UHF

UHF. 1989 Orion Pictures (distributed to DVD by MGM).
Starring: "Weird Al" Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Michael Richards, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Anthony Geary, Kevin McCarthy
Director: Jay Levey
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George Newman (Yankovic) is a friendly fellow with a runaway imagination who also can't seem to keep a job. He unexpectedly gains control of a faltering UHF station in town (Channel 62) after his uncle Harvey Bilchik (Stanley Brock) wins it in a poker game, and gives it to George. He and his friend Bob (Bowe) meet the staff, and work around the clock, including creating a kids' show for George to host. The workload and debt of the station get to George, and he misses his girlfriend Teri's (Jackson) birthday, which prompts her to threaten to end the relationship. Unable to pretend to be happy for his show, George hands over the hosting job to the station's janitor, Stanley Spadowski (Richards), and he and Bob depart for the nearest bar...to find everyone in the joint tuned into Channel 62 and marveling over Stanley's performance. This starts the station's turnaround.

Across town, R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy) is the owner of Channel 8, and he had previously fired Stanley for a misplaced file that wasn't really missing. Fletcher is very unhappy that Channel 62 is starting to become more popular, and that Harvey owns the station, not to mention losing a large sum of money in another poker game. Fletcher offers Harvey a deal: he'll cover the poker debt in exchange for ownership of Channel 62, which he would have to shut down since he wouldn't be allowed to own two stations in the same city. George finds out about the deal, and calls his aunt, who then pressures Harvey to hold off on the deal, allowing George to brainstorm for an idea to raise enough money to save the station. Channel 62 goes live with a telethon selling investment stock, which is hosted by Stanley...until Fletcher sends his goons to disrupt the telethon, and it's up to George and his friends to save the day.

Highly recommended. This review was sponsored by Spatula City.