Tossing and turning in the Craftmatic

Ken Ober died yesterday. And last night was more than a little rough.

When Remote Control showed up on the MTV, he instantly became something of a hero to me. There was just something so cool about being the host of a game show with questions that were not only good, but were questions a 12-year-old TV junkie could answer in a heartbeat. As an added bonus, the banter between Ken, the cast, and the contestants resulted in the learning of more than a few obscene gestures and sayings.

Much like the years I spent practicing the Grand Prize Game just in case I won the six-year-old's version of the lottery and not only got tickets to Bozo Show but got plucked out of the crowd to make a run at Bucket Number Six, I watched Remote Control every day after school so that if the day came, I would come away victorious.

In the years since Remote Control's heyday, I'll admit I never really gave much thought to Ken Ober until one day about three or four years ago when I somehow Forrest Gumped my way into being deep in the running to host a dating show destined for cable.

"It's either going to be you or Ken Ober. Of course they like him better but I'm really pulling for you."

After that sentence was seared into my brain, I had to fight the urge to tell the show's producer to not even bother with me. I'd pick Ken Ober over me. No question.

Unfortunately, that's as far as things went. That bombshell was dropped on me just before the holidays and spending a couple weeks trying not to feel inadequate turned out to be all for naught.

Right at the turn of the new year, some new peeps took over at the network and slew of works-in-progress, including that dating show, were instantly scrapped and that was that.