UHF (1989)

UHF (1989)

Tagline: Don't touch that dial! Channel 62 has a new station manager so desperate for ratings, he'll put anyone on the air.

(Comedy, Sci-Fi, Absolute Nonsense) [PG-13]

We're losing credibility in the market. And why? Because of some fly-by-night UHF station! A UHF station! This is an embarrassment! A disgrace! What do you think R.J. Fletcher Senior would be saying if he were alive today?

In this one, an imaginative man named George Newman is given a TV station that does the programming for UHF channel 62 to manage by his uncle. No one watches it, but George is given the task anyway. He ends up putting some of the craziest shows he can find on the air after a stroke of luck sees his janitor taking over one of the shows bringing lots of new fans. Ratings for these crazy shows soar and ultimately pass regular networks ratings. Threatened by Channel 62’s success R. J. Fletcher, a media mogul decides he is going to try and buy the studio from Newman’s uncle who owes money for a gambling debt. Can Newman and his zany employees find a way to raise the money needed to save the station?

First off this movie is shot a LOT like KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE in that it’s really an anthology with an overall arc storyline. We get crazy stuff like short spoofs of RAMBO and INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as well as new movie and TV show ideas. The shows are literally called stuff like “Wheel Of Fish”, “Underwater Bingo For Teens” and “Name That Stain”. Some of the gags are incredibly funny like one ad that featured an entire store that sells nothing but spatulae. Other gags for me were misses and a few came to a point where today I could see them pretty easily being called “racist”, but back in 1989 were considered just lighthearted and funny. This has changed a lot since this movie came out and I really couldn’t see it being made today without omitting some of these skits. 

The main show on the channel is "Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse" which is hosted by Stanley Spadowski played by embattled actor Michael Richards. For me in the acting department, this was a miss. I really found myself not liking this character at all as innocent as they tried to make him, I found myself almost annoyed every time he was on screen. The movie also heavily features 'Weird Al' Yankovic who plays George Newman and he’s awesome. To round out the cast we got Kevin McCarthy who played the sinister R. J. Fletcher (maybe best known for INNERSPACE), Fran Drescher (best known for the TV show “The Nanny”), and Victoria Jackson. One other pretty notable character was Kuni played by Gedde Watanabe best known for SIXTEEN CANDLES. 

The effects in this movie are actually pretty good for the ’80s and the crazy RAMBO suit the ‘Weird Al’ is wearing is pretty freaking fantastic looking in most of the shots. I also liked the soundtrack a lot. ‘Weird Al’ spoofed “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits with the song  "Beverly Hillbillies". I thought this might have been a good chance to do a visual version of the song “Nature Trail To Hell” in goofy ‘Weird Al’ fashion but they passed up on that to do some storyline which ended up feeling more like filler than something fans of this movie would care about. 

Quick tidbit, one of the shows they mention in this movie being on the channel is "Volcano Worshippers Hour". Apparently back in high school, 'Weird Al' Yankovic started a "Volcano Worshippers" club so that he could get in the yearbook. He also hated the name of the movie “UHF”. I remember the “UHF” channel on my old black and white TV, but he wouldn’t think most people would get it. If he would have had his way the movie would have been called “The Vidiot”. I can only guess you are making the same “sheesh” face I am right now. 

Overall this is a pretty fun movie, but we spend a lot of time waiting for the movie's bigger gags and a lot of them fall flat. This means I am going to stick this thing in the same category rating-wise as KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, at a 4 out of 7. It has almost the same formula with a practically identical amount of laughs. The good news on this one for me was that it was FAR less raunchy than KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE.

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This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.