UHF was rereleased on DVD in 2002 by MGM

UHF (also known as The Vidiot from UHF) is a comedy cult film made in 1989. It starred "Weird Al" Yankovic, along with Michael Richards, David Bowe, Victoria Jackson, Fran Drescher, Kevin McCarthy, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty and Trinidad Silva who was killed during production in an off-set car accident. The film was directed by Jay Levey, Yankovic's manager who also co-wrote the screenplay with him. It was originally produced by Orion Pictures Corporation, which was acquired by MGM in 1997. DVD cover or insert scan from the movie UHF, personal scan, claiming fair use (does not detract from original work, scanned from legal copy, image is of sufficiently low resolution). ... DVD cover or insert scan from the movie UHF, personal scan, claiming fair use (does not detract from original work, scanned from legal copy, image is of sufficiently low resolution). ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... Comedy is the use of humor in the performing arts. ... A cult film is a movie that attracts a small but devoted group of fans, usually failing to achieve considerable success outside that group. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alfred Matthew Weird Al Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is a Grammy award winning American musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer. ... Michael Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, Vietnam veteran, producer and comedian from Los Angeles, California. ... External links Official website Categories: People stubs | U.S. comedians | SNL cast members | 1959 births ... Fran Drescher Francine Joy Drescher (born in Flushing, Queens, New York, on September 30, 1957) is a Jewish American actress. ... Kevin McCarthy (February 15, 1914 in Seattle, Washington) is an American actor. ... Gedde Watanabe (born June 26, 1955 in Ogden, Utah) is the stage name of Gary Watanabe, a Japanese American actor. ... Billy Barty Billy Barty (born William John Bertanzetti) (October 25, 1924–December 23, 2000) was an American film actor. ... Actor Trinidad Silva Jr. ... Orion Pictures Logo Orion Pictures Corporation was a United States movie production company, formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Plot summary

In the film, Yankovic plays George Newman, a "daydreaming loser" (to quote IMDB's plot summary), whose uncle wins a faltering UHF television station (channel 62) in a poker game and puts George in charge. The station struggles, and one night George works late and forgets the birthday date he set up with his girlfriend Teri (Jackson). She dumps him, and in his resulting depression he leaves work during the middle of the day to go to a bar, leaving the weird but charismatic janitor (Richards) in charge of the children's show currently in progress. The show becomes a hit among both children and adults, and the station is suddenly the most successful station in town. The owner (McCarthy) of a rival VHF station, channel 8, a network affiliate, is furious at being beaten by a UHF station and schemes to gain control of channel 62, which he intends to turn into a parking lot. He plans to purchase the station from George's uncle, whose gambling has left him with a substantial debt that needs to be repaid quickly. Thanks to a telethon, George is able to come up with the money his uncle needs, and the station becomes a publicly owned company, while channel 8 loses its broadcasting license. George and Teri get back together. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), owned by Amazon. ... This article is about the radio frequency. ... A television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts both audio and video to television receivers in a particular area. ... The poker room at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ. Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the remaining player or... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ... A telethon is a fundraising event broadcast on television that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political, or other allegedly worthy cause. ... A publicly traded corporation often refers to a company whose shares are traded on the open market, such as a stock market. ...

In typical Weird Al fashion, the film has several parodies of pop media, including Gandhi 2, Conan the Librarian, and "Spatula City". In fact, this entire movie could be considered a spoof of the movie Network (especially the line "These floors are as dirty as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"). Gandhi (1982) is an Anglo-Indian film, directed by Richard Attenborough, about the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi), leader of the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. ... Conan the Librarian is a perennial parody of Conan the Barbarian that has appeared in film, television, comics, and fan fiction. ... A spatula A spatula—sometimes also called a lifter or turner—is a hand-held tool that is used for lifting, flipping, or spreading substances. ... Network is a 1976 satirical film which tells about a television network named Union Broadcasting System (UBS) and its struggle with poor TV ratings. ...

Reception

After very successful test screenings, Orion Pictures released UHF on July 21, 1989 as a hopeful summer blockbuster. However, the critical response was negative and UHF was overshadowed in the theaters by much larger films such as Lethal Weapon 2 and Batman. The initial failure aside, UHF became very popular on home video, with out-of-print video cassettes selling on eBay for sizable amounts of money. It was rereleased on DVD in 2002 by MGM, to the joy of its fans. The DVD contains some extras including a music video of the movie's theme song. July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lethal Weapon 2 is the second movie in the Lethal Weapon series, released in 1989. ... Batman DVD cover, 1997 release version Batman was released in U.S. theaters on June 23, 1989 by Warner Bros. ... The title of this article begins with a capital letter due to technical limitations. ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... UHF is the name of a music video by Weird Al Yankovic which was released as an extra on the DVD of the movie of the same title. ...

Soundtrack

"Weird Al" also released a soundtrack for the film in late 1989, entitled UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack And Other Stuff. UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack And Other Stuff (1989), sometimes referred to simply as UHF, is the soundtrack to the comedy cult film UHF, by Weird Al Yankovic. ...

Triva

According to Al on the UHF DVD commentary track the two scenes that earned the movie a PG-13 rating from the MPAA are the poodles flying out the window and when Joe Earley (played by Emo Philips) accidentally cuts his thumb off with a table saw. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. ...

External links

• UHF at the Internet Movie Database
• UHF and its relationship with Tulsa, Oklahoma