Stay Tuned

Sometimes the material's rather too gruesome for a family-oriented film, but as one HVTV intern says to the Devil, "It isn't the blood that bothers me, so much as the lack of subtext." Read full review

Likely to be popular among kids, as well as the aforementioned slugs, Stay Tuned is an amiable, end-of-summer, lite refreshment making good fun of suboobia. [17 Aug 1992]

It's an amiable little low-grade comedy that gets by with goofing on movies and TV shows as John Ritter, a couch potato Faust, signs up for a cable package from hell (it's got 666 channels - the devil's number, get it?) from satanic Jeffrey Jones. [14 Aug 1992, p.46]

The irony of it all is that "Stay Tuned" is itself a TV show, filled with razzle-dazzle, but unfolding with the wispy depth of a sit-com. That makes the casting of TV veterans Ritter and Dawber totally appropriate (and lends the physically hilarious Ritter a good-natured dig at "Three's Company"), but Parker and Jennewein don't capitalize on the potential of their ideas. The nuggets are there ("don't watch so much television" is the basic extent of the message), but if taken more seriously, "Stay Tuned" might've been a funny and deeply affecting film. Instead it's just funny . . . which is OK. [15 Aug 1992, p.C3]

It's cultural fast food delivered in a quick, painless package for the shrinking attention span of the MTV generation. [17 Aug 1992, p.C6]

A cleverly plotted movie that offers ample opportunity for spoofing anything and everything that can be found on television. Unfortunately, most of its takeoffs -- of a black-and-white gangster film, a spaghetti western and a period swashbuckler -- show no feel for genre and no genuine wit. Read full review

It sets up two or three dozen satirical targets, hits the mark occasionally, but has trouble maintaining an even satirical tone or satisfying pace. Dawber, too, is unappealing in the female lead -- definitely outclassed by Ritter. I'd wager Stay Tuned will die an early death at the box office and find its real life, appropriately enough, in home video. [15 Aug 1992, p.C3]

Former US sitcom staple Ritter breezes through his undemanding role with gormless bewilderment, reacting rather than acting, while Dawber screams and hollers as the special effects - the film's real stars - bounce them from one side of the screen to the other. Read full review

Hyams’ lensing and Philip Harrison’s production design are slick, and Peter E. Berger’s editing works hard to simulate the zapping effect of cable remote control, but technical cleverness can’t overcome the deadly lack of intellectual invention on display in this mechanical exercise. Read full review

As a take on contemporary television culture, Stay Tuned has a lot to say, but much of it is presented in such a broad comedic format that it passes by unnoticed. This is a comedy, after all; politics aside, though, it never really rises above the level of mediocrity, and never actually descends to the level of television itself. Read full review

Ritter, Dawber and Jones are skilled comedians, and director Peter Hyams typically handles large-scale entertainments with aplomb. But it’s hard to see how anyone could have made anything out of something as flat as Stay Tuned. Read full review

The parodies are funnier than any of the dialogue between Ritter and wife Pam Dawber. Read full review

After a half-hour or so, your clicker finger will be itching. Too bad you can't zap around the other multiplex screens. [17 Aug 1992, p.4D]

The film boasts the emotional depth of a 30-second soap commercial, and Hyams' direction fails to sustain humour or tension. A dismal affair which goes down the tube. Read full review

Not only does the new film generally fail to skewer TV's follies, it isn't even as entertaining as television. And I'm not talking about really good television, like Seinfeld and Murphy Brown. I'm talking about the usual stuff, like Three's Company and Mork & Mindy. [17 Aug 1992, p.D2]

Wretchedly unfunny. [14 Aug 1992, p.18]