Showing posts with label Ken Ober. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ken Ober. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Off to the Great Armchair in the Sky. RIP, Mr. Ober

As an adolescent in the late 1980's, I was glued to MTV. They were my pop culture beacon. I think I admired Pauly Shore, I know I didn't think Adam Curry's hair was weird and I loved the young ladies on the screen. From the Go Gos to the girl in the Warrant video that had a piece of cherry pie fall in her crotch to every woman who ever appeared in a Van Halen video. I loved them all. But one special lady stood out. And her name was Kari Wuhrer. She was the gratuitous T&A on the grossly entertaining game show Remote Control. She was only 20 years old and had not yet begun her death spiral into Cinemax late-night films, science fiction flops and horror flicks. She was young and nubile and sorta slutty, and was a pleasant visual contrast to the ugly but hilarious bits by Adam Sandler, Colin Quinn and Denis Leary. She was the Nicole Eggert of MTV. A hot, barely legal woman who peaked before she turned 21 and then slowly slid downhill into the dark side of minor Hollywood fame. And probably got a venereal disease from Scott Baio somewhere along the way.

As we come to terms with Mr. Ober's passing yesterday from a heart attack at the age of 52, let's pause for a moment to reflect on that show, a bizarre snapshot of pop culture from 1987-1990.

(somber pause)

Now let's remember Ms. Wuhrer, before she did this. Or this. Or this. Let's remember her in her barely legal glory. Thank you Ken Ober for helping keep the show together for a few years to allow 13 year-olds from New Jersey to enjoy the Kari Wuhrer era.