Remote Control is a TV game show that ran on MTV for five seasons from 1987 until 1990. New episodes were made for first-run syndication in 1989. A game show involves members of the public or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, playing a game, perhaps involving answering quiz questions, for points or prizes. ... MTV (Music Television) is a cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A version based in Puerto Rico, entitled Control Remoto, was cancelled after 3 months on Televicentro because MTV threatened a lawsuit for copyright infringement. WAPA-TV is a full-power, independent television station located in San Juan, Puerto Rico transmitting over analog channel 4, digital channel 27. ... Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyright material in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owners exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or Media:Example. ...

A British version of the show was co-produced by Action Time Productions and Granada Television and aired on Channel 4 from 1991 until 1994 and was hosted by Anthony H Wilson Granada Television was the British ITV (commercial television) contractor for the North of England weekday franchise from 1954 (broadcasting began on May 3, 1956) until 1968, and for the Northwest England all-week franchise from 1968. ... Channel 4 is a public-service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Anthony (Tony) Wilson is a British record label and nightclub manager and journalist for Granada Television. ...

Cast

Remote Control was hosted by Ken Ober and featured Colin Quinn as the gravel-voiced announcer/sidekick. 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 One), Kari Wuhrer (Seasons Two and Three), Alicia Coppola (Season Four) and Susan Ashley (Season Five) were the hostesses. Ken Ober is an actor and former game show host born in Boston, Massachusetts. ... Colin Quinn Colin Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an Irish-American comedian, best known for his five years on the cast of Saturday Night Live. ... Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and musician (he sings, and plays the guitar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kari Samantha Wührer, born April 28, 1967 in Brookfield, Connecticut, USA. She is an actress and a singer. ... Alicia Coppola (born April 12, 1968) is an American television actress. ...

Premise

The show's premise was that Ober desperately wanted to be a game show host and set up his basement (at 72 Whooping Cough Lane) as a television studio. The opening theme song sketched the scenario out: "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 indeed set up to resemble a basement, complete with a washer and dryer and cheesy bric-a-brac.

The basement was a mainstay of the show throughout its run; however its cheesy decor was "rearranged" slightly every season. The contestants sat in leather recliners with seat belts (their purpose explained below), complete with retro kidney-shaped tables and scoreboards, facing host Ober and his "Big Z" (a retro-styled Zenith television.) Behind Ober were autographed pictures of his idols, game show hosts such as Bob Barker, Monty Hall, Bob Eubanks, and Tom Kennedy. Musician Steve Treccase set up his keyboard behind a cluttered bar, at which Quinn and the hostess usually sat for the duration of the show. More clutter could be found around and behind the audience, very frequently including props used in previous seasons. Additionally, some of the random objects in the basement were also used in the house on Nickelodeon's Finders Keepers, which was also produced by MTV. Finally, the contestants' chairs were placed in front of breakaway walls, through which they were pulled if they were eliminated. Robert William Bob Barker (born December 12, 1923) is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning American television game show host. ... Monty Hall, born August 25, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as Maurice Halprin, is a Canadian-born actor, singer and sportscaster, but is best known for being the MC of popular American television game shows. ... Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938, in Flint, Michigan) is an American radio and television personality. ... Tom Kennedy (born James Narz February 16, 1927, in Louisville, Kentucky) is a television game show host who had his greatest fame in the 1960s and 1970s. ... A bar at the coach terminal, Udine, Italy A bar is the counter where drinks are mixed by a bartender, mainly in hotels, taverns and pubs. ... Finders Keepers was a childrens game show that aired on the Nickelodeon network in America from November 2, 1987 to June 30, 1990. ...

The Main Game

Three contestants sitting in lounge chairs would select one of nine channels, each of which represented some topic having to do with pop culture. Sample channels used on the show were "The Jon Bon Jovi Network", "Brady Physics", and "Dead or Canadian". Contestants answered a series of questions from those subjects to get points. There were three questions in each channel/subject. Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi on March 2, 1962) is an American musician and actor who is the lead singer of the highly successful rock band Bon Jovi. ... The Brady Bunch was a US television situation comedy, based around a large family. ... For other uses, see Death (disambiguation). ...

Some of the other straight question categories included "Leave Out the Beaver," "Private Dicks," "Bad TV," "Celebrity Cellblock," "Babes and Assassins," "PhD-TV," "No Witness News," "Celebrity Flesh," and "Inside Tina Yothers." In season five, "Inside Tina Yothers" was changed to "Inside Joe Piscopo." Season five also saw the debut of "Brady Metaphysics," a philosophy-driven spinoff of the "Brady Physics" channel. Tina Yothers Tina Yothers (b. ... Joe Piscopo (born June 17, 1951, Passaic, New Jersey) is an American comedian, known for his work on Saturday Night Live. ...

Scoring

Here's how the scoring format worked:

Categories/Channels

Several categories were performance-driven, such as these:

• Fairy Pixie - Sheldon, the beleaguered Fairy Pixie, would read forlorn nursery rhymes about television shows.
• Celebrity Square - a cutrate version of the long-running Hollywood Squares game show. MTV could only afford one square instead of nine, but otherwise the rules were unchanged: contestants still had to get the X across, down, or diagonally.
• Beat the Bishop - this challenge forced contestants to complete a math problem within the time it took a man dressed as a Vatican bishop to race one lap around the studio. (Though depicted literally, the title of this channel was also a euphemism for masturbation. Later one-time variations of this channel included the similarly euphemistic "Beat the Bologna," as well as the straightforward religious spinoffs "Beat the Buddha" and "Race the Rabbi.")
• The Laughing Guy - a segment in which Ten Eyck played "Ken's cousin Flip", who dressed in nerdy attire and laughed the theme songs to various TV series, which the contestants had to then guess.
• The Anti-Flip - This channel worked the exact opposite as The Laughing Guy. Ten Eyck now played "Ken's evil cousin Skip", who was the exact opposite of Flip, dressed in drag and was a complete dullard; he would give the name of a TV show, and the contestant then had to laugh the theme song.
• Andy's Diary - in which a gurgling Denis Leary portrayed the Pop artist Andy Warhol.
• Stud Boy - a character who claimed to have had affairs with any number of famous women, and played by Adam Sandler. Contestants had to guess the woman that Stud Boy was describing.
• Trivia Delinquent - Stickpin Quinn, the Trivia Delinquent, another recurring Sandler character who was supposed to be Colin Quinn's cousin.
• Colin's Brother - played by Leary, which degenerated into an excuse for the two to pummel each other on-air.
• Survey Says - a Family Feud typed question with five correct answers to it was asked to the players.
• Casey's Big Poll - after Kari Wuhrer left the show, the premise of "Survey Says" was changed to make it a survey hosted by Ten Eyck imitating radio personality Casey Kasem, accompanied by a burly man in drag as "my lovely wife Jeannie". Otherwise, the rules remained the same.
• Match 'Em Up Real Good - a Match Game-type fill-in-the-blank statement is read, and if the contestant's answer matched that of Colin, Steve, or the hostess, they scored 10 points.
• Sing Along with Colin - in which sidekick Quinn would rasp the lyrics to a song and the contestant had to complete it. Sing Along was easily the most popular channel used on the show.
• Dead or Alive - Simply put, contestants were given the name of a celebrity and had to guess whether he or she was dead or alive. Variations of this game have included "Dead or Canadian" and "Dead, Alive or Indian Food".
• Mr. Baggy Pants - this character asked bad riddles that almost everyone possibly read from a joke book such as "Why did the guy throw his clock out the window?" The contestant had to provide the punchline, in this case "he wanted to see time fly."

The Hollywood Squares title screen The Hollywood Squares is an American television comedy and game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win money and prizes. ... A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Andy Warhol, photographed by Helmut Newton. ... Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and musician (he sings, and plays the guitar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kari Samantha Wührer, born April 28, 1967 in Brookfield, Connecticut, USA. She is an actress and a singer. ... Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan) is a Lebanese-American radio personality and voice actor. ... The Match Game was a long-running American television game show, most often hosted by Gene Rayburn. ...

Penalization Channels

There were a handful of "negative" channels in which contestants would be penalized:

• Home Shopping Zone - where the unlucky contestant to choose that channel would see a video of smarmily cheerful TV salesman (played by Craig Vandenburgh), "selling" some ridiculous product for a deduction of 10 points (20 points in the first season).
• Ranger Bob - a thick-headed park ranger (played by John Ten Eyck) would offer a "camping safety tip" for 10 points.
• Wheel of Torture (fourth and fifth seasons only) - The contestant could choose to lose 10 points, or submit to "Colin's torturous whims" and gain 10 points. If the contestant took the torture, the hostess would spin the Wheel of Torture (with sections including "Noogie", "Wet willie", and "Purple Nurple") and Quinn would administer the torture to the contestant.
• Off the Air (pilot only) - In the pilot episodes, if you landed on it, you were eliminated from further play. When the show went into production in December of 1987, the rule was dropped in favor of the rules explained below.

John Conover Ten Eyck (March 12, 1814 – August 24, 1879) was a United States Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. ... A school prank is a prank pulled on a student by another student. ... A school prank is a prank pulled on a student by another student. ... ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Off The Air

After round two, a siren went off and the lights would dim on and off. The TV went "Off The Air," and the contestant currently in last place would also be thrown "Off the Air", and eliminated from the game. Contestants were removed immediately, chair and all (hence the seatbelts). The ejections were accomplished in a variety of ways, ranging from being pulled back through a trick wall or wallpaper to being lifted up and out of the room. Beginning in the Spring Break episodes before the second season, the audience would also sing a "goodbye song", typically "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," "Hit the Road Jack," or "Get Off My Show" (to the tune of "Get Off My Cloud"), while said player was being ejected. After a contestant was ejected, he/she would be tormented by stagehands playing various annoyances behind him/her while an unrealistic screaming sound effect played.

Lightning Round aka "Think Real Fast"

In seasons 2-4, the remaining contestants (after "Off the Air") competed in a 30 second speedround. Typically, this was a fill-in-the-blank or spot-the-errant-word format. For example, Ober would read movie titles that had one word replaced with a snack food, and contestants had to come up with the correction. The high scorer moved on to the bonus round, while the runner-up was taken "Off the Air."

In season 5, all three players played a different version of the lightning round called "This, That or the Other Thing," but it wasn't the last round in the game (the real final is explained below). They had 20 seconds to rack up as many points as they could; the third place player then went "Off The Air." All questions now had one of three answers that Ober would list before the round started. These were usually people or characters who shared a common name, for example: "Andy Taylor, Andy Warhol, or Andy Rooney." Sheriff Taylor was a character on The Andy Griffith Show, a sitcom of the 1960s. ... Andy Warhol, photographed by Helmut Newton. ... plutoniym card This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

The Final Question (Season Five Only)

In the final season, the two remaining players bet any or all of their current score on one final question. Host Ober read a question, usually a math problem, and the players had 20 seconds to write down their answers while a strange act was performed. When time expired, the players' answers and wagers were checked; a correct answer awarded the wagered points to the contestant, while a wrong answer deducted said points.

The remaining player after all rounds won the game and advanced to the Grand Prize Round.

Grand Prize Round

MTV Version (first 4 seasons): The contestant was strapped to a Craftmatic Adjustable bed, in front of a large wall of TV sets playing music videos. The contestant had to identify the artist in each video, with a prize being awarded for every correct answer. Correctly identifying all nine artists within 30 seconds won the grand prize (which was usually a car or a trip to a beach resort). A music video (also video clip, promo) is a short film or video meant to present a visual representation of a popular music song. ...

Syndicated Version ("Wheel of Jeopardy"): The contestant was strapped to a carnival wheel surrounded by 10 television monitors, and was asked ten further questions (usually about TV). For each question successfully answered, the contestant won a prize, and the corresponding screen would display "Grand Prize." After 10 questions, the wheel was stopped, and if the player's head landed on a screen that had "Grand Prize" displayed, he won the day's top prize.

MTV Version (season 5): The "name the artist" round was modified to more resemble the syndicated bonus round. The player was strapped to a metal wheel placed at a 45 degree angle, with a single TV above and below it. The 9 videos were shown in succession, and the player had to guess all nine artists in 40 seconds to win the grand prize. (The metal wheel also replaced the carnival wheel in the syndicated version; because it was lighter than the carnival wheel, it also spun quite a bit faster, making it even harder for the contestant to concentrate.)

Celebrities

Celebrities from that time appeared on the show such as:

• Nipsey Russell - the "Poet Laureate of Television", he occasionally presented some of his poems;
• Bob Eubanks - He sat by host Ober for the entire main game, and "coached" him on how to host a game show;
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - He played the game once for charity; in addition, he came into the basement as a category/channel. In addition, he also tortured the two unfortunate contestants whom were sadly yanked "Off the Air". Note: This was the only time that the backstage portion of the set behind the contestant area was shown.
• L.L. Cool J - He made a brief appearance in one skit, where Ober stormed off stage to discover the rapper and his brother goofing around, leading Ober to exclaim, "Are you playing baseball cards with L.L. Cool J???"
• Jerry Mathers appeared during the second half of a season three episode.

Celebrities that played the game:
Nipsey Russell Julius Nipsey Russell (September 15, 1918 – October 2, 2005) was an African American comedian, best known for being a guest panelist on many 1970s and 1980s game shows, such as Match Game, Password, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth and Pyramid. ... Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938, in Flint, Michigan) is an American radio and television personality. ... Alfred Matthew Yankovic (born on October 23, 1959), better known as Weird Al Yankovic, is a Grammy Award-winning musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer. ... LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968) is an American hip hop artist better known by his stage name, LL Cool J (an abbreviation of Ladies Love Cool James). He is best known for romantic ballads like I Need Love as well as hardcore rap like I... Jerry Mathers (born June 2, 1948 in Sioux City, Iowa, USA), is best known for his role in the television sitcom series Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963), in which he starred as Theodore Beaver Cleaver, a child living in a somewhat ideal family. ...

• One episode featured Phil McConkey of the NFL's New York Giants playing against Sidney Green of the NBA's New York Knicks. The third player was "Remote Control's" bit actor John Ten Eyck playing Steve Sax of Major League baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Ten Eyck intentionally gave foolish, incorrect answers as Sax, who had cancelled his scheduled appearance at the last minute.
• In the first syndicated season, "Remote Control" had a "World Class Athlete's Day" with pro athletes who lost out on championships in recent seasons. The three players were Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason, New York Mets pitcher David Cone and New York Rangers defenseman Ron Greschner.
• Heavy metal musicians Dizzy Dean Davidson of Britny Fox, Lorraine Lewis of Femme Fatale, and Anthrax's Charlie Benante played against each other in season three.
• Burnt out child stars Brandon Cruz, Butch Patrick, & Danny Bonaduce played in season three.
• Former Brady Bunch kids Barry Williams, Eve Plumb & Susan Olsen played in the first syndicated season. This episode led to a writing partnership between Williams and Remote Control head writer Chris Kreski, who co-authored the best-selling Growing Up Brady biography.

Philip Joseph McConkey(Born in 1957) is a former American Football Wide Receiver who played for the New York Giants(1984-1988), Phoenix Cardinals(1989), and San Diego Chargers(1989) Before his NFL career, McConkey played for College Football at the United States Naval Academy. ... NFL logo For other uses of the abbreviation NFL, see NFL (disambiguation). ... City East Rutherford, New Jersey Other nicknames Big Blue Wrecking Crew, Big Blue, G-Men, the Giants, The New York Football Giants Team colors Royal Blue, Red, Gray, and White Head Coach Tom Coughlin Owner The Mara and Tisch Families General manager Ernie Accorsi League/Conference affiliations National Football League... Sidney Green (born January 4, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American basketball player and coach. ... The National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada, commonly known as the NBA, is the premier professional basketball league in North America. ... The New York Knickerbockers, or Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York, New York. ... John Conover Ten Eyck (March 12, 1814 – August 24, 1879) was a United States Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. ... Stephen Louis Sax (born January 29, 1960 in Sacramento, California) is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Major league affiliations National League (1890–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 1,2,4,19,20,24,32,39,42,53 Name Los Angeles Dodgers (1958–present) Brooklyn Dodgers (1911-1912), (1932-1957) Brooklyn Robins (1914-1931) (Also referred to as Trolley Dodgers 1911-1931) Brooklyn... City Cincinnati, Ohio Team colors Black, Orange and White Head Coach Marvin Lewis Owner Mike Brown Mascot Who Dey League/Conference affiliations American Football League (1968-1969) Western Division (1968-1969) National Football League (1970–present) American Football Conference (1970-present) AFC Central (1970-2001) AFC North (2002-present) Team... Norman Julius Boomer Esiason (born April 17, 1961 in West Islip, New York) is a former quarterback with the National Football Leagues Cincinnati Bengals (1984-1992, 1997), the New York Jets (1993-1995) and the Arizona Cardinals (1996). ... Major league affiliations National League (1962–present) East Division (1969–present) Current uniform Name New York Mets (1962–present) Ballpark Shea Stadium (1964–present) The Polo Grounds (1962–1963) Major league titles World Series titles (2) 1969 â€¢ 1986 NL Pennants (4) 1969 â€¢ 1973 â€¢ 1986 â€¢ 2000 East Division titles (5) 1969... David Brian Cone (born January 2, 1963 in Kansas City, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. ... The New York Rangers (NYR) are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City, New York, USA. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL). ... Ron Greschner (born 22 December 1954 in Goodsoil, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman who played in the NHL for 16 seasons between 1974 and 1990. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... Britny Fox is a “hair metal” band best known for their two late-’80s near hits “Girls’ School” and “Long Way to Love. ... Mata Hari, exotic dancer and convicted spy, made her name synonymous with femme fatale during WWI. A femme fatale is a stock character, usually a villainous woman, who deceptively misleads and ensnares the hapless hero and/or other males in order to gain some end they would not freely help... Charlie Benante is the drummer/guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. ... Brandon Edwin Cruz (born May 28, 1962 in Bakersfield, California) was a child actor and is a musician. ... Patrick Alan Lilley (b. ... Danny Bonaduce, in a still from The Partridge Family. ... The Brady Bunch was a US television situation comedy, based around a large family. ... Barry Williams Barry William Blenkhorn, known professionally as Barry Williams (born September 30, 1954 in Santa Monica, California) is an American actor best known for his role as Greg Brady in the ABC television series The Brady Bunch. ... Publicity photo of Eve Plumb from The Brady Bunch Leigh McCloskey and Eve Plumb in Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway Eve Plumb (born April 29, 1958 in Burbank, California) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Jan Brady in the television sitcom The Brady Bunch. ... Susan Olsen as Cindy Brady on The Brady Bunch Susan Olsen (born August 14, 1961 in Santa Monica, California) is an American actress, best known for her role as Cindy Brady on the television sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974. ... Chris Kreski (July 31, 1962 - May 9, 2005) was an American writer, biographer and screenwriter. ...

Side notes

• In case of a tie at the time the TV went Off the Air, no player was thrown off the air and all three contestants would advance to the next round. However, after the Lightning Round, both losing contestants would be eliminated instead of the usual one player, which was often referred to as a "double yank". Double yanks rarely happened in the show's history.

• In the event of a tie after the second round, a final question was retrieved from a gigantic Bob Eubanks Pez dispenser and asked to the players, with a correct answer winning the game. The giant candy dispenser was also used in later episodes to determine who would have first control of the TV.

• In a season three episode, the Lightning Round loser was being ejected, but the trick wall behind him failed to rotate and the chair became stuck between the trick wall and the wall next to him. This prompted Ober to say, "Nice going, Ronny, you broke the basement!" Instead of resetting all three chairs for the Bonus Round, they just left the chair where it was.

• Another occurrence (in season two) a player who was being ejected after the Lightning Round kicked the signal light above his chair while exiting. The light swung back and forth, prompting Ober to say "Look at that! It's like a bad Polynesian restaurant."

• On one episode, a "Triple Yank" occurred when none of the three contestants could guess any band in which Eric Clapton was a member, even after Ober gave them hints. "Ken's mother" began screaming "Why are you screaming, Ken?" with Ken retorting "Mom, they are stupid! Can they leave?" With Ken's mom's approval, all three players were pulled "off the air", and three new contestants played Round 2 (with drawn-on nametags.)

• In some episodes, you can actually hear the unrealistic screaming sound effects (normally after the Lightning Round), and one, in particular, is after the woman's scream (whilst a female contestant was being ejected), you can hear a faint cry of "Help me..." before another short scream.

Robert Leland Eubanks (born January 8, 1938, in Flint, Michigan) is an American radio and television personality. ... A typical PEZ dispenser and packaging PEZ is the shortened name of PEZ Candy Inc. ... Polynesia (from Greek, poly = many and nesi = island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ... An example of the famous Clapton is God graffiti craze Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born March 30, 1945), nicknamed Slowhand, is a Grammy Award winning English guitarist, singer and composer, who is one of the most respected and influential musicians of the rock era, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into...

External links

• The Basement: An Online Salute to MTV Remote Control
• A collection of Remote Control video clips from Kari Wuhrer Online
• Xanfan's Remote Control Page