Bad behavior from a 13" RCA combo set

[ESigma25]

I have a little RCA 13" TV/VCR combo set from 1996 (model T13070WH, chassis no. TVR1/2B) that is behaving badly. When I put a tape in and try to play it the whole TV turns off, and when I turn it back on to eject the tape the tape comes out partially pulled out and snapped in the middle. Obviously this kind of behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

The question is, what might be causing this behavior? Ruining tapes is a VCR-specific problem but the whole TV shutting off tells me it's more serious than a malfunctioning VCR component.