Atomic

Laurie’s first view of Hollywood was a disappointment. Nothing but dirty sidewalks and run-down storefronts, everything struggling and decaying if not abandoned. The Atomic offices were located on Sunset Boulevard, and the movies of his childhood had primed Laurie to expect glamour. The reality was a small beige stucco office building surrounded by a grove of thick, squat palm trees. Even the palms looked diseased, their fronds a dull brown, their bark gnarled and spiky like reptile skin.

The lobby was bare and deserted, all plain white walls and nylon carpets, no chairs, no furniture save for the reception desk, which was unoccupied. But the door had been unlocked, with ATOMIC NETWORK painted in fresh gold letters on the front next to a cunning little logo of a mushroom cloud, and thus they were probably in the right place.

The Atomic Network factors into both Lonely Satellite and Demon City.

In Lonely Satellite, it's a fledgling network founded by Donya Kashani in Los Angeles. Much of the content is user-generated (Donya: "Mostly we get people filming their cats doing cute things.”), though Donya anchors a news broadcast, and Gina Davenport hosts a talk show called L.A. Elite.

In Demon City, Atomic is a network devoted to entertainment news. Founded by Loudon Strong, Atomic's on-air personalities include Donya Kashani and Felix Dockweiler. News shows include Party at Ground Zero, The Big Boom, Meltdown! and Radioactive. The logo is a mushroom cloud. It's all in very dubious taste, frankly.