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:

television station | tv show | telethon | satire | janitor | 

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Taglines:

Television the way it was meant to be seen. In a movie theater.

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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 dog biscuits David Bowe eats for "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" were actually cookies purchased from a bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where most of the movie was filmed. After filming was finished, the crew ate the rest of the cookies.

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Goofs

George is essentially selling off 100% of the station in the form of stock, since $75,000 is what his Uncle valued the station at. All R.J. would need to do is send intermediaries over to the station to quietly buy a controlling interest and he could shut the station down anyway, and save some money besides. Being the cutthroat businessman that he is, he should have realized this immediately.

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Quotes

George Newman: Hey, kids. Where y'wanna go?
[indifferent silence]
George Newman: That's right. To Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse. And boy-oh-boy, are we gonna have big fun today. We're gonna have so much fun, we'll forget about how miserable we are, and how much life sucks, and how we're all gonna grow old and die someday.
Little Weasel: I wanna go home!
George Newman: Shut up, you little weasel!
[beat]
George Newman: Okay. Right now, I'd like to show you one of my favorite cartoons. It's a sad, depressing story about a pathetic coyote who spends every waking moment of his ...

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Connections

References You Bet Your Life (1950)

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Soundtracks

The Ballad of Jed Clampett
Written by Paul Henning
Published by Carolintone Music Co., Inc.
Additional Lyrics by 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Lead Guitar Mark Knopfler
Keyboards Guy Fletcher

User Reviews

it's got "Weird" Al Yankovic, so you know what that means

"Weird" Al Yankovic once admitted that "UHF" was just a big excuse to be goofy, and you'd better believe that it is. Containing every wacky gag imaginable, the movie tells the story of slacker George Newman (Yankovic), who inherits a defunct TV station, and creates a bunch of loony shows, thereby becoming the most popular station in town, and then has to fight off the vampiric corporate CEO R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy), who owns a typical TV station and doesn't like competition.

Like Yankovic said, it's an excuse to be goofy. Whether it's "Gandhi II", "Conan the Librarian" or "Wheel of Fish", "UHF" is truly one movie that could only come out of "Weird" Al Yankovic's mind. The only scene where "Weird" Al sings is the "Beverly Hillbillies" sequence, but the nonstop sight gags will have you dying of laughter guaranteed.