This is the story of a henpecked husband who is under constant stress from one of the worst families imaginable. His obese wife is literally abusive. He has two sons, one a bona fide brat and the other a Hare Krishna follower who is only true to that calling when it suits him. Dogs attack the man. People are terrible to him. He only wishes one thing. To sit in front of the TV. One day, the wife sells his TV. He is devastated. She has spent the money on trivial things and dares him to do something about it. He goes to a high tech TV dealership where he buys a TV that is beyond his wildest dreams. Of course, his wife is furious. As she attacks him, he clicks the remote, she disappears, being replace by a knock down gorgeous blonde who was on the TV at the time. What follows is a horror story as the characters who dominated the networks in 1985 (and before) show up to make things intolerable. It is a cute idea that is hit and miss. My favorite is Gary Coleman who plays his TV son (going by the name Beaver) and of course, Barbara Billingsly as his new wife. Watch it for the crazy denouement.
7 Reviews
The magic remote control
sonnyschlaegel11 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Walter Poindexter is tyrannized by his wife Grendel. He is also tyrannized by his two sons, by his superiors at work, and by the dogs of the neighbourhood. His TV set is his only comfort. Then his wife pawns it and buys a new dress with the money. She tells Walter that his TV-addiction has made him neglect his family. She says that Walter has ruined their family life. Walter wants to have a new TV set. He goes to a futuristic shop named Metaluna and gets one. The TV set is futuristic, too: the remote control allows Walter to make characters from TV series leave the TV set and enter his living room, and to change the members of his family into characters from TV series. For example, he changes his wife into one of the participants of a beauty contest that's shown on TV and he changes one of his sons into the 'Face' from the A-Team. More and more characters people Walter's living room. Will his life get better now?
I liked the guest appearances of all those characters from TV series. I think they are well done, and I especially liked the guest appearance by Dirk Benedict. I think the message of the story is: don't spend too much time with your TV set, or you will ruin your family life. That's a good message in my opinion. (It's delivered by K.I.T.T. from 'Knight Rider', among others.)
I liked the guest appearances of all those characters from TV series. I think they are well done, and I especially liked the guest appearance by Dirk Benedict. I think the message of the story is: don't spend too much time with your TV set, or you will ruin your family life. That's a good message in my opinion. (It's delivered by K.I.T.T. from 'Knight Rider', among others.)
A great cast in this one
Leofwine_draca10 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
REMOTE CONTROL MAN is one of the better AMAZING STORIES episodes that I've watched and the success mainly comes down to the cast, which is much better than usual for the show. The story, by Spielberg himself, is a rather obvious piece of writing about a henpecked husband who retreats into a fantasy world of television to escape his nagging wife. However a magical remote control means that the world of make believe becomes very much the real deal in his own home.
I mainly liked this one thanks to the central performance of Sydney Lassick, instantly recognisable due to his performance in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Lassick gives another sympathetic performance in this episode and I'm really surprised he never received greater acclaim because once again he's excellent here. The episode is a little forced and obvious, but it picks up for the star-studded ending. Watch out for the likes of Dirk Benedict, Gary Coleman, Sid Haig, and even The Incredible Hulk in support!
I mainly liked this one thanks to the central performance of Sydney Lassick, instantly recognisable due to his performance in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Lassick gives another sympathetic performance in this episode and I'm really surprised he never received greater acclaim because once again he's excellent here. The episode is a little forced and obvious, but it picks up for the star-studded ending. Watch out for the likes of Dirk Benedict, Gary Coleman, Sid Haig, and even The Incredible Hulk in support!
A decent idea but horribly written
planktonrules23 June 2015
This episode of "Amazing Stories" has all the subtlety of a stripper appearing at a Baptist barbecue! It is yet another example of why "Amazing Stories" will never be considered a classic--which is amazing considering the show was produced by Steven Spielberg. Instead of being interesting and compelling, it just comes off as ridiculous and cartoonish.
The show is about a very henpecked man, Mr. Poindexter. Poindexter's wife and sons are caricatures of human beings and were just terribly written. The wife is violent and abusive as are the sons--and are so far over the top it ruins the show. It's sad because in stark contrast is Poindexter--a likable and interesting shmoe who is being abused by his horrid family. When the hellish wife gets rid of Poindexter's TV, he buys another one--and it has a magical remote control. The magical remote turns his family members into various TV characters--most of which end up being among the more annoying and talentless folks from television of the era.
In many ways, this is a crap version of a funny old "Twilight Zone" episode involving a camera that takes pictures of the future. But this old "Twilight Zone" was FUNNY and although the characters were silly, they were not like cartoon characters nor were they grating idiots.
Overall, a shabbily written story that was written, I assume, by a 6 year-old. The concept could have worked but the show simply was badly written, loud and annoying.
The show is about a very henpecked man, Mr. Poindexter. Poindexter's wife and sons are caricatures of human beings and were just terribly written. The wife is violent and abusive as are the sons--and are so far over the top it ruins the show. It's sad because in stark contrast is Poindexter--a likable and interesting shmoe who is being abused by his horrid family. When the hellish wife gets rid of Poindexter's TV, he buys another one--and it has a magical remote control. The magical remote turns his family members into various TV characters--most of which end up being among the more annoying and talentless folks from television of the era.
In many ways, this is a crap version of a funny old "Twilight Zone" episode involving a camera that takes pictures of the future. But this old "Twilight Zone" was FUNNY and although the characters were silly, they were not like cartoon characters nor were they grating idiots.
Overall, a shabbily written story that was written, I assume, by a 6 year-old. The concept could have worked but the show simply was badly written, loud and annoying.
The Wildest Episode Of The Season
ccthemovieman-130 August 2007
The outrageously-exaggerated characters in the Poindexter family in this episode are a real hoot to watch - extremely funny. Sydney Lassick was "Walter Poindexter" is a great character, someone whose face you'll instantly recognize but you don't know his name. He plays a brutally-henpecked guy, whose wife "Grendel" is like the woman in "Throw Momma Off The Train." His two kids are also characterizations: the spoiled, evil brat little fat kid and his older brother, the hare Krishna. Then there are all the viscous dogs Walter has to contend with every time he comes home. All of this is very funny material.
Walter's only escape from this Family From Hell is his television set and when his wife sells that to buy a hooker's outfit, he goes looking for a new set. What he gets is unbelievable - a modern "space age" set in which he remote turns his life in TV chaos. The story just goes insane with a ton of cameo appearances by television stars well-known when this program aired in 1984.
Lassick really gives it his all in this episode, which turns bizarre but fun for TV trivia fans. You see everybody from Barbara Billingsley of "Leave It To Beaver" to exercise guru Richard Simmons. A wild, insane episode.
Walter's only escape from this Family From Hell is his television set and when his wife sells that to buy a hooker's outfit, he goes looking for a new set. What he gets is unbelievable - a modern "space age" set in which he remote turns his life in TV chaos. The story just goes insane with a ton of cameo appearances by television stars well-known when this program aired in 1984.
Lassick really gives it his all in this episode, which turns bizarre but fun for TV trivia fans. You see everybody from Barbara Billingsley of "Leave It To Beaver" to exercise guru Richard Simmons. A wild, insane episode.
"Don't you know a cry for love when you hear one?"
classicsoncall28 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
With story after story in this series, I have to wonder how Stephen Spielberg ever got involved with the overall project; they were certainly not indicative of his later movie work. He was actually the writer of this story, and I guess the concept was a good one, but it gets way too zany and farcical in the telling. I won't bother the reader with the details on this one as a handful of other reviewers have already done so. Just commenting on some of the players, I took a liking to Sidney Lassick after seeing him as the character Cheswick in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", one of my favorite films. He's the besieged husband and father in this story, who finds temporary relief from his family by virtue of a magic remote control that comes with a new TV set. Other long time faves included Barbara Billingsley from 'Leave it to Beaver' and Johnny Carson's perennial sidekick from the 'Tonight Show' Ed McMahon. One character who's not identified in the credits from that melee near the end of the story was Professor Toru Tanaka, the beefy wrestler from the old World Wide Wrestling Federation. If my entry is approved for that addition to the cast list, you may find his name the next time you check the picture's credits.
Well done and clever episode of the series that shows how TV can capture imagination and takes one away from life!
blanbrn25 January 2016
I know most if your like me you enjoy TV and look at it as an escape route to get away from the problems of life by watching the stars and characters on the screen, well a lot of us would like to even be on TV! I watched again this "Amazing Stories" episode called "Remote Control Man" and many of those mentioned themes rang true. This episode is well done and directed by Bob Clark(of "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story" fame). Anyway it's a tale of an underpaid and stressed out guy who works to hard at the job, and on the downside his home life is hell as he has a young punk son and an ugly overweight loud talking wife. This man's only relieve is to chill and relax out in front of the TV by watching his favorite shows and characters, only after the wife throws away his first TV he finds another special one. And with this TV it brings the stars and characters out of his set all to become real life. As with this remote he can cut off his family by tuning them out! It was nice seeing appearances from Gary Coleman, Ed McMahon, Richard Simmons, and the sexy Kiristin Alfonso. Only in the end to much TV is enough he must tune back to real life. This episode teaches the moral don't let TV overtake your life live in the real world and let TV and it's characters be only an imagination escape.
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