Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Charles Herold (cherold) The first time I saw this movie, I'd tuned in after it had been playing for a half hour. This meant that one of the first things I saw was a brilliant animated sequence (directed by animation genius Chuck Jones). Because of this, I had a more favorable view of the movie than I would have if I'd watched from the beginning.This time I watched from the beginning, and realized that it wasn't as good as I recalled. The first 20 minutes or so is rather dull set up. The movie picks up with clips from fictional, disturbing TV shows, but the actual journey the movie is centered on is very hit and miss, with a lot of rather toothless pop parody pretending to be satire.It's a watchable movie, but I found my attention often flagged. The best reason to watch is for the animated sequence, which you can find on youtube, if you don't want to bother with the movie.

elshikh4 Before writing this, I knew that at its release (Stay Tuned) was accused of being "a pointless satire". Now I have to say that anyone says anything like that, is pointless himself !It's a refreshing fantasy, while being a wicked, sort of dark, parody also. The thing about it is that it has 2 ironies. They both had been summarized well in the tagline "Everybody wants to be on television. Just not this kind of television.". Hence it's about living the TV, and an evilly twisted version of it too. It kills me already when I know, in 2010, that a movie with this story was made 18 years ago, while I wrote a TV show based on more or less the same idea couple of years ago !! It's not "how someone else me thought about it?", No, it's "How they made it, while my TV show isn't made till NOW ?!!!!!!"Away from my personal sorrows, I think that the movie's vision can't be more obvious : Today's TV is devilish, by watching – rather surrendering to – it we sell our souls to hell, setting in front of it for more than it deserves means turning into a viewer more than doer, losing reality, dreams, and most of all : love.Its fun is close to impeccable. I loved the wicked finale where the cinema studier becomes the new devil, as if the ones who knows the rules of art will be better Satans ! I believe that writers (Jim Jennewein) and (Tom S. Parker) didn't do anything this entertaining again. While their career includes movies like (Major League II, Ri¢hie Ri¢h), still (Stay Tuned), the first one they wrote, is their most original and wild work yet. Director (Peter Hyams) can make a keen steamy action just about every time, in spite of how the scripts he deals with are sometimes weaker.Speaking of which, this movie has a similar problem. A serious one too. While the action and comedy are on, the drama isn't. From the wonderful, so smart, parody of the game show, then the wrestling match, to the end of the movie where the lead has no solution to save his love, and his marriage, but to turn off the TV, no actual drama, concerning the development of the 2 lead's relationship, was done. It's a series of non-stop chases through bizarre channels (with the bizarre commercials as well), yet with no substance to follow. I thought that with more care and seriousness about such a basic storyline the drama would have been more attractive and effective, and the interplay between the movie and the viewer more emotional and powerful. So the movie's satire wasn't bad, it's the dealing with it that tarnished it a bit, maybe causing the accusation of "pointless" for some.Minor problems : for sure the video clip at the end. It's bad on so many levels. I mean it was long. It was noisy. It was cold. And it was while the movie's most critical phase for god's sake, so how about putting it to slacken the tight pace ! Actually, seeing (John Ritter) in that yellow girlie outfit was awful enough ! I didn't like the matter of parodied TV shows, only by punned titles, at the closing credits; that was lame and blank. And for a final problem : while (John Ritter), (Pam Dawber), (Jeffrey Jones) did their absolute best, I thought they all missed the glamour of stardom. The charisma of them wasn't as dazzling as the movie itself. Well, maybe I'm wrong, and it's measured by the amount of fun this cast gave, because accordingly; they scored high.Some lines were great : "I prefer a man who touches me, not the controller", "All I wanted was to be the big shot for once. Take my remote.", "You wanted to live in a TV fantasy? Well, you got your wish." And finally the immortal Roy Knable's one : "Take my advice, kiddo. Don't watch too much TV. It can get you into trouble."It's about the journey from viewer into doer. I bet the writers loved the idea of living defeated by a TV fantasy (or did experience it already), then having the victory *through* the very TV fantasy. But while the "viewer" part was done fine, the "doer" part wasn't as fine. When it comes to this point in specific the writers were viewers more than doers themselves !

ccthemovieman-1 This was a clever and funny movie, much better than I anticipated. Most of the humor involves takeoff or parodies of television programs and movies. Being familiar with most of them, I enjoyed the humor. The takeoff involved having the devil take charge of some of these programs.John Ritter and Pam Dawber play husband-and-wife "Roy and Helen Knable" who get sucked into buying a TV dish package straight from The Devil. After the purchase, which comes complete with 666 channels, mayhem ensues. There were a number of spots in here I just laughed out loud. Knowing a lot of the TV programs that were being spoofed helps a lot, of course, but there is a lot of good material in this film. The special-effects were pretty good, too, especially for a film that really never got a lot of exposure nor, I assume, had a huge budget. Jeffrey Jones and Eugene Levy, two guys who are usually pretty funny, supply some good humor here, too. I looked at this strictly for laughs even though I know the devil is somebody to take seriously, but this film was anything but played for seriousness. As a bonus, we even got a Chuck Jones cartoon in the middle of the story.This is one wacky movie and I'd like to see it on widescreen DVD. I last saw it on tape. This is recommended to those who enjoy dark humor.

gavin6942 My friend Kenn Harris recommended this movie to me and I was against it from the start weeks ago because it always looked stupid to me and I hate John Ritter with a passion. But I called him and apologized for doubting him - this film is a hidden treasure.While it is true that John Ritter is a one-dimensional actor, this film does not rely heavily on his acting or even his speaking. The bulk of this film is visual gags and pop culture references. If you grew up watching TV, you should catch most of these and they're hilarious. "Different Strokes" was great, and so was "Fresh Prince of Darkness"... and who can forget "Frankensteinfeld"? If that's not enough, two great actors round out the cast - Jeffrey Jones and Eugene Levy. Jones is often a minor actor, but he is given top spot in this film, and rightfully so. As we later saw in "Ravenous", this man has a full potential for evil and his screen presence is terrific. Levy is classic, his character is the real hero of this film. Best of all, this is a younger Levy, years before he became known as the father from "American Pie"... this is pure Levy, untainted. This film highly recommended.