It's His Basement...

Another '80's celebrity is taken from us, as Ken Ober died last night. This may be a minor one for most people, and my guess is that most people under 30 (not you, Paul!) don't even know who he is. But Ober was huge back in the late '80's as the star of MTV's "Remote Control" game show. It was MTV's first venture into non-music programming (and sadly, the beginning of the end of the "M" in MTV). The premise was simple: Ken Ober used his "basement" to host a pop-culture game show where contestants answered questions about TV, movies and music by clicking their remote to one of 9 channels. Every show began with the phrase: "It's his basement, it's his rules, it's his game show, the quiz master of 72 Whooping Cough Lane, Ken Ober!" It was kitcshie, and the first game show that kids and teens could play along with. Besides Ober, it was the starting point for future stars Colin Quinn, Kari Wuhrer, Adam Sandler, and Denis Leary. RIP Ken, and thanks for the memories. Here's a sample of the show from 1988.