EDtv

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This article is about a movie. For a class of television picture quality levels, see Enhanced-definition television.

EDtv
DVD cover
Directed by	Ron Howard
Produced by	Ron Howard Brian Grazer
Starring	Matthew McConaughey Jenna Elfman Woody Harrelson Elizabeth Hurley Dennis Hopper
Music by	Randy Edelman
Cinematography	John Schwartzman
Editing by	Mike Hill
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	26 March 1999
Running time	122 min.
Language	English
Budget	$60,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

EDtv is a movie directed by Ron Howard released in 1999.

It stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Hurley, Ellen DeGeneres, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner, Sally Kirkland, Clint Howard and Dennis Hopper.

It is an adaptation of the locally successful French Canadian movie Louis 19, le roi des ondes, released in 1994.

Its plot has been called superficially similar to that of The Truman Show, especially since the two hit theatres nearly around the same time. The differences come from the fact that unlike Truman, Ed (McConaughey) has knowledge and has given consent that his life is a reality television show.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

It starts off with a television channel True TV commencing interviews for a TV show that shows a normal persons life 24/7. This idea was thought up by a TV producer named Cythinia (Ellen DeGeneres). They interview the main character's (Ed, Matthew McConaughey) brother Ray (Woody Harrelson) who is with Ed. When the producers see the interview Cynthia decides to use Ed and interviews only Ed. So now they start airing the show, which they call Ed TV. The show is a total failure at first, as only boring things happen and the main Producers want to pull the plug all except Cynthia.

However, Ed TV suddenly gets interesting on Day 3 when Ed visits his brother Ray and Ed (along with the cameramen) discover that he is cheating on his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman). Ed then visits Shari to apologize to her for Ray's actions. Shari is very drunk and starts insulting Ray, by talking to the camera. She makes everyone laugh or go "ohhh!!" by saying "Ray was a BAD lay." Ed tries to comfort Shari, and he reveals he has feelings for her. She then reveals she has feelings for Ed as well. They slowly move their faces closer and finally kiss each other. Ed then locks out the camera crew and proceeds to passionately kiss Shari for a while. Ed TV suddenly becomes extremely popular.

Ed goes to a bar with some friends and meets beautiful model/actress Joy (Elizabeth Hurley) who takes a liking to Ed. Ed then visits Shari and she tells Ed that she doesn't want to be with him until the Show stops airing. She then leaves town.

Ed goes to the park with Ray and some friends to play football when Joy comes to talk to him, because Cynthia told her to in a quest to earn more ratings. She invites Ed to dinner at her house. When he arrives at Joy's house, there is a massive crowd. They have a small talk and then kiss with Joy on top of Ed on top of the table. They are about to engage sexual intercourse, when Ed falls off the table and squishes Joy's cat. Ed never sees Joy again.

Ed's father (who abandoned his family when Ed was 13) unexpectedly visits Ed and informs him that he left because Ed's mother was having an affair with Ed's current stepfather, Al. Ed is furious with his mother and argues with her.

Ed gets a phone call telling him to come to the hospital. The doctor says that his father is dead and that he died making love to his wife. Ed thinks this means Al, but it actually is his real father and that Ed's mother was cheating on Al.

Ed is depressed, that is until he catches a glimpse of Shari (in disguise wearing a wig and sunglasses). He chases her for a long time until she stops in the womens toilets in a cinema. She says she is staying with her brother as it is his birthday and she just wanted to see Ed. But she doesn't want to be with him until the show stops. When Ed exits one camera man stays with Shari saying that its the producer's new idea. The main camera man tells him that all his family are being filmed but they show the most interesting person.

Ed gets an idea on how to stop the main producer from showing the show: he says that he will give $10,000 to the person who can give him the best amount of dirt on the producers and that he will announce it unless they stop airing the show. As Cynthia feels sorry for Ed, she tells him a secret of the main producer. Ed announces the secret (Hich is that the man has to pump a liquid into his penis to get an erection) but before he can announce who it is they stop airing the show. They all lived happily ever after.