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:

A lot of TV stations have forgotten what "quality" means. But not Channel 62. They NEVER knew what it meant.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 April 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

Uncle Nutsy's Clubhouse was the name of a story from Mad Magazine about a children's television show.

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Goofs

In the Rambo sequence, George catches the entire .45 cartridge with his teeth. When a cartridge is fired, only the bullet portion is propelled. The shell is either ejected (as would be with the semi-automatic .45 1911) or kept in the cylinder (if it were a revolver).

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Quotes

Stanley Spadowski: Hi, George. Well, uh, I'm finished with the TV show. Uh, what do you want me to do now?
George Newman: Did you have a good time in there, Stanley?
Stanley Spadowski: Yeah! Oh, boy, it was fun!
George Newman: Great! How would you like to do it every day?
Stanley Spadowski: Yeah! That would be neat... Oh, wait a minute - do I still get to be the janitor?
George Newman: [incredulously] Sure.
Stanley Spadowski: It's a DEAL!

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Connections

Featured in 20 to 1: Amazing Moments in Music (2007)

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Soundtracks

Fun Zone
Written and Performed by 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Published by Holy Moley Music

User Reviews

'Weird Al' - Harmless Fun

For some reason, I never pictured myself watching a film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic. He just looked too weird or too stupid....but he was okay. In fact, he was pretty likable in this fun-but-unmemorable film. He's actually more like Jim Varney''s "Vern" character that was so popular in the '80s: a lame but super nice guy.

That's what "Weird Al" plays in here, a Mr. Nice Guy who prevails against forces of evil against him, in this case a TV station owner: Kevin McCarthy, who plays a totally over-the-top villain.

Yankovic will never win any Academy Awards for his acting but he suffices in this no-brainer comedy. Some of the bits are actually quite clever and some are a bit raunchy (hence the PG-13 rating) but there is almost no profanity in here. Michael Richards was funny as the stupid janitor. Lots of jokes in this movie. You just pick out the ones you like.