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  • Anvilicious: The movie could be taken as "Cable/Satellite TV is worse than the 'Big 4'", or that Television in general is the work of the devil. Probably meant to be an Aesop.
    • Or just simply "Don't watch too much TV".
    • Considering Roy's job change at the end to something more active and fulfilling, it's probably along the lines of "Don't sit on your butt and let life pass you by... by watching too much TV."
  • Crosses the Line Twice: "Driving Over Miss Daisy" scene. Normally, one probably wouldn't find much humor in watching a kindly old lady get sadistically run over multiple times, if not, for the film's Black Comedy, the darkly twisted parodying, and Jeffrey Jones' Large Ham act.
  • Cult Classic: The film has gained a major cult following in the decades since its initial release, beginning primarily after lead actor John Ritter's death in 2003.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • During the end credits, one of the TV show titles is a parody of The Dukes of Hazzard, called David Dukes of Hazzard.note  With the Confederate flag now far more controversial than it was in The '90s, this title takes on a whole new meaning. However, Duke was shot down as a Presidential candidate precisely because of his KKK background, so it was intentional.
    • While in the cartoon segment, as Robo-Cat attempts to shoot at him, Roy breaks the fourth wall and remarks, "My doctor was right. Donuts will be the death of me." Eleven years after this film's release, John Ritter would die from an aortic dissection.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • When the movie was released, the TV parodies were hilariously graphic and disturbing for its time. Fast-forward to now and watch some of the late night programming on Cartoon Network or Comedy Central, or anything on HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, or Netflix... and the TV parodies actually look pretty tame in comparison, given that the film is only rated PG.
    • The plot in which the people who died in the TV died in the real life brings Sword Art Online to mind.
    • During the cartoon segment, Helen as a mouse wears high-heeled sneakers, which she laments makes "strange" too lacking of a word to describe. As of Fall 2011, high-heeled sneakers actually exist.
    • This film wouldn't be the last time Jeffrey Jones portrays a character who works for the Devil, as he would do it again five years later.
    • John Ritter and David Tom would later play father and son again in the 1999 made-for-TV movie, Holy Joe.
    • In this film, Eugene Levy plays a character who works for the Devil. Nine years later, he would play a character that works for the other side.
    • The brief mention of Autopsies of the Rich and Famous became this after Reelz started airing Autopsy: The Last Hours Of... which has a medical examiner look over the autopsy reports of deceased celebrities.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: Some folks mainly watch this film for the Chuck Jones animated sequence, which was one of his last works.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Now has its own page.
  • Popular with Furries: Helen in her mouse form, to the point where most fan art based on the movie tend to feature her exclusively.
  • Retroactive Recognition: Erik King, who would go on to be best known for his role as Sgt. Doakes in Dexter, plays the intern Pierce in this movie.
  • Signature Scene: Arguably, the animated segment. To the point where more critical reviews of this movie consider this scene to be the best part of the whole movie. Having Chuck Jones involved certainly doesn't hurt it.
  • Special Effect Failure: When Darryl is about to be sucked into the dish, a pair of hands can be seen lifting him up in the air.
  • Spiritual Adaptation: This film gives off a vibe that it was produced by Steven Spielberg, even though it wasn't, with the animated segment directed by Chuck Jones echoing Spielberg's collaborations with Tom Ruegger on Tiny Toon Adventures (whose theme and some episodes' music was done by Bruce Broughton, who also scored music for this feature), Animaniacs, and Freakazoid!. It's probably further helped by the fact the film's director Peter Hyams actually worked with Spielberg before when he directed an episode titled "The Amazing Falsworth" for Spielberg's show Amazing Stories. In this vein, it feels a lot like another Spielberg movie, Gremlins, which was also a Black Comedy like this film.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some of the more critical reviews of this film, particularly this editorial of it on Rotten Tomatoes criticizes it for squandering its potential as a satire.
  • Unintentional Period Piece:
    • The HTV segment is only the most blatant example. Combined with some severe Technology Marches On... remember when a satellite dish the size of a hot tub and a remote control the size of a bar of cooking chocolate were the bleeding edge? ... No? Darn whippersnappers.
    • The TV that Roy gets from Hell Vision is considered huge in the film, and it was considered huge at the time. Now compare it to what you have standing in your living-room today.


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