Stay Tuned (1992)

A husband and wife are sucked into a hellish television set and have to survive a gauntlet of twisted versions of 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 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:

profanity | rap music | television | wrestling | reference to led zeppelin | 

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Taglines:

Something weird's on the air.

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Genres:

Adventure | 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:

Ba Ma Bemanid

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$10,736,401

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Entertainment,Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey were offered cameos as Duane and Garf on "Duane's Underworld". They passed because they were busy with production on Wayne's World (1992) at the time. In Wayne's World 2 Bobby calls Wayne Dwayne (Duane).

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Goofs

When Daryl goes to steal power from the neighbor's house, he removes the electric meter and uses booster cable type clamps on the lugs. Removing the meter would cut power to the neighbor's house. However in subsequent shots, there are lights on both inside the house and in the yard.

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Quotes

[on the set of Duane's Underworld, a segment of Saturday Nite Dead]
Duane: All right. Welcome to Duane's Underworld, O Father of Lies. I'm your excrement host Duane, and with me as always is my only slightly decaying co-host Garf.
Garf: [lifting up his right armpit] Wifto!

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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

Spoofs Northern Exposure (1990)

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Soundtracks

Merrily We Roll Along
(uncredited)
Music by Murray Mencher
[Plays during the cartoon sequence.]

User Reviews

An old personal favourite!

I have always liked this film, since I was younger. It's an expensive flop but at the same time I think it has plenty of laughs and is entertaining. The late great John Ritter is always good value and likeable as is Pam Dawber, the ultimate fanciable former sitcom star. She is differently attractive and I have always fancied her like many others, particularly from the Mork And Mindy days, you know that sitcom with Robin Williams that you used to find funny but when you look back now it kinda sucks!

This is good family entertainment. It's inconsistent and some of the references aren't that funny but on the most part the referencing of old movies and TV shows is where most of the humour lies. Good fun. ***