Forgotten Television Shows: Volume Seven

(Continuing the series in which we bring up the shows that in a perfect world will be available on DVD within our lifetime)

Ok, so you’re in high school in the late 80’s and if you are like any other teenager your life revolves around MTV. But, if you were like me and only one television in the house got cable that meant that you had to wait until your parents were out in order to catch the best show ever made. The show that redefined about a half dozen genres. The show that made Ken Ober a household name. I am talking about, of course, Remote Control. The game show for people who watch way too much television.

At its essence, it was simply a three person quiz show. Host asks questions, contestants answer them. Slowly eliminate the contestants until one is left standing for the bonus round. But talk about great execution of a concept. First, all of the contestants are sitting in recliners eating and throwing popcorn at each other. Then the questions could range from either standard television trivia to great categories like “Dead or Canadian?” Or you could choose “Beat the Bishop”, in which the contestant had to solve a rather complicated math problem while a guy in a bishop’s outfit ran through the audience. Even a contestant’s elimination was handled in a cool way, as they were essentially flung through the back wall of the set.

Of course, everyone’s favorite category was sing along with Colin in which Colin Quinn (Who is famous to this day because of this bit) would sing pop songs horribly off key while the loverly Kari Weurher looked on and the contestants had to finish the lyric. It was confusing, funny and challenging all at the same time. Colin wasn’t the only one who got famous from the show. Adam Sandler got a break from it. Hell, I still remember the show where LL Cool J appeared and helped out a contestant for half the episode. You never knew what was going to happen.

And the bonus round was the most challenging thing ever designed. Nine music videos showing on nine screens simultaneously and you have to name all nine to win. Even as a kid who watched a ton of videos I don’t know if I was ever able to name all nine. It was nearly impossible. When someone did it it was like when someone beat Ben Stein on Win Ben Stein’s Money, you actually cheered.

So why have I spent a page talking about a game show that hasn’t aired for well over a decade. Because this show was an example of what MTV was back when it was creative. It wasn’t a block of videos but there was no question that it belonged on MTV. There was music and pop culture and one heck of a good game show. Think about it, name an interesting show from MTV in the past five years. Pimp my Ride? Maybe Punk’d? Jackass was cool but do any of these have anything to do with music. Remote Control did and as a result there are a lot of aging Gen X’ers who will always know what you mean when you say “Kenny wasn’t like the other kids…”