UHF (film): Difference between revisions

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* [[Prop Recycling]]: The producers struck a deal with KOED to build a news set in their studio. The Tulsa network used the set for their own broadcasts for a couple years afterward.
* [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!]]: "A U! H! F! Station!"
* [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie]]: Gandhi II and a few others. There are also many joke listings on U-62's schedule board for implausible and ridiculous programmes that don't exist, not even as trailers.
* [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie]]
* [[Red Right Hand]]: Although he's technically not the main villanvillain, Mr. Big is a spooky unseen loansharkloan shark/crime boss with a detachable meat-cleaver hand. Also, [[Evil Sounds Deep]] applies to him as well.
* [[Sassy Secretary]]: Pamela Finklestein.
* [[Scary Librarian]]: ''CONAN: THE LIBRARIAN''
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* [[Severely Specialized Store]]: Spatula City.
* [[Shouting Shooter]]: In the ''[[Rambo]]'' parody.
* [[Show Within a Show]]: The entire picture is basically a series of short comedy sketches; the fictional TV station is merely a framing device to pass this all off as one feature-length film. [[Word of God|Al]]: "I was known for doing parodies, so we wanted to do a movie that was lousy with parodies — TV commercial parodies, movie trailer parodies, and obviously TV show parodies — and we hung them on a plot line that seemed like the thing to go well with that basic concept. Namely, that I would be the general manager for a small UHF [https://film.avclub.com/we-got-it-all-on-uhf-an-oral-history-of-weird-al-yan-1798278657 TV station]..."
* [[Smug Snake]]: RJ Fletcher.
* [[Struggling Broadcaster]]: Independent U-62's attempts to fill the entire schedule with [[No Budget]] original local programming. Most big-city independents would struggle but manage to fill most of their schedule with old movies, local/regional live sports coverage, "classic television" reruns or syndicated fare. U-62 doesn't even have the means to do that, so the operation basically runs ad-lib and hyperlocal.
* [[Styrofoam Rocks]]: Parodied. In the opening sequence, a rock bounces right off George Newman's head mid-fantasy and does nothing to him.
* [[Technology Marches On]]: The UHF band in general. In 1989? "It was a total anachronism even when it came out — it was on the tail end of UHF even being a thing. But as a kid, that was where you went to see all the weird programming. You know, you had your UHF dial, and you flipped it around, and there was everything from PBS stations to Spanish-speaking stations to low-budget public stations, to just out-and-out weirdness."
* [[Technology Marches On]]: The UHF band in general.* The launch of [[FOX]] TV as a fourth US commercial network in 1986 meantwas the [[Trope Breaker]]. twelveTwelve VHF TV channels (which had been enough for three stations in each major market) were no longer adequate; meanwhile the. TV sets have improved. And then there's the digital HDTV transition. Many longtime [[NBC]] and [[CBS]] affiliates chose to stay on UHF for their digital HDTV, whenas full-power analogue TV was phased out in 2009; theirthe once-valuable low-VHF channels turned out to beare too plagued with impulse noise to be useful digitally, leaving. VHF 2-6 became largely an over-the-air wasteland. The "U-62" frequency? Gone. UHF 52-69 were auctioned, to mobilethe phonepoint operatorsthat forthe billionsgovernment in 2009-11.paid [[American Television StationsPBS|WGBH-TV]] wereabout moved$160 downmillion to DT51move oroff lower,a onlynow-valuable toUHF bechannel furtherand repackedgo to DT36 or lower byVHF 20215.
** The "U-62" frequency? Gone. UHF 52-69 were auctioned to mobile phone operators for billions in 2009-11. [[American Television Stations]] were moved down to DT51 or lower, only to be further repacked to DT36 or lower by 2021. Stations historically on this channel (such as CBS owned-and-operated WWJ-TV 62 Detroit) may still display '62' or '62.1' in their branding, but physically they're on some other, lower channel.
* [[Temporary Substitute]]: Anthony Geary wasn't originally planned to play Philo; one of Al's favorite comics, [[Joel Hodgson]], was. But he couldn't accept the role. Before you go "aw, man!" keep in mind that Joel had turned it down due to being burned out in Los Angeles and returning to Minneapolis, where he ended up starting [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|his own little show]] on its own UHF station KTMA.
* [[They Just Didn't Care]]: Parodied with ''[[Gandhi]] II'', which deliberately misses the entire point of the original movie (and, for that matter, [[Critical Research Failure|Mahatma Gandhi's way of life]]).
{{quote|"No more Mr. Passive Resistance... he's out to kick some butt!"}}
** Aside from the obvious, he's also depicted ordering a steak.<ref>[[Sacred Cow]] warning: Hinduism considers practice of the consumption of beef taboo.</ref>
** It's Weird Al. [[They Just Didn't Care]] because they were deliberately [[Comically Missing the Point]]?
* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: As the trailers embedded in the film are jokes (where the corresponding feature presentations don't actually exist), the joke by necessity must be self-contained within the fake trailer.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: [[Sylvester Stallone]] was going to cameo as the helicopter ride ticketer during the ''Rambo'' parody scene, but had to cancel due to schedule issues.
** And asAs mentioned above, Al originally wanted Joel Hodgson to play Philo.
** After Hodgson turned down the role of Philo, Al asked Crispin Glover if he wanted the role, and Crispin said he would only be in the movie if he could play Crazy Ernie. Al turned him down.
** David Spade was one of the people who auditioned for the role of Bob.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Short Titles]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:UHF{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:ShortCult TitlesClassic]]