MOVIE · 1974

The Groove Tube

Comedy75 min

A television set becomes the target in this sketch comedy film, which jumps from one fake program to the next and treats the whole broadcast day as something to mock. Commercials, news breaks, talk shows, game shows, and station promos all get warped into rude, low-budget sendups, with each segment pushing TV’s bad taste, phony sincerity, and advertising logic a little further. Instead of one central plot, the movie builds its momentum through a chain of escalating parodies that turn familiar formats into increasingly absurd and crude jokes. Ken Shapiro appears alongside Richard Belzer as the film keeps changing channels and finding new ways to satirize pop culture and the medium itself.