Ken Ober was an actor and one-time host of MTV game show, Remote Control. Running from 1987 until 1990, Remote Control was the network’s first non-music centric original program. The show helped launch the careers of show regulars, Adam Sandler, Denis Leary, Colin Quinn and Kari Wuhrer. Ober also hosted such non-MTV game shows as Make Me Laugh, and ESPN’s Perfect Match. Later, Ober co-hosted an FM radio talk show with Susan Olson of “Brady Bunch” fame. In recent years, Ober was the producer of the hit CBS sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine. Ken Ober, 52, died of an apparent heart attack on November 15, 2009.
Ed Sullivan was most famously, the host of a variety show, The Ed Sullivan Show, that was immensely popular during the ’50s and ’60s. It was one of those television programs that brought families together on Sunday evenings for their weekly entertainment. It was a show that was part vaudeville, part Gong Show and part American Idol in that it featured a cross section of entertainment that included established acts alongside virtual unknowns. A typical episode might include a balancing bear, a ventriloquist act, a seasoned comic and the Beatles. Ed Sullivan’s contribution to popular music has never been disputed. It was on his show that most Americans first saw and heard the likes of Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Doors, the Jackson Five, the Rolling Stones, and of course, the Beatles. We’ve all heard countless stories by such greats as Bruce Springsteen who have said it was either the Beatles or Elvis Ed Sullivan that sent them down their own paths of rock ‘n roll. The show ran from 1948 until its cancellation in 1971. Ed Sullivan was 73 when he died of esophageal cancer on October 13, 1974.
One-time popular KHJ radio personality, Lloyd Thaxton became the host of his own pop music television show during the 1960s. The Lloyd Thaxton Show began as a local Los Angeles show only in 1961, but once it went into national syndication in 1964, it became the highest rated musical variety program on television for nearly a decade. Over the course of its run, the show featured such guests as Bobby Vee, the Byrds, Sonny & Cher, the Kinks, and the Bobby Fuller Four. Lloyd Thaxton died of multiple myeloma at the age of 81.
Ken Ober was an actor and one-time host of MTV game show, Remote Control. Running from 1987 until 1990, Remote Control was the network’s first non-music centric original program. The show helped launch the careers of show regulars, Adam Sandler, Denis Leary, Colin Quinn and Kari Wuhrer. Ober also hosted such non-MTV game shows as Make Me Laugh, and ESPN’s Perfect Match. Later, Ober co-hosted an FM radio talk show with Susan Olson of “Brady Bunch” fame. In recent years, Ober was the producer of the hit CBS sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine. Ken Ober, 52, died of an apparent heart attack on November 15, 2009.
One-time popular KHJ radio personality, Lloyd Thaxton became the host of his own pop music television show during the 1960s. The Lloyd Thaxton Show began as a local Los Angeles show only in 1961, but once it went into national syndication in 1964, it became the highest rated musical variety program on television for nearly a decade. Over the course of its run, the show featured such guests as Bobby Vee, the Byrds, 