UHF
A lot of TV stations have forgotten what "quality" means, but not Channel 62. They NEVER knew what it meant.
Country
Production
Genre
Budget
$5 000 000
Revenue
$6 157 157
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Gene Kirkwood, John W. Hyde, Gray Frederickson
Operator
David Lewis
Composer
John Du Prez
Artist
Audition
Cathy Henderson, Barbara Hanley, Michael Cutler
Editing
Dennis M. O'Connor, Bill Carroll
All team (79)
All team (79)
Short description
UHF follows George Newman, a daydreamer who struggles to hold down a job because his imagination keeps getting in the way. When his uncle wins a struggling television station in a poker game, George is put in charge of Channel 62. Working with a tiny budget against a powerful rival station, he fills the schedule with bizarre programming, including a children's show hosted by janitor Stanley Spadowski. The odd lineup finds an audience, and the station's growing popularity draws the attention of R.J. Fletcher, who runs the competing Channel 8 and wants to shut it down.
The film was directed by Jay Levey, who wrote the screenplay with "Weird Al" Yankovic, the musician and comedian who stars as George. It was Yankovic's first leading role in a feature film and Levey's first time directing one. The cast includes Kevin McCarthy as Fletcher, Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski, David Bowe as Bob, Stanley Brock as Harvey Bilchik and Anthony Geary as Philo, among a credited cast of 61. It was produced by Gene Kirkwood and John W. Hyde for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Orion Pictures, Cinecorp and Imaginary Entertainment.
Made for about 5 million US dollars, the film took in roughly 6 million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.9 out of 10 from around 34,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.7 from about 430 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- During the filming of the episode featuring Rambo's rescue, "Weird Al" Yankovic wore a fake muscular chest made of foam rubber.
- Michael Richards improvised in two scenes: when his character, Stanley Spadowski, tells the children about his dream (that he became a little bird), and during the cornflakes commercial.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic wanted Sylvester Stallone to appear in one of the project's episodes. Stallone initially agreed, but in the end, he was unable to perform due to his commitments to his own projects.
- At the end of 1988, Orion Pictures decided to capitalize on the anticipation of audiences eagerly awaiting Steven Spielberg's adventure film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). A parody trailer for Spielberg's adventure film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), filmed by the creators of "UVC," was released, in which neither "Weird Al" Yankovic's face nor the title appeared on screen until the very end. The trailer can be seen on the DVD release.
- The project is dedicated to the memory of Trinidad Silva, who played Raul and who was killed by a drunk driver during filming. Otherwise, Raul would have had significantly more screen time.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic and his friend Jay Levy wrote the first draft of the script back in the summer of 1986, after which they began pitching it to everyone they could. In 1988, the script caught the eye of director Gene Kirkwood's assistant. He passed it on to his boss, and Kirkwood liked it.
- The first version of the project had a runtime of 2 hours and 30 minutes, but it was cut down to an hour and a half for theatrical release. Fans have repeatedly pleaded with "Weird Al" Yankovic to release a director's cut, but he has consistently refused, explaining that the deleted parts slowed down the pace of the narrative.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic wanted to title the project "Videot." He didn't like the title "UHF" and felt that cable television was becoming increasingly widespread, while the term "UHF" was virtually unknown outside the United States. The management of the media platform Orion did not share his opinion and insisted on the title "UHF" for the American market. In most foreign markets, the project was titled "UHF Videot." In Mexico, the project was released under the title "Los Telelocos," which translates to "TV Lunatics."
- According to "Weird Al" Yankovic, Kevin McCarthy would often burst out laughing after filming a scene in which his character behaved particularly odiously.
- To promote Spatula City, a billboard was purchased in a remote and relatively deserted stretch of the highway. Drivers who saw it would ask at cafes and motels along the way where Spatula City was located. This continued until the billboard was removed due to numerous complaints from cafe and motel owners.
- It was originally intended that Doctor Phil's transformation would take place in the background, but "Weird Al" Yankovic and director Jay Lévy liked the special effects used in the scene so much that they decided to move it to the foreground.
- The number of moles on the face of the character played by "Weird Al" Yankovic changes from scene to scene.
- At one point, Gandhi II, played by the project's director Jay Lévy, began slamming the villain's head against the roof of a Ferrari. A dent even formed on the car's roof, but fortunately, such damages were covered by insurance.
- In one of the commercials, the character played by Hungerford says: "I love spatulas so much that I bought the company that makes them." This is a reference to a 1970s commercial in which Victor Kiam, president and CEO of Remington, says that he liked the razor his wife gave him so much that he bought the manufacturing company.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic did not believe that the project deserved a PG-13 rating. He did not authorize the removal of scenes that would have otherwise guaranteed a PG rating.
- Emo Philips' fee for appearing in one of the episodes with "Weird Al" Yankovic was 30 cents. He later proudly noted that this specific amount became a symbolic measure of how that appearance impacted his film career.
- Anthony Geary was cast as Doctor Philo at the last minute. He was a member of the cast of the series "General Hospital" (1963-2014) and was considered a serious actor. During the auditions, Geary delivered his lines with such unflappable seriousness that he was hired for the role.
- The character "Doctor Philo" is named after Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor and pioneer of electronic television.
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not grant permission to use an exact replica of its main award in the filming; therefore, the filmmakers showed a similar statuette—an "Oscar" with its hands covering the groin area.
- For the filming of one of the episodes, they stocked up on actual live fish, which were bought at a local fish market early in the morning. Filming didn't start until half past four in the afternoon. It was a hot summer day, and while there was no air conditioning in the room, it was packed with lighting equipment and over a hundred extras. By the time filming began, the fish had died and rotted, leaving an unbearable stench in the room.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
