Stay Tuned

I've read a few bad-type reviews on this, but that just shows what I know. i think Stay Tuned is one of the funnier movies to roll along in a while. Yeah, it's filled with TV rejects like Ritter, Dawber, and Levy, but they're still kinda funny. The funniest thing are the TV parodies (yes, they're funny, dammit), and the whole parody of the modern entertainment industry. Plus you've got a great Chuck Jones cartoon set right in the middle. Moves along just fast enough to keep your interest, and the characters are just tolerable enough you don't want to turn off on it. As was noted, it grows on you.

The idea behind this movie was great. But, the writers missed so many opportunities for jokes. The characters in the movie jumped into probably 25 different movie or TV types. Each one was a ripe setup for several hilarious jokes. But, most of the time, the writers punted and just played it straight or relied on sight gags (which Ritter is known for).

So, they get dropped in the Arctic and wolves attack them. Not funny. They get dropped into a cat-and-mouse cartoon and the cat chases the mouse for ten minutes. Less funny than a real cat-and-mouse cartoon.They get dropped into a "professional" wrestling match and get thrown around the ring for a bit. Not funny.

Each scene was just bursting with comic potential, but the writers never went for the home run and always played it safe and bunted for the single. By the end, I was writing the big jokes in my head.

This movie is just begging to be remade with a team of actual comedians writing the script and, bonus, playing all the bit parts.

The things that Ritter's character found 'hellish' back in '92 are now common fare - e.g. stabbing each other in the back (figuratively) in 'The Apprentice', 'Survivor', etc.; paternity tests on 'Maury'; revealing the adultery of spouses (and nude wrestling) on 'Springer'; not to mention Jackass, Southpark or Borat.

I think the word is prescient.

I have often thought over the years about how this movie was so outrageously impossible when it was made, but how, within a few years how mainstream much of the portrayed content had become.

I think this is a movie - although a low budget comedy (dare I use the descriptor "B"?) - that should be recognized for its historical significance, and perhaps studied in sociology courses about the effect of media on society (or more exactly - the effect of media on media).

The significance of this movie has been overlooked.

I have always liked this film, since I was younger. It's an expensive flop but at the same time I think it has plenty of laughs and is entertaining. The late great John Ritter is always good value and likeable as is Pam Dawber, the ultimate fanciable former sitcom star. She is differently attractive and I have always fancied her like many others, particularly from the Mork And Mindy days, you know that sitcom with Robin Williams that you used to find funny but when you look back now it kinda sucks!

This is good family entertainment. It's inconsistent and some of the references aren't that funny but on the most part the referencing of old movies and TV shows is where most of the humour lies. Good fun. ***

A very long time ago i saw a trailer of this movie when i was on vacation in the US and i said that one day i´d get to see this movie, some years went by and on my first trip to California i went into a Suncoast store bought some movie souveniers and asked for this film, I found it with a regular price and bought it,at this time i had just seen the trailer, not read any reviews or nothing, i just knew i had to have it cause it looked cool on the trailer, I was so right in buying it, this movie is great, being myself a couch potato i can relate to George Knable (Played wonderfully by the recently deceased John Ritter) and the stuff that happens to him when hes sucked inside his new satellite dish with his wife into a programming of 666 channels into alternative horror versions of classic shows and movies,Theres even an MTV kind of video with Salt N Pepa that is so cool i had to buy the soundtrack of this movie, i love that sequence when theyre all dancing, To me this film rocks and its a must see, John has passed away just 2 days ago and i feel this movie as being his best movie of all because he is the main character and he does a great job at being funny, I will always remember John Ritter.