"Remote Control" showed up for the first time on December 7, 1987 on the MTV Network. The host was Ken Ober (more currently known for his work on the first season of Make Me Laugh), and the announcer was Colin Quinn. During the shows run, the show had four hostesses: Marisol Massey (1987 to 1988), Kari Whurer (from 1988 to 1989), Alicia Coppela (from 1989 to 1990), and Susan Ashley (in 1990). The show was rather successful. So much so that on September 17, 1989, it went syndie as well as on MTV. During its syndication, the MTV version was cancelled on March 2, 1990. The syndicated version ended a year later after its premiere, (and the last episode of the series) in September of 1990.

Being originally aired on MTV, the show appealed more to the teenager audiences, as well as the college student ages. In fact, to be on the show at all, you had to be a college student (or around that age). The shows concept and game play was very simple. All you had to do is love television. All the questions on the show were television related. The contestant started by choosing a "cable channel number" on his or her remote control. There were 9 channels to pick from. You didn't know what the channel was until you chose it. Ken announced the channel, then the question. The first one to buzz in with the correct answer got points, and control of the TV, in which they could keep the channel they were on, or pick another one. Point values were 5 points for the first question in the catergory, 10 for the second, and 15 for the third (and final) question in a channel. Point values doubled in the second round.

Aside from "typical" channels like Brady TV, Reruns and M*A*S*H, there were other channels, like Casey's Big Poll, Beat The Bishop, and Wheel of Torture. Sometimes they required you to know math, or be lucky, or in the case of your choosing The Home Shopping Channel, you just lost 10 points. More information about these channels is in "The Mini Games" section of this page. After a few minutes of the first round, it was time for a snack! Most of the time, the food (of course, edible), fell on their heads that they could catch with a bowl they were given. This signaled the end of the first round. The second round was played exactly the same way, except like I said earlier, the point values were doubled.

At the end of the second round, the TV went "Off The Air"! In this case, the player that has the least number of points is eliminated from further play. Of course, any game show could just tell the player to leave the stage. But being an MTV show, it wasn't that boring. Depending on what chair the player was in, and what season it was, the players left. Anything from being flung behind through a paper wall, or having the chair leap upward and backwards. You can get more information on this in the "Off The Air" section of my page. Everytime the TV went Off The Air, the audience (also filled with college-aged people), would chant the popular: "Nah nah! Nah nah, nah Nah! Nah! HEY, Hey, hey.... GOOD-BYE!!!"

Round 3 was a battle of sudden death for the remaining 2 players. Ken explained that he replaced the name of with . Just buzz in first and replace the wrong word with the right one. For example, he could replace a word from the name of a television show with the word Pig. Thus, if he said, "Pig and the Fatman", you buzzed in and give the correct show title, "Jake and the Fatman". Each correct answer was worth 10 points, and Ken went though as many as he could in 30 seconds. The player with the most points at the end of round 3 won the game and went on to the bonus round. (BTW: The player in 2nd place went off the air in the same style as the trailing player at the end of round 2).

Depending on the version, there were 2 different bonus rounds. The more popular of the two was on the MTV version. The contestant sat in his or her Posterpedic Automatic Adjustable Bed, and looked at 9 television screens, as seen in the picture on your left. On each of the screens there was a different music video playing. (I mean after all, it was MTV, a music video channel, right?) The contestant had 30 seconds to identify the artist that each of the videos belonged to, on each of the 9 screens. If they didn't know, they could guess as much as they wanted, or pass and come back to it. If the player got all nine videos right, they won the grand prize. The syndicated run of the show featured the bonus round that was called "The Wheel of Jeopardy". On this bonus round, the contestant was placed on a bondage wheel that was placed horizontally. (For those unaware, a bondage wheel is a big wooden wheel that a person is strapped into by the feet and hands, which allowed them to be spun without falling off or moving out of place). The contestant was answered questions in the same matter as the main game, however they were general questions. After the correct amount of questions were answered (assuming you did it in the right amount of time), the wheel slowed you down and came to a stop. Where you stopped determined what you would win.

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