90s Nostalgia in One Horror Satire

Stay Tuned (1992): A Dip Into The Ridiculousness of the Nineties

“O.K. Everything goes, maim, murder each other, I don’t care but keep it clean. Okay, go to your corners, and when the bell rings, kill or be killed.” –Beginning of a wrestling match.

The story is about the Knable’s. A family who live in suburban America. The wife is the primary breadwinner of the family with an excellent job. The husband tries to sell plumbing supplies to make a living but due to his past failures he has become somewhat jealous of his wife’s success. His inadequacies causes him to becomes lost in the world of television. Watching TV for hours on end. One night after his wife and he got into a fight and she destroyed their television. A stranger appears to Mr. Knable played by John Ritter. The stranger introduces himself as Spike a television/satellite salesman played by Jeffrey Jones. Spike (Jones) offers Mr. Knable (Ritter) a deal of a lifetime. A large satellite with 666 channels plus a large screen TV to view them all. As you may guess this is a deal with a devil.

Mr. Knable begins to watch TV when his wife shows up and has an argument with him. The television starts to malfunction and Mr. Knable goes out to adjust the television satellite. At this point of time Mrs. Knable has packed her stuff up and confronts her husband one more time about his addiction to television. In doing so the satellite activates and both Mr. and Mrs. Knable get sucked into the satellite and into the television. They have 24 hours to survive in TV Land before there souls are Spikes forever.

This movie is a retro throwback to when people believed the world was going to be consumed by television and electronics. Let’s face it, it has happened. Through comical escapades Mr. and Mrs. Knable must conquer show after show for 24 hours to survive. The many adventures and shows that Mr. and Mrs. Knable became a part of most kids today would not even know about them. This shows many classics that the older generation may appreciate such as: Duane’s Underworld (Waynes World), Threes Company (Threes Company but hilarious because that is where John Ritter started his career), Hell TV (MTV when there was actually music), and even violent cartoons that are similar to Tom and Jerry, as well as Wrestling. As for me I enjoyed this movie thoroughly because I remember the shows that Stay Tuned mocked and found them hilarious.

So, if you want a fun family movie for the kids. Watch Stay Tuned, it is on Amazon now. I hope you feel the nostalgia I did. Thank you.

--Reviewed by Professor Timore