VCR help?

ETA The tape is out - but the poor Go-Video is now just a rather boxy VCR. It wasn't just this tape - that deck simply doesn't recognize *any* tape. I sincerely doubt it's worth fixing! Time to look for a new one, I fear.

There's a tape stuck in the top bay of my Go-Video. The machine simply doesn't seem to realize there's a tape in there; not only will it not eject, it won't play, rewind, or fast-forward, and perhaps most telling of all, it won't change from the clock to the counter when that deck is selected.

It's an old Go-Video; I've had it for nine or ten years, but it's never had any kind of problem like this. It's also an old tape; it was a 49-cent rental from Blockbuster.

I can't bring it over to keikokin's house to have her wonder-hubby look at it (pout) *[note: this is NOT the primary reason I miss her!], I can't find the manual and I'm having trouble downloading the manual from the manufacturer's website.

If this was an old Macintosh I'd straighten out a paper clip - is there a similar trick for coaxing a tape out of a VCR?

this is not a very good prize!

Bad technology evening! After the excitement with the Go-Video died down, the TV pictures suddenly shrank and got jagged around its little bitty edges and there was a dreadful burning smell. We unplugged everything and sniffed around - the TV was toasted!

Mind you, this was an old TV when we got it. We got our 19-year-old, the only family member with two good knees at the moment, to haul it onto the back patio (which is all cement, so it can smolder safely if it needs to) and he brought down the little TV from his room and hooked it up to the TiVo; the characteristic fan panoply of recording devices will be reassembled later.

I would say, "What else can go wrong?" but I am SOoooo not going to. Besides, I don't know how much longer I can type, since this computer generally stays up for about 20 minutes at a time...