UHF (film)/Trivia

"George: This means something. This is important."
 * The Cameo: Dr. Demento appears for a split second during a montage of Channel 62's shows, getting whipped cream sprayed into his mouth by Stanley.
 * The Kipper Kids, a performance art duo, appear during the telethon doing a strange song-and-dance routine to the tune of 'The Umbrella Man'.
 * Whose appearance is almost a Non Sequitur Scene for those not familiar with those guys. Of course, YMMV.
 * Emo Philips is the accident-prone high school shop teacher George interviews.
 * Censor Decoy: According to Jay Levey, a planned promo for "Those Darn Homos" was included in the script on the (correct) assumption that the suits at Orion would make them take it out.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: The cast includes Michael Richards and Fran Drescher before either was well known.
 * David Proval from The Sopranos is one of the kidnappers of Stanley.
 * And the guy from Invasion of the Body Snatchers now owns a network affiliate.
 * Fletcher's son Richard is Jambi from Pee-wee's Playhouse.
 * And Kuni once crashed your auto-mobile!
 * Teri is Victoria Jackson, formerly of Saturday Night Live.
 * Philo is Luke of 1980s "Luke and Laura" fame.
 * Plus, Joe Early runs shop at the local high school but isn't all that emotional.
 * Shout-Out: George's show, "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" takes its name from a skit in an issue of MAD.
 * The scene where Stanley first goes on air has a shout-out to Network. The whole concept of an station/network rising to instant unscripted prominence could be considered one, too.
 * Philo is named after Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television.
 * His home planet, Zarquon, is named for a religious figure from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
 * George molds mashed potatoes into Devil's Tower like Richard Dreyfus in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".


 * The final scene is a fantasy sequence with George and Teri as Rhett and Scarlett in "Gone with the Wind".
 * Stanley waves his mop like a light saber, complete with sound effects *WHOOM WHOOM WHOOM*.
 * One of the unseen shows on U62's lineup is "The Volcano Worshipers Hour". The Volcano Worshipers were a made-up group Al created in high school just so he and his other friends on the yearbook committee could get an extra picture of themselves in the yearbook.
 * The Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies segment.
 * When George is threatened by Fletcher's henchmen while attempting to rescue Stanley: "Redrum! Redruuum!"
 * Technology Marches On: The launch of FOX as a fourth network in 1986 meant that the trope of UHF as the preserve of educational channels, Spanish-language stations and struggling independent broadcasters was already dated in 1989. By 1994, Fox had managed to take a key NFL deal (and a number of valuable affiliates, including the dozen New World Communications-owned stations) from CBS, forcing that network onto UHF in several markets. Most infamously, CBS in sheer desperation paid $24 million to buy a low-ranked Detroit station outright... on "U-62", the same channel mocked as worthless in this film five years prior.
 * Vindicated by Video: Ironically, it might have done better at the box office had Orion Pictures not been so excited by how well it performed at test screenings. They gave it a summer 1989 release that placed it amongst films like Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and so on. Lost in the shuffle, it found its audience through its subsequent video release and TV airings.
 * As a result, and as Al sang in the commentary, "Orion! Orion! Is bankrupt, now!"
 * It was one of the top rentals after its release on VHS, and became a #1 seller when it was released on DVD.
 * What Could Have Been: The role of Philo was originally written for Al's friend Joel Hodgson, but he was busy working on his own project...