Remote Control

Remote Control is a TV game show that ran on MTV for five seasons from 1987 until 1990. It was MTV's first original non-musical program and first game show. A concurrent syndicated version of the series ran during the 1989-90 season and was distributed by Viacom. Three contestants answered trivia questions on movies, music, and television, many of which were presented in skit format. The series was created and developed by producers Joe Davola and Michael Dugan. It was written by Michael Armstrong (head writer seasons 2–3), Desmond Devlin, Emily Dodi, Michael Dugan (head writer season 1), Lee Frank, Bob Giordano, Phil Gurin, Keith Kaczorek (also credited as Kadillac Keith), Chris Kreski (head writer seasons 4–5), Denis Leary, Andrew Price, Colin Quinn, Ned Rice, Rick Rosner, Adam Sandler, McPaul Smith and John Ten Eyck. It was directed by Dana Calderwood, Scott Fishman and Milt Lage. Cast Remote Control was hosted by Ken Ober and featured Colin Quinn as the announcer/sidekick. Quinn hosted the final episodes as Ober was away filming the short-lived series Parenthood. John Ten Eyck played several walk-on parts, joined in later seasons by Adam Sandler, Denis Leary, and Roger Kabler. Steve Treccase provided music; Marisol Massey (season 1), Kari Wuhrer (seasons 2–3), Alicia Coppola (season 4) and Susan Ashley (season 5) were the hostesses. Premise The show's premise was that Ober desperately wanted to be a game show host and set up his basement as a television studio. The opening theme song presented the scenario: Kenny wasn't like the other kids (Remote Control)TV mattered, nothing else did (Remote Control)Girls said yes, but he said no (Remote Control)Now he's got his own game show (Remote Control!) Shows were sometimes interrupted by the disembodied voice of "Ken's mother," and the studio was set up to resemble a basement, complete with a washer and dryer, water heater, bric-a-brac, and a giant Pez dispenser that resembled Bob Eubanks.