The average person watches 7 hours of television per day. Roy Knable (the late John Ritter) must watch enough for two other people who don’t watch at all, at least according to his son, who narrates this for us to open the movie.

Roy’s wife Helen (Pam Dawber) would probably agree. She feels like she doesn’t even see Roy any more. So one night while she’s trying to talk to him, she throws something into the TV. This doesn’t even deter Roy – he just puts another one (albeit a smaller one) on top. Then the real trouble starts.

Spike (Jeffrey Jones) shows up at Roy’s door offering a free trial for a massive television and satellite system with 666 channels of programming. Roy can scarcely believe his luck.

He doesn’t even seem to notice the programming is a bit off, with shows such as Silencer of the Lambs (to keep the kids quiet on long drives), Thirtysomething to Life (like the similarly-named show, but in prison), 3 Men and Rosemary’s Baby and the like. He just keeps watching.

When the signal goes on the fritz, Roy goes out to fix it, and when Helen sees what he has done, she goes out to destroy the satellite dish. Unfortunately this has the side effect of activating something in the dish and sucking both of them into a different world, where they become the starts of the programs that they have been watching on television.

First a game show that they can’t win. Then they are on a wrestling show. Then the are on Northern Overexposure, where they meet up with Crowley (Eugene Levy), Spike’s former second-in-command, who was exiled for his attitude. That gives them the information that they need.

It seems that Spike is actually in charge of winning souls for the devil, and these channels are his way of honoring a treaty with the “other side” (that would presumably be Heaven). If the souls make it through 24 hours of “programming”, they are free to go. If not, then they are doomed to eternity in Hell. No word on why they are trapped, even if they aren’t dead. Crowley also explains that by the use of conduits – areas of static that appear behind doors or under snow – they can move between channels. The game is on.

As the wolves move into their hideout, Roy and Helen manage to get out of the snow and into mouse bodies in a cartoon world where they evade a mouse-killing machine. Then they get separated in a black-and-white private eye world, and pick up a remote that allows them to change channels at will, but they eventually get stuck in a miniseries called Marquis de Knable, where they are looking to kill Roy for his crimes against the crown.

Just before Roy loses his head, his son manages to crack into the dish and send the “voice of God” to the people and get his parents past the 24 hour mark. But it seems that Spike doesn’t like to lose, so he lets Roy go, because he was the only one who signed the contract. Since Helen didn’t sign the contract, she’s not required to be let go. So Spike hauls her off to a Western world and puts her in front of a train, knowing that Roy will come back to get her, and thus begins a series of quick hops between worlds as Roy tries to save his wife.

Eventually a sword fight ensues, which is fortunate, because Roy was a fencer in college, and he manages to free himself and his wife, and they do the one thing that Spike can’t prevent – they turn off the TV. They then open a fencing academy.

One of the shorter movies in memory, clocking in at under 90 minutes, so at least you don’t waste too much time. But it’s still a bit of a waste. At least there are some cute bits along the way – like when Roy jumps into an episode of Three’s Company, or when the display board in the War Room shows Tuesday is Saddam Hussein Appreciation Day. Someone has a sense of humor.

Rated PG for some off-color humor and language.

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Actor: Alan C. Peterson, Actor: Allen Schneider, Actor: Andrea Kelly Konno, Actor: Andrea Nemeth, Actor: Bill Croft, Actor: Bob Dishy, Actor: Boogie O'Banion, Actor: Boyd Norman, Actor: Brad Rapier, Actor: Cheryl 'Salt' James, Actor: Colleen Winton, Actor: Dale Wilson, Actor: Dave 'Squatch' Ward, Actor: David Avelar, Actor: David Longworth, Actor: David Tom, Actor: Deidre 'Spinderella' Roper, Actor: Des Smiley, Actor: Dolan Jose, Actor: Don Calfa, Actor: Don Pardo, Actor: Ema Husai, Actor: Erik King, Actor: Ernie Anderson, Actor: Eugene Levy, Actor: Faith Minton, Actor: Fatima Robinson, Actor: Freda Estavillo, Actor: Free Crawford, Actor: Gene Davis, Actor: George Boshchuck, Actor: George Gray, Actor: Gerry Nairn, Actor: Gianni Russo, Actor: Gordon Masten, Actor: Grant Vandyke, Actor: Heather McComb, Actor: Herby Azor, Actor: Indrani DeSouza, Actor: James 'Jazzy' Everett, Actor: Janet Craig, Actor: Jeffrey Jones, Actor: Jerry Wasserman, Actor: Jimi Defilippis, Actor: Joe Norman Shaw, Actor: John B. Destry, Actor: John Bear Curtis, Actor: John Kirk Connell, Actor: John Pyper-Ferguson, Actor: John Ritter, Actor: Jonathon Pallone, Actor: Jossie Thacker, Actor: Joyce Gordon, Actor: Julie Bond, Actor: June Nagy, Actor: Ken Douglas, Actor: Ken Kramer, Actor: Kevin McNulty, Actor: Kim Restell, Actor: Kristen Cloke, Actor: Latisha Oliver, Actor: Laura Harris, Actor: Lisa Stevens, Actor: Lou Albano, Actor: Marie O'Connor, Actor: Marlowe Dawn, Actor: Marlowe Windsor, Actor: Maurice Verkaar, Actor: Michael Patrick Hogan, Actor: Michael Puttonen, Actor: Mike Grey, Actor: P. Lynn Johnson, Actor: Pam Dawber, Actor: Peter Haworth, Actor: Peter Yunker, Actor: Rani Melendez, Actor: Rebecca Toolan, Actor: Robert Vinson, Actor: Robert Wisden, Actor: Roselyn Royce, Actor: Samantha McKenna, Actor: Sandra 'Pepa' Denton, Actor: Serge Houde, Actor: Shane Meier, Actor: Steve Adams, Actor: Steve Azor, Actor: Susan Blommaert, Actor: Terry Lewis, Actor: Tiffany Michas, Actor: Todd Duckworth, Actor: Tracy Horbachuk, Actor: Victor A. Young, Director: Peter Hyams, Rated: PG, Year: 1992