravely injured when he crashes his motorcycle into a gatepost.

to:

Though Max was the star of the show, he was really a very minor character. The story followed IntrepidReporter Edison Carter (also Frewer) and his [[MissionControl "controller"]] (i.e. director) Theora (Amanda Pays, (Creator/AmandaPays, who later played fanfic-favorite Phoebe Green on ''Series/TheXFiles'') as he attempted to uncover a conspiracy revolving around the {{Blipvert}}, a highly compressed advertisement his station had recently adopted, which had the unfortunate side effect of causing some viewers to explode. In his daring escape from security with orders to kill, he is gravely injured when he crashes his motorcycle into a gatepost.
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* MotherlyScientist: Bryce definitely shares a familial bond with Max, his creation. The two even share a hug to the best of their ability in "The Blanks."
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* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: In the pilot, Grossberg arranged for Carter to have an "accident" to cover up the death of a viewer called by one of Network 23's Blipverts. The episode ends with Carter storming Grossberg's office with his camera in hand, just as Grossberg has finished announcing his death.

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* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: In the pilot, Grossberg arranged for Carter to have an "accident" to cover up the death of a viewer called caused by one of Network 23's Blipverts. The episode ends with Carter storming Grossberg's office with his camera in hand, just as Grossberg has finished announcing his death.

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