The Passing of Ken Ober and What Happened to MTV
Fred Cunningham
Ken Ober passed away over the weekend. You may recall Ober hosting "Remote Control," back in the days that MTV actually played music.
Ken Ober passed away over the weekend. That name may not jump right out at you, but if you grew up in the 1980's (or in my case, if you still weren't grown up in the 1980's) you would know Ober as host of MTV's "Remote Control."
It was a TV and pop culture trivia game show that Wink Martindale would have never touched.
The categories included Dead or Alive (simply if a celebrity was dead or alive), Dead or Canadian (in this case, was a celebrity dead or a native of Canada) and Brady Physics. Learn physics the fun way, the Brady way.
A sample question: Cindy Brady wrecks her Harley-Davidson motorcycle. What is the force that removes the skin from her body? Answer: friction.
"Remote Control" also helped launch the career of Adam Sandler, who doesn't look old enough to drive in this Youtube clip of the show from the late 1980s.
There was a down side to "Remote Control." It showed MTV's decision to veer away from actually showing music videos. The network - originally known as Music Television - is nearly barren of music.
Here's the MTV schedule for Tuesday: Disaster Date, Degrassi: The Next Generation, World's Strictest Parents, True Life, Teen Cribs, Grounded For Life..I think you see my point.
Thank you Ken Ober. Thank you for the laughs. As for the cable outlet that once featured you, I want my MTV back.
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