Note: This film is arriving on Blu-ray July 19th through Olive Films.
Pay-TV cable stations became commonplace in the early 80s with brands like HBO, The Movie Channel and Showtime entering the marketplace. These special channels allowed viewers to see uncut and unedited movies without commercials. Of course, it wasn’t long before these stations attempted to produce original and exclusive content of their own. Many of these series followed the same model of shows on major networks.
One of Showtime’s first new TV movie productions was The Ratings Game, starring and directed by Danny DeVito. At the time, he was perhaps best known for his work on Taxi (1978 – 83) and supporting roles in cinematic hits like Romancing the Stone (1984). Showtime’s hope was to entice viewers with edgier content that the major networks would never air and this effort delivered. It was also a critical hit, and earned strong ratings during its run in late December of 1984. Unfortunately, after frequent airings the following year and a release on VHS, it went out-of-print and disappeared from view.
Thankfully, Olive Films have released a new Blu-ray of the TV movie along with some substantial extras, including a behind-the-scenes featurette, a promo trailer, four impressive shorts from the director and even an informative booklet that details the creation of the movie. It’s a fantastic package and a must own for fans and curious parties. This is one of the best and most comprehensive discs (along with Roar and Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street) that Olive Films have put out.
The plot follows New Jersey trucking magnate Vic Di Salvo (DeVito) who moves to Los Angeles in the hopes of jumpstarting a career as a Hollywood TV producer. His scripts are terrible, but he catches a lucky break in the office of a comedy series development head (Basil Hoffamn) at a fledgling network. The head has just been fired and eager to screw over the network president (Gerrit Graham), one of Di Salvo’s bad scripts gets a greenlight. Of course, it ends up being terrible. Still, the oblivious protagonist hatches a plan to earn the show record ratings and get his other ideas on air.
The movie is certainly of its era and features some amusing references that might not be understood by younger viewers. It’s also a low-budget effort and one that features slower pacing by today’s standards. In fact, much of the early film involves a romance between the star and a TV ratings company employee (played by Rhea Perlman). It’s pretty standard stuff, but the pair (who were married at the time) share great chemistry onscreen. While there’s some swearing and humor that might have seemed cutting edge at the time, it doesn’t carry the same impact today.
However, this is still a very funny little flick. The fake TV series that viewers see clips of are authentic and bitingly hilarious. They perfectly capture the types of shows that viewers would regularly witness back in the day. Additionally, the new projects created by Di Salvo are bizarrely hysterical. This includes animated Saturday morning cartoon called “The Goombas”, which involves a clan living in the New Jersey boroughs who have to deal with loan sharks and other crooked types. Di Salvo also casts his own goofy teenage nephew as a James Bond-type character in another home grown program.
Perhaps the most amusing aspect is when, to fake high ratings for the programs, Di Salvo awards all-expenses paid vacations to families who are members of the “ratings households” (each of their TV watching habits representing hundreds of thousands of viewers). While they’re whisked off on a shipping vessel, thugs break into houses and watch specific programs… resulting in a hit show and extended contracts. Hilariously, it also means that the ship can’t be allowed into port, circling the globe with angry “ratings families” on board for months on end. It’s a great idea and one that becomes more enjoyably absurd as the movie progresses.
The movie is also chock full of great bit parts featuring famous players – the cast also includes Michael Richards, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin McCarthy, Vincent Schiavelli, Barry Corbin, Daniel Stern, George Wendt and Steve Allen, among many others.
As mentioned, there are some enjoyable extras as well. The collection of Danny DeVito’s shorts total nearly one hour of material and show real development (you should start from the bottom and work your way to the top). One can literally see the filmmaker develop his style over the years, culminating in the excellent The Selling of Vince D’Angelo (1976). This short film is the one that helped land him The Ratings Game directing gig. Of course, DeVito would go on to direct Throw Momma From the Train (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), Hoffa (1992) and Matilda (1996).
Overall, The Ratings Game is an excellent Blu-ray that gives viewers an opportunity to catch up with a well-regarded but hard to come by flick.