UHF (1989)

An unemployed visionary becomes the manager of a local public station. The station becomes a success, with all sorts of hilarious sight gags and wacky humor.

Director:

Jay Levey

Writers:

'Weird Al' Yankovic (as Al Yankovic), Jay Levey

Stars:

'Weird Al' Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
'Weird Al' Yankovic	...	George Newman
Victoria Jackson	...	Teri Campbell
Kevin McCarthy	...	R.J. Fletcher
Michael Richards	...	Stanley Spadowski
David Bowe	...	Bob Steckler
Stanley Brock	...	Harvey Bilchik
Anthony Geary	...	Philo
Trinidad Silva	...	Raul Hernandez
Gedde Watanabe	...	Kuni
Billy Barty	...	Noodles MacIntosh
John Paragon	...	Richard Fletcher
Fran Drescher	...	Pamela Finklestein
Sue Ane Langdon	...	Esther Bilchik
David Proval	...	Head Thug
Grant James	...	Killer Thug

Storyline

George Newman is a daydreamer whose hyperactive imagination keeps him from holding a steady job. His uncle decides George would be the perfect man to manage Channel 62, a television station which is losing money and viewers fast. When George replaces the station's reruns with bizarre programs such as "Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse", "Wheel of Fish" and "Raul's Wild Kingdom", ratings begin to soar again. Mean-spirited and cynical mogul R.J. Fletcher becomes furious that the UHF station is getting better ratings than his network's programming. Because of gambling debts, the uncle is forced to consider selling the station to Fletcher, who would only too happily shut down (he cannot legally own two stations in the same town). George and his friends organize a 48-hour telethon to raise the money by selling investment stock from Channel 62 to save the town's new favorite station.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick | television station | tv show | telethon | satire | 

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Taglines:

Don't touch that dial! Channel 62 has a new station manager so desperate for ratings, he'll put anyone on the air.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 July 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Vidiot from UHF

Filming Locations:

Rosewood Chapel - 2570 S Harvard Ave - Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$6,157,157

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinecorp SAC, Imaginary Entertainment, Orion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 150 min (rough cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lead character in this film is named George Newman. Michael Richards is probably best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld (1989), which featured two characters named George and Newman.

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Goofs

The way George (as Indiana Jones) holds the sandbag changes before taking the Oscar statue.

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Quotes

Bum: Hey, Mister!
George Newman: Not now, okay?
Bum: Well, I was just wondering if it was too late to buy any of them shares.
[produces a large amount of money]
Bum: I'll take whatever you got left!
George Newman: [amazed] How much is that?
Bum: Two thousand dollars, heh heh heh! Keep your change!

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Alternate Versions

The DVD Special Edition contains deleted scenes (separately from the movie) which include:

• Two extra endings for the Emo thumb-severing scene (in the first he places the severed thumb in his pocket, and in the second he puts it in his mouth for safekeeping).
• Extra scenes of George and Teri exploring the U62 station; scenes of George talking to the receptionist at the dentist's office where Teri works; George being turned down for a loan; R.J. practicing for his anti-U62 telecast; Richard making fun of MacIntosh (Billy Barty); a whole subplot about the head thug being afraid of insects, attempting to steal a briefcase full of U62's money and stealing a briefcase full of bugs Philo had collected instead, concluded by the thugs opening the briefcase while driving home and crashing; and other exciting moments that were not funny enough to remain in the film.
• Alternate scenes were filmed with Stanley singing "Helter Skelter" instead of "Bonanza".
• A brief gag taking place when the thugs knock on Stanley's door; they say "Pizza!" and Stanley responds "Pizza who?"
• Other scenes which did not succeed include an explanation of why the martial arts teacher showed up to save George and Stanley (on the DVD commentary, Weird Al said that it was decided that no one would really care); another gag in the Indiana Jones parody had a payphone in the cave ring, George picking it up and a voice begging him not to go in (and him hanging up and, of course, going in anyway); and more footage of the Kipper Kids (the guys with the big chins at the telethon).
• More scenes were originally scheduled for Trinidad Silva (Raul) but he was killed by a drunk driver during shooting. Scenes included a piece at the end where Poodles attack him in vengeance for the ones he taught to fly. It was briefly considered to reshoot his scenes with someone else who could finish them but it was finally decided to just leave his scenes in and forget the unfilmed ones. The movie (if you watch to the very end) was dedicated to his memory.

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Connections

Referenced in The Weird Al Show: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Hamster (1997)

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Soundtracks

Gandhi II
Written and Performed by 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Published by Holy Moley Music

User Reviews

Makes Real T.V. Look So Boring!

UHF is a story about a man who gets to have a Television Station. It is hilarious in most of the scenes. The villain is also so funny, and never really gets credited most of the time people watch this film.

Weird Al stars as a wacky guy who always has many funny ideas for television and movies and many other things. The real show-stopper in this movie is Raul's Wild Kingdom, you have to see it for yourself. The bad-guy works for the competing station, which had higher ratings.

Some parts of this film are not that funny, but stupid. If you are a big fan of Weird Al you'll love this film. And if you aren't then you will still love it. This film is for everyone.

Rated PG-13

What I think it should be rated and why: PG-13 for some crude and sexual humor, brief language, and some comic violent images.