Remote Control (game show)
- A remote control is a device used to operate something at a distance.
Remote Control was a TV game show that ran on MTV for three seasons from 1987 until 1990. New episodes were made for first-run syndication in 1989. It was hosted by Ken Ober and featured Colin Quinn, Jon Ten Eyck and Adam Sandler. Steve Treccase provided music; Kari Wuhrer and Marisol Massey provided cheesecake.
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. Contestants sitting in lounge chairs would select one of up to nine channels, each of which represented some topic. Sample channels used on the show were "The Jon Bon Jovi Network", "Brady Physics", and "Dead or Canadian". Contestants answer questions to get points. Occasionally, Quinn would have to spin the "Wheel of Torture" (with sections labeled "noogies", "Wet Willie", and "Purple Nurple") and administer the torture to the contestants. There were some "boring" channels such as "Home Shopping Zone" that penalized players by taking points away from them.
Off The Air
However, there was a downside to this show that people sometimes find funny. During the game, a siren would go off and the lights would go red. That meant the lowest-scoring player went "Off The Air", or in other words, be eliminated from further play. The way the contestants would exit was quite funny, ranging from being pulled back in your recliner to being lifted up and out of the room and even to being turned around backwards just to get off stage! The audience would sing "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey--Goodbye!" repeatedly with the organ that was playing in the background even after the loser (the one with the lowest score in round 1) was sent off stage. In case of a tie, the person with the highest score would win the entire game while the other two would be yanked off the stage! Sounds cruel, huh?
Lightning Round
On the MTV version, you and your opponent had 30 seconds to rack up as many points as you can. The host says the wrong title of a movie, and you have to come up with the correction. The winner goes to the Grand Prize Round while the loser, as explained in "Off The Air" above, exits the same way. On the syndicated version, you had to bet earned points on a math problem.
Grand Prize Round
MTV Version: You're strapped to a folding chair. Guess 9 separate artists in 9 separate music videos to win the grand prize. Syndicated: You're strapped to the "Wheel Of Jeopardy". Get all of them right so when the wheel stops, that will determine whether you win the grand prize or not.
Remote Control is the 3rd episode of the cartoon television show The Zeta Project.
Zeta and Ro go looking for Dr. Selig at a science convention. They find that Dr. Selig is not there, and meet Bucky Buenventura, a 12 year old genius who has invented a universal remote control. Bucky, upon finding out that Zeta is a synthoid, uses the remote control to take control of Zeta and play pranks at the science convention. When Bucky finds out that Dr. Tannor copied his control and tried to pass it off as his own, Bucky sets Zeta on Dr. Tannor for revenge. Ro arrives and uses the copied inductance controller to stop Zeta from hurting Dr. Tannor. Zeta destroys Bucky's remote, and warns him not to use it again.