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Synopsis
After a failed marriage proposal to his girlfriend Robin Harris, Steven M. Kovacs moves into his own apartment. Taking advice from his friend Rick, Steven bribes cable guy, Ernie "Chip" Douglas, to give him free movie channels. Chip gets Steven to hang out with him the next day and makes him one of his "preferred customers".
Chip takes Steven to the satellite dish responsible for sending out television signals. Steven tells his problems with Robin to Chip, who advises him to admit his faults to Robin and invite her over to watch Sleepless in Seattle. Chip begins acting more suspiciously, running into Steven and his friends at the gym and leaving several messages on Steven's answering machine. When Robin comes over to watch the movie, the cable is out, due to Chip, who intentionally sabotaged Steven's cable. Chip fixes the cable under the condition that they hang out again, to which Steven reluctantly agrees.
Chip takes Steven to Medieval Times, where Chip arranges for them to battle in the arena, referencing the Star Trek episode "Amok Time". Chip behaves aggressively, nearly killing Steven, who eventually bests him in combat. When they arrive at Steven's home, Chip reveals that he's installed an expensive home theater system in his living room, which includes a television and a karaoke machine. Chip later hosts a party attended by Chip's "preferred customers". Steven decides to enjoy the party and with Chip's help, Steven sleeps with a young party guest named Heather, who later Chip reveals is a prostitute, to which Steven responds by throwing him out.
Chip tracks down Robin, who is on a date with another man. When the man goes to the bathroom, Chip severely beats him and tells him to stay away from Robin. He later upgrades Robin's cable, saying that it is on Steven. Robin decides to get back together with Steven as a result. However, Steven tells Chip that they cannot be friends, which sets a hurt Chip on a series of vengeful acts. He gets Steven arrested for possession of stolen property at the moment that Steven makes a big business deal. During his time in jail, he is visited by his parents and Chip, who mocks him through a prison visitation window. Steven tries to alert a guard about Chip, but the guard is one of Chip's "preferred customers" and thus does not react. After a weekend of humiliation, Steven is released on bail.
During a dinner with his family and Robin, Steven is horrified to see Chip in attendance. Steven privately tells him to leave, but Chip tells him to play along or he will show everyone a picture of Steven with the prostitute. The evening goes from bad to worse when Chip manipulates the family, tells several bad jokes, and eventually pushes Steven too far by playing a sexualized version of the game show Password with the rest of the family. Steven flies into a rant about Chip's true intentions but nobody believes him. Chip implies that he has been intimate with Robin by discreetly whispering in Steven's ear about a mole on Robin's back, which results in Steven punching Chip in the face, shocking everyone else. Chip complies and leaves, feigning defeat and depression. Steven is fired from his job the next day when Chip sends out a video of Steven insulting his boss that was recorded on a hidden camera in his apartment.
Steven has a nightmare about Chip breaking down his door and chasing him out of the window in the middle of the night with eerie green eyes. After doing some investigating, Rick tells Steven that Chip has been fired from the cable company for stalking customers, and uses the names of television characters as aliases such as Chip Douglas from My Three Sons and Larry Tate from Bewitched. Chip calls Steven that night, telling him he is paying Robin a visit. After visiting Robin's empty apartment, Steven tracks them down to the satellite dish, where Chip holds Robin hostage in a rainstorm. After a physical altercation and a chase, Steven is able to save Robin. As the police arrive, Chip goes into a speech on how he was raised by television and apologizes to Steven for being a bad friend. Chip dives backwards from the top of a ladder above the satellite dish, falling onto it and knocking out the television signal to the entire town.
Chip survives the fall and avoids the satellite's middle spike, much to his dismay, and injures his back. As Steven and Robin reunite, Steven forgives Chip and asks for his real name. Chip jokingly replies "Ricky Ricardo". Chip is then taken to the hospital in a helicopter. When one of the paramedics addresses him as "buddy", Chip asks the paramedic if he is truly his buddy, to which the paramedic replies "Yeah, sure you are", causing Chip to smile deviously.
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