Yes, love the film and I think we've talked a lot about it here. Have not watched it as many times as Dr. Strangelove but it is one of those films I've watched many times over the years.

If you liked it a lot and want another dose of Chayefsky try The Hospital, Gene. In some ways it seems like he wrote The Hospital on the way to writing Network...as it's sort of like Network in a hospital (which sounds like a very funny/stupid way somebody might pitch a film, ha!)...but that's what the film does is take aim at a big city hospital and health care in the same way Network took aim at...well...a much broader list of topics.

The Hospital did come before Network and features a great performance by George C. Scott as the troubled Dr. Bock. It is certainly his closest work to Network, I think, and it's dark and funny and very sharp. Parts of it are very of it's time but to me I don't think that ruins the film. It's directed by Arthur Hiller who may not be Lumet but he did know Chayefsky and his work well and had done The Americanization of Emily and so was sympathetic to Paddy's writing. Chayefsky certainly had a talent for writing good parts for middle aged men...ahh, the point in a man's life where he finally becomes interesting some would say...

Network was obviously Paddy's masterwork but there is very sharp stuff to be found in his other films and The Hospital was certainly, at least to me, the warm up to doing Network...