Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future

In a post-apocalyptic future where television sets are more important than food, TV ratings are the all-important currency of the nation. A new technique of preventing viewers from channel-surfing proves somewhat detrimental to particularly sedentary couch potatoes. The top studio becomes concerned: dead viewers make for low ratings. Top news reporter Edison Carter is sent to find out more. After a motorcycle accident, his mind is preserved by whiz-kid Bryce and becomes his wise-cracking, computer-generated alter-ego: Max Headroom, who manages to boost ratings above those of any live hosts to date. This made-for-TV movie was later remade (sanitized) as the first episode of the series.