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Culture: UHF (film)
Qilai! Qilai!
A History of Modern China and the World
Culture: UHF - 1988
A History of Modern China and the World
Culture: UHF - 1988
In 2008, the classic film UHF celebrated it's 20th anniversary of release. Starring the famous "Weird Al" Yankovic as the protagonist, George Newman; George is what is described as a 'perpetual loser'--bouncing from job to job, and a tad clueless. He is joined by his friend Bob, played by David Bowe, and his girlfriend Terri, played by Victoria Jackson of Saturday Night Live fame. In the film, George gains the opportunity of a lifetime when his uncle Harvey Bilchik wins a small UHF station on the outskirts of George's hometown. Under pressure from his wife, Harvey appoints George to run Channel 62.
Joined there after by Pamela Finklestein, played by Fran Drescher (of The Nanny and Fran! fame later on) and Stanley Spadowski, played by Michael Richards (of Kramer and King Doug fame), the crew of U62 begins their own crusade for good entertainment, taking on the local network affiliate, Channel 8, lead by the tyrannical R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). While at first, U62 is a massive flop, running content such as the woefully boring Town Talk (in which the local high school shop teacher loses a thumb), Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse (which involved a kid spitting at Newman), and having an abysmal news network, the network seems ready to fail. George, in a fit of depression, leaves Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse in the hands of the odd janitor, Stanley, and heads to the bar.
With the new and immensely popular Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse leading the small station's popularity, it becomes an all-out war between Channel 8 and U62 to dominate the market, leading to some mechinations by Fletcher, whom has found out that Newman's uncle owes Big Louie some money...
As so not to spoil the remainder of the film, we shall not talk about the plot. The movie was not expected to do well, but opened in 1988 to fantastic reviews. "Weird Al" Yankovic's off-the-wall writing techniques drew the attentions of many famous Hollywood film directors, and comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld. The movie charted #1 in the United States and United Kingdom for six weeks. It also charted in China, Ukrainian SSR, Romania, Yugoslavia and Poland. Yugoslavia had the largest reception for the film, as Yankovic was of Yugoslavian descent himself. In 1990, the Central Committee of the SFRY bestowed upon Yankovic the 'Tito Award' for 'benefitting the cause of South Slavs everywhere' through his career and film-making success. He was also named an honorary citizen of his great-grandfather's homeland of Yugoslavia.
The movie is a classic, and has been re-released in theatres numerous times. Yankovic later made a sequel to UHF in 2006, called UHF 2, which revolved around a now retired Newman dealing with the fact that U62 was losing it's creativity, and becoming no different than the networks it fought against, and leads an internal struggle to return to their roots back when they were a UHF station. UHF 2 contains just as many gags, but has a serious undertone of how, sometimes, things can change, and destroy some of the cool parts of the past. The movie was not as successful as the original UHF, but was popular to many Yankovic fans, and is considered another 'classic'.
Joined there after by Pamela Finklestein, played by Fran Drescher (of The Nanny and Fran! fame later on) and Stanley Spadowski, played by Michael Richards (of Kramer and King Doug fame), the crew of U62 begins their own crusade for good entertainment, taking on the local network affiliate, Channel 8, lead by the tyrannical R.J. Fletcher (Kevin McCarthy). While at first, U62 is a massive flop, running content such as the woefully boring Town Talk (in which the local high school shop teacher loses a thumb), Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse (which involved a kid spitting at Newman), and having an abysmal news network, the network seems ready to fail. George, in a fit of depression, leaves Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse in the hands of the odd janitor, Stanley, and heads to the bar.
With the new and immensely popular Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse leading the small station's popularity, it becomes an all-out war between Channel 8 and U62 to dominate the market, leading to some mechinations by Fletcher, whom has found out that Newman's uncle owes Big Louie some money...
As so not to spoil the remainder of the film, we shall not talk about the plot. The movie was not expected to do well, but opened in 1988 to fantastic reviews. "Weird Al" Yankovic's off-the-wall writing techniques drew the attentions of many famous Hollywood film directors, and comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld. The movie charted #1 in the United States and United Kingdom for six weeks. It also charted in China, Ukrainian SSR, Romania, Yugoslavia and Poland. Yugoslavia had the largest reception for the film, as Yankovic was of Yugoslavian descent himself. In 1990, the Central Committee of the SFRY bestowed upon Yankovic the 'Tito Award' for 'benefitting the cause of South Slavs everywhere' through his career and film-making success. He was also named an honorary citizen of his great-grandfather's homeland of Yugoslavia.
The movie is a classic, and has been re-released in theatres numerous times. Yankovic later made a sequel to UHF in 2006, called UHF 2, which revolved around a now retired Newman dealing with the fact that U62 was losing it's creativity, and becoming no different than the networks it fought against, and leads an internal struggle to return to their roots back when they were a UHF station. UHF 2 contains just as many gags, but has a serious undertone of how, sometimes, things can change, and destroy some of the cool parts of the past. The movie was not as successful as the original UHF, but was popular to many Yankovic fans, and is considered another 'classic'.
- Asami
- Word Count: 550