Stay Tuned is a 1992 comedy film starring the late loveable actor John Ritter & Pam Dawber (of Mork & Mindy fame) that I remembered loving way back in my late teens and when I found a torrent for it I downloaded a copy of this fun film. Jeffery Jones and Eugene Levy also act in this goofy family friendly comedy.
The Knables live in a nice little suburb of Seattle where couch potato Roy (Ritter) a struggling plumbing salesman lives glued to the tv outside of work, while his neglected wife has a more successful career as a product manager for a Vitamin company. They have two kids – Diane, a typical teenage girl & Darryl a brainy son. After a big fight Helen breaks the tv & storms out for the night, while Mr. Spike arrives to gift a large screen tv with a huge satellite dish & 666 channels. Spike is an associate of the Devil who wants to suck tv addicts souls straight to a television world where the contestants must survive 24 hours of perils in different shows/channels or else their soul will be sucked to hell.
Roy & Helen are soon pulled into this world and must endure the full 24 hours in order to get back to their kids. They have to win a game show, an arctic cabin on fire surrounded by ravenous wolves, a cartoon show where they both become animated mice and are chased by a robotic cat and escape Revolution era France where Roy is also beheaded. Helping them on their journey is a sympathetic Levy who has a score to settle with Spike. Finally the 24 hours are up but Mr. Spike only sends Roy back to his reality – seeing that only he signed the contract. Roy must now dash back to save Helen from a speeding train and fend off Spike, which he does so at the end, aided by son Darryl. Roy & Helen are reunited with their kids and Roy changes his ways. He dramatically cuts back on his TV viewing time and taken up teaching in a fencing class.
Some of the satirical shows seen are a parody of Star Trek : TNG, Wayne’s World, Driving Miss Daisy & Silence Of The Lambs and a funny scene in which Roy finds himself in Three’s Company (the show that made the actor John Ritter famous)! Funny stuff – 7 outta 10!