Wow, it's one thing to write about the death of someone like Edward Woodward, someone who was older and not in good health, but it's another thing to write about the death of someone only 52. Ken Ober, who hosted the classic (well, in my mind it's a classic) MTV game show Remote Control in the late 80s, died yesterday of unknown causes.If you've never seen Remote Control, it was a wacky pop culture trivia game show that supposedly was filmed in Ober's basement. Besides being a really fun game show (especially for someone raised on television), it costarred a lot of people who later became household names, such as Adam Sandler, Denis Leary, and Colin Quinn.
Oddly enough, Ober was a guest on an episode of The Equalizer and also appeared in other shows, including Who's The Boss, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the original Parenthood series. He was the Comedian champ on Star Search and was also a producer, working on such shows as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, and Mind of Mencia.
Here's an episode from Remote Control (here's part two and part three).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-18-2009 @ 8:51PM
HD said...
Whoa. I feel old now. I loved that show - even played the video game.
52 - that's a shame, I hope he didn't suffer.
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11-16-2009 @ 6:26PM
C said...
Wow, what a shame. I definitely enjoyed Romote Control back in the day and Ken Ober was great on that show. As I recall it might have been on just before John Stewart's MTV interview show.
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11-16-2009 @ 6:29PM
Man said...
He also was on The Equalizer.
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11-16-2009 @ 7:27PM
ral said...
Although she may never have achieved household name status, Kari Wuhrer has done pretty well for herself and got her start when she replaced Marisol on Remote Control.
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11-16-2009 @ 10:40PM
amanda82977 said...
Rosie O'Donnell just had comedian John Mulrooney on the other day & they happened to mention that neither of them had heard anything of Ken Ober in quite some time. It is so odd to hear of his passing. I hope that tvsquad will keep us posted on details.
I was a huge fan of remote control growing up & my thoughts and prayers are with his family & friends!!!
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11-17-2009 @ 8:47PM
RobynM said...
I loved Remote Control - in fact, it's one of the few game shows I'd consider picking up DVDs of.
Ken's passing was definitely a shock to me. I was just thinking about him the other day when I happened to catch Blues Traveler on VH1 - he was a friend of theirs and appeared in a number of their videos. What a shame.
My heart goes out to his friends and family in what must be a very trying time for them.
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