Clooney to make Network news in '06 (Photo: STV)

If anyone plans on dropping by the Museum of the Moving Image tonight for Sidney Lumet's post-Serpico chit-chat, ask what the venerable master thinks of this: Variety is reporting that George Clooney will soon leave his Murrow v. McCarthy fable Good Night, and Good Luck behind for a live-TV remake of Lumet's 1976 news-as-entertainment flick Network.

Evidently, Clooney--who tried this a few years back with a live retelling of Fail Safe--will direct and retouch Paddy Chayefsky's epochal script with a few minor updates to reflect the changing times (goodbye, Black Panthers; hello, al-Qaeda), and the show could be ready to go as early as next fall. Variety's Josef Adalian notes odds that favor Clooney's appearance in the film, although I will personally hunt him down and slap him if he tries to take on Howard Beale-- the"mad prophet of the airwaves" who earned Peter Finch a posthumous Best Actor Oscar.

And while I really love the original Network, I could definitely see it wielding a wallop 30 years later, when most of Chayefsky's own mad prophecies about Americans' short attention spans, media conglomeration and generally bereft culture have taken on the deep black hue of real life. And also probably not conicidentally at all, Lumet (who directed the original screen version of Fail Safe as well) honed his craft directing live TV more than 50 years ago; both his films and Chayefsky's writing possess a spontaneity that lend themselves to this type of live interpretation. Hell, I would pay to see it.

No air date or stars have been announced as of yet, but CBS sources set a rough target for fall 2006. So do not forget: Lumet tonight in Queens; ask about Network; and ask who should play Howard Beale. Report back in the morning.