Film Review: Stay Tuned (1992)

Sometimes you just want to watch something silly and fun, and in that world lives films like Stay Tuned. This is a prime slice of late 80s/early 90s quirky comedy, very much in the vein of UHF, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and several Joe Dante movies. Granted, I don’t think its necessarily better than some of those (except UHF), but it’s generally a pretty fun little ride for what it is. So let’s tune in and see what this film has in store.

We follow Roy, a man leading a very mediocre and unfulfilling life. His wife, Helen, is a successful executive while he’s stuck as a dead-end plumbing salesman consistently prodded by life’s obstacles (his business relocating without him knowing, getting chased by the neighbor’s dog, most of his deals not going well, etc.). He seeks to escape his mundane existence through the wonders of television, dedicating most of his free time to watching. His wife gets fed up with his current attitude, feeling that he lost his old sense of drive, and one night, after an argument, chucks his old fencing trophy at the TV, breaking it. However, Roy won’t have to despair for too long, as a mysterious man in black comes to his door to offer him an upgrade to his viewing experience: a huge satellite dish that can receive hundreds of channels. Roy initially balks at the offer, turned off by the expense, but the man puts him on a free trial for the time being. Things seem great at first, but after another fight, during which Helen tries to smash the dish, the dish sucks them into the television feed. It turns out that the man in black is actually the devil, or at least some kind of demon, who has a brand-new scheme for capturing souls: physically put people through the trial of channels they offer, and if they can survive for twenty-four hours, they can return to life (this was apparently born out of some compromise between Heaven and Hell, as he mentions in one scene). Now, Roy and Helen must make it through various film and TV parodies until they either pass the test or find a way out, and, with all luck, perhaps Roy will learn a lesson by the end of it.

As I said, this film is just a silly, fun ride. It parodies many different classic and current (at the time) movies and TV shows. The classics are mostly general genre parodies, such as noir, westerns, swashbuckling adventure, and old theatrical cartoons (like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry), while the TV parodies are usually more specific to the time-frame, with shows such as Duane’s Underworld, Northern Overexposure, thirtysomething-to-life, and Autopsies of the Rich and Famous. As I said previously, it’s very similar to UHF in that way, as that was another silly film with a lot of TV parody bits. However, in opposition to the consensus, I actually enjoyed this film more than UHF, as I felt it kept up a certain crazy energy that took you through the experience, whereas UHF honestly felt rather limp most of the time and never really matched Weird Al’s own standard of comedy from his albums. One thing I would generally give UHF over Stay Tuned, though, is that UHF at least had more of a developed story-arc for the most part. The struggles of George Newman to make his channel a success gave the wacky humor a grounding point and through line that paid off in the end with them overcoming the big TV network. Stay Tuned, on the other hand, is clearly supposed to be about Roy getting out of the underachieving rut he’s stuck in and becoming the man he should be, but the film only touches on it in very basic ways and mostly just ends up focusing on the various gags. In fact, the very first show they visit is a game show that quizzes them on the failings and realities of their marriage, mostly directed at Roy, which I honestly thought was setting up the idea that each show would provide some sort of relevant challenge that would cause Roy to slowly work through his issues, but instead it mostly just became about “getting us out of each situation.” I just felt that they could have used the different channels more effectively than just having them be gags and situations, but then again, this is a goofy comedy and sometimes those don’t need to be much more than that. Before I conclude, I also have to note the obvious joke with casting John Ritter and Pam Dawber as Roy and Helen, who for those who don’t know were the stars of Three’s Company and Mork & Mindy respectively. TV stars in a film making fun of TV, hilarious.

Anyway, I think ultimately if you can get into the feel of the movie, or you just enjoy that late 80s/early 90s quirky comedy style, you might get something out of this. Just don’t expect too much from it, it’s a film that just is what it is and isn’t an immediate go-to if you want big laughs. I enjoyed my viewing experience and was able to get some chuckles out of it, but it’s also probably not a film that I would seek out again, or just not that often at least. So enjoy the outdated lampoons, the poor man’s Joe Dante sensibilities, and the random Salt-N-Pepa tie-in video that pops up in the middle of all this. It truly is the definition of “boob tube” (for a specific definition of “boob,” anyway).