Edtv (1999)

A video store clerk agrees to have his life filmed by a camera crew for a television show.

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Émile Gaudreault (screenplay "Louis 19, le roi des ondes"), Sylvie Bouchard (screenplay "Louis 19, le roi des ondes")

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Geoffrey Blake

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Geoffrey Blake	...	Keith
Gail Boggs	...	Wife
Jenna Byrne	...	Felicia
Merrin Dungey	...	Ms. Seaver
Ian Gomez	...	McIlvaine
Gavin Grazer	...	Clint
Chris Hogan	...	Paul
Arianna Huffington	...	Panel Member
Larry Flash Jenkins	...	Husband (as Larry Jenkins)
Wendle Josepher	...	Rita
Scott LaRose	...	Desipio
John Livingston	...	Terry
Mitzi McCall	...	Fig Lady
Jim Meskimen	...	Dr. Geller
Don Most	...	Benson

Storyline

In a Hail Mary move for corporate preservation, the San Francisco based Northwest Broadcasting Corporation launches True TV, a new network which will broadcast the life of an Average Joe or Jane, 24/7 live and thus unedited, the subject chosen signed initially for one month. The project is conceived and led by one of the producers, Cynthia, but her boss, NWBC president Whitaker, will take the credit if it succeeds, and let her sink as the captain of the ship if it fails. The network is rebranded EdTV when Cynthia believes she's found her subject, Ed Pekurny, a native Texas hayseed, who fits the two main criteria that she is looking for in the person: he is easy on the eyes, and he has what seems to be a potential trainwreck of a life in that he he is thirty-one years old, spends most of his time hanging out at the bar, and has no ambition beyond his longtime dead end job as a clerk in a video store. Ed did not actively campaign for the job - his blowhard of a brother Ray was the one ...

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Plot Keywords:

television | fictional reality show | media circus | commercialism | satire | 

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Taglines:

Fame. Be careful. It's out there.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sex-related situations, partial nudity and crude language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 March 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ed TV

Filming Locations:

Castillo de San Marcos National Monument - 11 South Castillo Drive, St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,311,290, 28 March 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$22,362,500, 30 May 1999

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,300,000, 15 August 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imagine Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Matthew McConaughey, Martin Landau, and Michael Moore; and three Oscar nominees: Dennis Hopper, Rob Reiner, and Woody Harrelson.

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Goofs

In the theater bathroom, where Ed finds Shari, (after pursuing her from the video store) they show a reaction shot of Shari's roommate watching at home. Then Ed goes out to the production van and, again, they cut to a reaction of Shari's roommate. She is wearing a completely different outfit.

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Quotes

Whitaker: Cynthia, another word, and you may consider yourself fired.
Cynthia: Uh-oh. Can you gimme a hint? What word? Uh, *asshole*? *Shithead*? Is that - I bet that - is that one word or two though? I never can remember that. Shithead.

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Connections

References An American Family (1973)

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Soundtracks

Cat Scratch Fever
Written by Ted Nugent
Performed by Ted Nugent
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

"...and you, Ed, are no Truman Burbank!"

EDTV is more concerned with "Ed" than "TV".

In fact, throughout this dull and relentless tale of ordinary Joe Ed turned real-life 24-hour television star, Director Ron Howard consistently resists the obvious satire on the fallout of fame and focuses on the cloyingly saccharine romance that lies at EDTV's mushy core.

If you doubt this (and considering Howard's track record, you may), visit EDTV on DVD and you'll be treated to numerous deleted scenes that satirically drive home the point that fame is indeed a bitch. Unfortunately, these scenes are also some of the darkest, funniest and most telling in the script. (An entire subplot about an EdTV imitator that ends with tragedy was completely eliminated from the final cut.) Why then did they end up on the cutting room floor? Howard can't seem to get away from Mayberry sentimentality enough to make EDTV the film it needs to be by it's very nature. In fact, the stars of the film (Hurley, DeGeneres, Harrelson) could have made a more interesting documentary on the price of fame than EDTV does at it's cautious best.

All hail, however, the film's bright spot, Ellen DeGeneres. Yes, Ellen. With her balance of quirky humor and self-doubting charm, she manages to infuse the film with some sense of purpose and it is she (not wrongly cast lead Matthew McConaughey) that we care about.

See it for Ellen. Or, better yet, rent THE TRUMAN SHOW and cap it off with a re-run of TV's ELLEN. I guarantee more laughs and heaps more satire than the botched EDTV can ever provide.