TV REPORT
MTV's Game Show For Tube Addicts
BY DIANE WERTS

Most game shows offer prizes like dining room sets and fur coats if
you can guess the secret consonants or answer questions about World War II.
MTV's "Remote Control" offers prizes like compact disc players and
guitars if you can answer questions about "The Munsters" or Joan Rivers.
Who wants to worry about spelling and Rommel when you can get points
for knowing Archie Bunker's job (he worked on the loading dock) or
guessing the most frequent answer to the survey question "How many Van
Pattens does it take to screw in a light bulb?" (eight is enough, of
course; there is no other answer).
"This game show is the perfect one for our lives, because we
basically grew up watching TV," says Michael Dugan, supervising writer
of "Remote Control," who created the game along with supervising
producer Joe Davola.
"When they wanted to come up with a game show for MTV, we figured
this would be the only thing kids would know that wouldn't be `Name That
Video,' " says Davola.
Three college-age contestants face host Ken Ober and his friends /
sidekicks in Ober's "basement" - a Crayola-colored set that's heavy on
Formica, pink insulation and kidney-shaped furniture, accented by a
giant Pez dispenser and photos of Ober's heroes (Bill Cullen, Monty
Hall, Bob Barker). Zapping between categories cleverly disguised as
channels on a giant Zenith console television, the couch potato
competitors not only have to answer questions about "Cartoons," "Bald
Guys" or "Babes and Assassins," they're also faced with more esoteric
challenges.
One of the most popular is Laughing Guy, an ill-dressed nerd who
enters via a giant slide from the rafters. Having suffered a mysterious
accident as a child, he can't speak, just laugh - and the contestants
have to identify the TV themes he chuckles and chortles. (At a recent
taping, they were stumped by "Flipper" and "Ironside.")
Dugan and Davola are also proud of the non-TV categories: "Beat the
Bishop," in which contestants have to solve math problems before the
Bishop completes a lap's run around the studio (like Laughing Guy, he's
played by actor John Ten Eyck); and "Mortify Your Mother," a no-lose
deal in which the participant has to admit something embarrassing, like
naming his mom's ugliest friend.
Jay Shapiro, a UCLA student who recently won the preliminaries but
blew the final round (he failed to identify nine music videos in 30
seconds while lounging on a Craftmatic adjustable bed), admitted that
he'd had "19 years of training" to answer the show's questions. Even
host Ober confesses, "I know most of the answers - and I don't know
whether I'm proud of that or not."
If "Remote Control" is unique in some ways, it also resembles its
little brother, "Double Dare" (shown on MTV's sister cable service,
Nickelodeon). Food is flung, and losing contestants are yanked through
the rear wall, still in their Naugahyde recliners, while the audience
chants "Na, na, hey, hey, goodbye."
The ratings show that this appeals to a wide range of viewers, not
just students. Davola says there's a whole group of Southern California
lawyers who stop work everyday at 4 to trade answers over the phone.
(It's on here at noon, 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7
p.m. Saturday and Sunday.)
Davola is 32, and Dugan is 27, but they're still kids at heart, with
big worries like remembering the name of the Munsters' normal niece
(Marilyn, and the contestants didn't get it). Thinking product
improvement, Davola is considering new ways to dispose of lagging
competitors. "I want to put somebody through the ceiling next year, but
we've got to find a forklift that moves fast enough."

Copyright 1988, Newsday Inc.

HOME BIO NEWS APPEARANCES PICS SOUNDS
ARTICLES&INTERVIEWS SNL TV MOVIES THEATRE LINKS