POP-A-LOOZA: MTV's Remote Control

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares a post from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) library. This week's shared post is my look back at MTV's game show Remote Control, and the time I attempted to be a contestant on the show.

I like game shows. I don't like all of them, but Jeopardy! would be on the short list of candidates for my all-time favorite TV show of any kind, right there with The Good Place, The Monkees, Batman, Shindig!, et al. Before writing the above-linked piece about Remote Control, I wrote about trying out for Jeopardy! in the '80s. Trying and failing, sure, but, y'know...trying. I still take the Jeopardy! online test every year, and it remains amazing how much better I do when I'm shouting at the TV from my couch versus when I'm taking an actual test. I wish stuff like this could be decided by an essay question.  And I wish there were more comic book and power pop questions, fercryinoutloud.



As a faithful fan of Jeopardy! and rock 'n' roll music, I thrilled when Jackie Fuchs (aka former Runaways bassist Jackie Fox) made a run on Jeopardy! in late 2018. I made two notes of her stint on Jeopardy!: first to accompany the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 954, and again in a separate post recalling The Runaways. 




Getting away from just game shows, I've written about TV many times here, even about some shows that weren't Batman or The Monkees. There was a general appreciation of TV shows I've loved, short essays about superheroes on TV and rock 'n' roll music on TV, and pieces about The Green Hornet, Veronica Mars, Nancy Drew, and The Powerpuff Girls, among others.






But today, it's all about the game shows. Specifically, it's about that time I tried to be part of a game show on MTV. REMOTE CONTROL! Time for this week's Boppin' Pop-A-Looza: MTV's Remote Control.



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