The Ratings Game
Encyclopedia
The Ratings Game, is a 1984 cable
TV-movie
directed by Danny DeVito
and produced by David Jablin
.
) is a successful New Jersey
trucking magnate with a desire to make it big as a Hollywood producer - but he has no talent. He hawks his scripts and ideas from one network executive to another, but he is turned down at each attempt.
Finally, he meets an executive who has just been fired, and to revenge himself, he accepts Vic's script and arranges for a pilot episode to be filmed. The resultant episode is abysmally awful, both in acting and story, but Vic is only inspired to greater heights. He decides to act as well as write and direct.
He throws a huge party to make himself known to "le tout Hollywood", but no-one comes, except Francine (Rhea Perlman), a statistician at a ratings agency. They fall in love.
When Francine is passed over for a promotion by her philandering and incompetent boss, she reveals to Vic how the ratings system can be by-passed and results fixed. They conspire to run a scam that will make Vic's programmes the most-watched on television.
The scam works and Vic is voted best new actor at a grand awards ceremony. But the agency has now discovered the scam, and as soon as Vic has accepted his award, he is arrested by police.
Francine and Vic are married in jail.
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
TV-movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
directed by Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
and produced by David Jablin
David Jablin
David Jablin is a producer and director and one of the pioneers of original television programming for Pay Television. In 1981 he created and produced the innovative comedy anthology series Likely Stories for HBO/Cinemax, which featured the directing debuts of Rob Reiner, Danny DeVito, Christopher...
.
Plot
Vic DeSalvo (Danny DeVitoDanny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
) is a successful New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
trucking magnate with a desire to make it big as a Hollywood producer - but he has no talent. He hawks his scripts and ideas from one network executive to another, but he is turned down at each attempt.
Finally, he meets an executive who has just been fired, and to revenge himself, he accepts Vic's script and arranges for a pilot episode to be filmed. The resultant episode is abysmally awful, both in acting and story, but Vic is only inspired to greater heights. He decides to act as well as write and direct.
He throws a huge party to make himself known to "le tout Hollywood", but no-one comes, except Francine (Rhea Perlman), a statistician at a ratings agency. They fall in love.
When Francine is passed over for a promotion by her philandering and incompetent boss, she reveals to Vic how the ratings system can be by-passed and results fixed. They conspire to run a scam that will make Vic's programmes the most-watched on television.
The scam works and Vic is voted best new actor at a grand awards ceremony. But the agency has now discovered the scam, and as soon as Vic has accepted his award, he is arrested by police.
Francine and Vic are married in jail.