Stay Tuned (1992) Warner Bros./Comedy RT: 88 minutes Rated PG (language, some off-color humor, comic violence) Director: Peter Hyams Screenplay: Jim Jennewain and Tom S. Parker Music: Bruce Broughton Cinematography: Peter Hyams Release date: August 14, 1992 (US) Cast: John Ritter, Pam Dawber, Jeffrey Jones, Eugene Levy, David Tom, Heather McComb, Erik King, Bob Dishy, Joyce Gordon, Don Calfa, John Blackwell Destrey, Susan Blommaert. Box Office: $10.7M (US)
Rating: ***
What an interesting change of pace for Peter Hyams, director of Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010, Running Scared, The Presidio and Narrow Margin. Going from six action-oriented flicks to a straight-up comedy like Stay Tuned was completely unexpected. It stars John Ritter (Three’s Company) and Pam Dawber (Mork & Mindy) as a suburban couple sucked into an alternate TV universe. When I say alternate, I mean it in the literal sense. Instead of the usual shows you might find on your cable system, this TV universe features such winning shows as Three Men and Rosemary’s Baby, Duane’s Underworld and Driving Over Miss Daisy. How bizarre, right? It’s the kind of thing couch potatoes dream of after smoking a bit of the old wacky weed. That’s the audience Stay Tuned is clearly going for.
Roy Knable (Ritter) is a TV addict. He’ll watch anything. It beats the hell out of real life. He hates his job as a plumbing supply salesman. He has no interest outside of sitting on the couch night after night watching TV leaving his wife Helen (Dawber) feeling neglected and unloved. Fed up with being ignored, she smashes in the TV screen. Luckily, a man named Spike (Jones, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) shows up that night with a tempting offer. He’s willing to give Roy a free 30-trial of a new high-tech satellite dish system (with 666 channels to choose from) in exchange for his soul. Yep, Spike is a representative of Old Scratch himself. When Helen sees Roy’s new entertainment set-up, she prepares to leave him. Instead, they’re both sucked into a nightmarish place called “Hellevision” from which they have 24 hours to escape or be damned for eternity. Nobody has ever escaped.
Roy and Helen continue to bicker while working together to survive various levels of Hell(evision) such as a sadistic game show (“You Can’t Win”), a brutal wrestling match and on old black-and-white detective movie. At one point, they’re animated mice trying to evade a vicious robotic cat. All the while, they’re pursued by Spike who becomes concerned they might actually win their way out of the contract. Meanwhile, the Knables’ two children, Diane (McComb, New York Stories) and Darryl (Tom, Stepfather III), upon discovering their parents are trapped in TV land, try to help them from the real world.
As is the case with most comedies, not all of Stay Tuned works. Some of the gags simply don’t land. It’s one of the pitfalls of the genre. However, it does have moments of supreme silliness, including a direct reference to the 70s sitcom that made Ritter a star, that make Stay Tuned worth watching. But it could have been more. Buried under the endless send-ups of movies and TV shows lies a sharp black satire of our obsession with TV. The notion of experiencing life vicariously through the boob tube is ripe for satire. Roy used to have a life. For example, he was into competitive fencing (a skill that ultimately proves useful). Now he can’t even be bothered to take his eyes off the TV screen long enough to have a conversation with his wife about saving their troubled marriage. Stay Tuned could have made a bold statement about how technology is making human interaction obsolete. The idea of Satan using the medium as a means of taking over the world one soul at a time is actually rather brilliant. At times, the movie seems headed in that direction. If you look at the Control Center, you’ll see that it’s molded after the War Room in Dr. Strangelove. Just imagine how differently Stay Tuned would have turned out had original director Tim Burton not left to make Batman Returns.
Stay Tuned benefits nicely from a talented cast. Ritter and Dawber are pretty good as the suburban couple for whom the hellish experience turns out to be a godsend as it gives them ample opportunity to mend their broken marriage. Jones, as always, makes a convincing antagonist. Eugene Levy (SCTV) has some good moments as a Hellevision employee banished to the system. He shows up periodically to help Roy and Helen despite losing a couple of limbs in Northern Overexposure.
While I think Stay Tuned could have done more with its premise, I still liked it. It makes for agreeable viewing. It has a few genuine chuckles and an infectiously silly spirit. It bombed at theaters in summer ’92 but gained cult status once it hit video and cable. Now that I think about it, Stay Tuned is the perfect movie to watch at home on TV. It doesn’t require a lot of brain power. All you need is a bowl of popcorn and a comfy couch.
