Stay Tuned (1992)

A husband and wife are sucked into a hellish TV and have to survive a gauntlet of twisted versions of TV shows they find themselves in.

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers:

Tom S. Parker (screenplay), Jim Jennewein (screenplay),

Stars:

John Ritter, Pam Dawber, Jeffrey Jones

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Ritter	...	Roy Knable
Pam Dawber	...	Helen Knable
Jeffrey Jones	...	Spike
David Tom	...	Darryl Knable / Narrator
Heather McComb	...	Diane Knable
Bob Dishy	...	Murray Seidenbaum
Joyce Gordon	...	Sarah Seidenbaum
Eugene Levy	...	Crowley
Erik King	...	Pierce
Don Calfa	...	Wetzel
John B. Destry	...	Sackler (as John Blackwell Destrey)
Susan Blommaert	...	Ducker
Maurice Verkaar	...	Another Buyer
Ken Douglas	...	Skeletal Worker
Gerry Nairn	...	Newscaster

Storyline

The Knables are having marriage problems: Roy is a lousy plumbing supplies salesman by day and couch potato by night, and his wife, Helen, is a successful senior product manager for a vitamin company. Roy watches too much TV every night and Helen just cannot stand it. Then one night, Helen offers Roy a night to save their relationship: a romantic getaway without phones, their children, and especially no TV. Unfortunately, when Roy's hooked on the big screen, there's no going back. This frustrates and angers her and Helen decides to smash the family console with one of Roy's trophies as a wake-up call to reality. A heartbroken-to-disoriented Roy then hears the doorbell and finds out that it's a mysterious salesman named Spike who offers him the "ultimate getaway" from all the hate, frustration, and failures: a new remote controller and a new state-of-the-art satellite TV. Roy accepts the new TV by signing a free trial contract not knowing that he just sold his soul to the devil himself...

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Plot Keywords:

television | wrestling | wolf | satire | deal with the devil | 

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Taglines:

A comedy adventure on the wrong side of the screen.

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some off-color humor and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 August 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fique Ligado em Paranoias Parabólicas

Filming Locations:

Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Gross:

$10,736,401 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Productions, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the shows shown on HVTV the Knables either watched or were in:

• Three Men and Rosemary's Baby
• Sadistic Hidden Videos
• You Can't Win
• Underworld Wrestling League
• Autopsies of the Rich and Famous
• Max Hell (commercial)
• Northern Overexposure
• Thirty Something To Life
• The Silencer of the Lambs (commercial. Silence of the Pets sold separately)
• Meet The Mansons
• Unnamed cartoon
• Different Strokes
• My Three Sons of Bitches
• Saturday Nite Dead - Duane's World sketch
• Roy Knable: Private Dick
• The Exorcisist
• Yogi Beer (commercial)
• Home Shoplifting Channel
• Off With His Head
• Unnamed western themed show (both 3:10 to Yuma and Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name are referenced)
• HV ONE News
• Star Trek - The Next Generation spoof
• Unnamed car commercial featuring Roy as a crash test dummy
• Hockey Game: Angels vs. Devils
• Driving Over Miss Daisy
• Three's Company spoof
• Unnamed medieval period show
• H:TV Start Me Up (Salt N Pepa music video)
• Fall TV Lineup (shown during ending credits)
• Beverly Hills 90666
• I Love Lucifer
• The Golden Ghouls
• Murder She Likes
• Facts of Life Support
• Fresh Prince of Darkness
• Unmarried With Children
• David Dukes of Hazard

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Goofs

The width of Spike's remote changes right after he zaps Crowley into the television.

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Quotes

[as cartoon mice, Helen threatens to leave Roy]
Roy Knable: Where are you going to go, your cartoon mother's house?

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Crazy Credits

Chuck Jones' credit is in a different typeface to the rest of the credits. It is in a handwritten style.

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Connections

Features The Maltese Falcon (1941)

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Soundtracks

"Taste"
Performed by Auto & Cherokee
Courtesy of Morgan Creek Records

User Reviews

What's wrong with it? Heck if I know...

I've read a few bad-type reviews on this, but that just shows what I know. i think Stay Tuned is one of the funnier movies to roll along in a while. Yeah, it's filled with TV rejects like Ritter, Dawber, and Levy, but they're still kinda funny. The funniest thing are the TV parodies (yes, they're funny, dammit), and the whole parody of the modern entertainment industry. Plus you've got a great Chuck Jones cartoon set right in the middle. Moves along just fast enough to keep your interest, and the characters are just tolerable enough you don't want to turn off on it. As was noted, it grows on you.