UHF (released internationally as The Vidiot from UHF) is a 1989 American comedy film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Stanley Brock, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva in his final film role; as Silva died before filming wrapped, the film is dedicated to his memory. Directed by Jay Levey, Yankovic's manager, who also co-wrote the screenplay with him, the film was originally released by Orion Pictures and became owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their takeover in 1997. Yankovic and Levey struggled to find a production company to finance the film, but eventually secured Orion's support after agreeing to a budget. Principal photography took place around Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Yankovic stars as shiftless dreamer George Newman, who stumbles into managing a low-budget television station and surprisingly succeeds with his eclectic programming choices, spearheaded by the antics of a janitor-turned-children's television host, Stanley Spadowski (Richards). The competitive upstart provokes a major network station. The title refers to the ultra high frequency (UHF) analog television broadcasting band on which such low-budget television stations were often placed in the United States. Yankovic and Levey wrote the film following Yankovic's second album, "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D, and set parodies within George's vivid imagination.
Overshadowed by several concurrent major Hollywood blockbusters, UHF underperformed commercially and also received mixed critical reviews, which left Yankovic in a slump until the surprise success of his next album, Off the Deep End, in 1992. However, UHF soon became a cult film on home video and cable TV. The VHS version was rare and out of print for many years, with high prices online. In 2002, the DVD was released, and Shout! Factory released a special 25th-anniversary edition on November 11, 2014, on DVD and Blu-ray. On July 2, 2024, Shout! Factory released a 35th Anniversary Edition on 4K UHD, with a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative and audio commentary with Weird Al and director Jay Levey.
Plot
George Newman, a daydreaming slacker who bounces between jobs, is put in charge of Channel 62, a UHF television station, after his uncle, Harvey Bilchik, wins ownership of it in a poker game. George and his friend, Bob Steckler, realize the station is nearly bankrupt, subsisting on reruns of old shows like The Beverly Hillbillies and Mister Ed. When a package meant for its competitor, VHF station Channel 8, is mistakenly delivered to Channel 62, George decides to deliver it himself, only to be rudely dismissed by RJ Fletcher, owner and CEO of Channel 8. Outside, George meets a janitor, Stanley Spadowski (whom RJ had recently and unfairly fired after falsely accusing him of discarding a missing report), and hires him at Channel 62.
Bob and George create new programs, including the live children's show, Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse (hosted by George), but all of them unfortunately fail to increase viewership. While fretting over their finances, George neglects his girlfriend, Teri's birthday dinner and she breaks up with him. The next day, during the Uncle Nutzy broadcast, a depressed George abandons the set, hands over hosting responsibilities to Stanley, and visits a bar with Bob to drown their sorrows, but discovers the patrons enjoying Stanley's slapstick antics on Channel 62. Inspired, the pair create various bizarre shows to fill the schedule, headlined by the re-titled Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse.
Infuriated that Channel 62's ratings now rival those of Channel 8, including a majority of Top Five shows, RJ discovers Harvey owes his bookie, Big Louie, $75,000 by the end of the week, and offers to pay the debt in exchange for the deed to Channel 62. George launches a telethon to sell stock in the station, which would not only save it from RJ, but also make it publicly owned. RJ's henchmen stall the telethon by kidnapping Stanley, whom George and several staff members eventually rescue. RJ again attempts to stall the telethon with a televised public statement, but Channel 62 engineer Philo hijacks it with secretly recorded footage of RJ insulting the town's population to Teri's face during her visit to his Channel 8 headquarters.
The telethon ends about $2,000 short of its goal. Harvey concedes victory to RJ, who, instead of immediately taking ownership, gloats to the crowd. Meanwhile, a homeless man approaches George, asking to buy the remaining stock with money obtained by selling a rare 1955 doubled die cent that RJ, unaware of its true value, gave him when he was begging for change. George pays off Big Louie, Harvey signs the ownership transfer, and the station officially becomes publicly owned. Due to both its tardiness in filing its broadcast license renewal and the tirade that Philo broadcast, Channel 8 has its license revoked by the FCC, which subsequently shuts it down. After the Channel 62 staff and audience celebrate, George and Teri reconcile.
Cast
"Weird Al" Yankovic as George Newman, a daydreaming slacker who becomes the program director of Channel 62 at the behest of his aunt Esther. David Bowe as Bob Steckler/Bobbo the Clown, George's best friend and roommate. Fran Drescher as Pamela Finklestein, a secretary at Channel 62 who longs to be, and soon becomes, an on-air reporter. Michael Richards as Stanley Spadowski, the janitor at Channel 62 who also serves as the host of its highest-rated show. Kevin McCarthy as R.J. Fletcher, the owner of Channel 8 and the film's main antagonist. Victoria Jackson as Teri Campbell, George's long-suffering girlfriend. Stanley Brock as Harvey Bilchik, George's uncle and a serious gambler who wins Channel 62 in a poker game. Sue Ane Langdon as Aunt Esther Bilchik, Harvey's wife and George's aunt. Anthony Geary as Philo, Channel 62's station engineer who is secretly an alien. Billy Barty as Noodles MacIntosh, one of Channel 62's cameramen. Trinidad Silva as Raul Hernandez, host of a Channel 62 show about animals. Gedde Watanabe as Kuni, a karate teacher who later hosts a game show. Vance Colvig Jr. as a bum who eventually becomes the hero of the movie with his last-minute purchase of the last shares of Channel 62 stock. David Proval as Fletcher's head goon John Paragon as R.J. Fletcher III. Belinda Bauer as Mud Wrestler Dr. Demento as himself/Whipped Cream Eater Emo Philips as Joe Earley Patrick Thomas O'Brien as Satan The Kipper Kids as themselves John Cadenhead as Crazy Ernie
Production Yankovic and his manager, Jay Levey, had discussed the idea of a movie for Yankovic around 1985, after the success of his third album, Dare to Be Stupid; his popularity at that time led the two to thinking what other venues would work for the musician. The story concept they created was based on Yankovic's approach to his music video parodies. After sketching several such parodies for a film, they conceived Yankovic's character owning a small-time UHF station broadcasting these parodies as shows, as this would not require having any significant plot to string the parodies together, in a manner similar to Airplane! (1980).
The two shopped the script around Hollywood film agencies for about three years. They were surprised to learn one of their agents had shown the script to the founders of a new production company, Cinecorp, which was interested and had given it to producers Gene Kirkwood and John W. Hyde; Kirkwood stated he had previously seen Yankovic's videos and wanted to make a movie with him. Kirkwood and Hyde had connections with Orion Pictures, which offered up to (equivalent to $ in ).
The title refers to the ultra-high-frequency broadcast band, which, in the United States, was typically known for low-budget television stations with no network affiliation. Yankovic suggested the title, The Vidiot, for the international release, but the studio chose The Vidiot from UHF to connect the international and American versions, with which Yankovic has expressed dissatisfaction.DVD audio commentary, menus, etc.
Locations Primary filming occurred in Tulsa between July 18 and September 21, 1988 (by coincidence, Tulsa itself has a channel 8, ABC affiliate KTUL-TV, though it had no involvement in the film). Executive producer Gray Frederickson had earlier finished shooting of The Outsiders in Oklahoma, and found the ease and cost of filming in the state appealing. They found several favorable factors that made the city suitable for filming. The Kensington Galleria (71st and Lewis) was being closed down to convert the mall into office space, allowing the production team to use it for both sound stage and interior scenes, including those for Channels 8 and 62. The mall was situated near a hotel for housing the cast and crew. The area and close proximity to Dallas allowed them to recruit additional local talent for some of the acts during the telethon scenes.
The Burger World location was Harden's Hamburgers at 6835 East 15th Street, and Bowling for Burgers was filmed at Rose Bowl Lanes on East 11th Street. The bar location was Joey's House of the Blues at 2222 East 61st Street. The building used for Kuni's Karate School belongs to Welltown Brewery and is located at 114 West Archer in Tulsa, and "Crazy Ernie's Used Car Emporium" was filmed on the lot of Ernie Miller Pontiac at 4700 South Memorial.UHF - My 15 Year Pilgrimage, Rob O'Hara The dead fish in Wheel of Fish were obtained from the White River Fish Market. The news desk was located at OETA, a local PBS member station. The steps of City Hall are actually First Christian Church at 913 S. Boulder, built in 1920. Channel 8's exterior is an office block (6655 South Lewis Building) occupied by Hewlett-Packard. The U-62 building was constructed around KGTO 1050's AM radio transmitter site (5400 West Edison Street); the real KGTO studios had been moved elsewhere in 1975. Just the tower remains at this location.A little history of KFMJ 1050 AM, Wayne McCombs, Tulsa TV Memories The airport scenes were shot at Tulsa International Airport.
Casting Yankovic was always envisioned to play the central character of the film, George Newman, written as a straight man with a vivid imagination as to allow the insertion of the parodies into the film's script in a manner similar to the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947). To focus on the parodies, George was not developed beyond driving the principal storyline. The name "Newman" was selected as homage to Mad magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman (the title of George's children's show, Uncle Nutsy's Clubhouse, also came from Mad).
Yankovic wrote the role of Stanley Spadowski with Michael Richards in mind, having been impressed with his stand-up comedy and performance on the show, Fridays. Stanley's role was influenced by Christopher Lloyd's performance on Taxi, so Yankovic had considered offering it to him, but kept Richards, due to their original premise. Richards' agents had told Yankovic that he was not interested in the role, due to a bout of Bell's palsy, but on second contact, Richards arrived on set and dropped right into the character for the test read.
Other principal roles were cast through normal auditions, with most of the choices based on how well the actor fit the role. For George's girlfriend, Teri Campbell, they did not significantly develop the relationship because they did not consider Yankovic a romantic lead. Jennifer Tilly and Ellen DeGeneres auditioned, and Victoria Jackson's soft demeanor was preferred.