It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” ā some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it ā I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy namedā” “Yeah, sure ā you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I really loved Remote Control when it was first on – it was actually appointment television for a dorky suburban teenager raised on MTV. Ober will be missed, for sure.
I know I saw him in some commercials over the years – did he ever do any movies?
Don’t know if anyone else remembers, but they took RC on the road on a college tour at the zenith of its popularity and it came to my smallish campus and I got to be a contestant on the stage show. Got to meet them man, etc. Pretty cool and he seemed down-to-earth, as they say.
Talk about a blast from the past.
Astute write-up, Dave. I’ve always felt Remote Control will be seen eventually seen as the precursor for GenX programming which is mainly self-referential, Kevin Smith humor, but I think your Stewart reference is more apt. Almost anything from Comedy Central is an offshoot, especially Kimmel. I always assumed the nod to Remote would come with some large piece on Sandler as the SNL force of the 90’s and how his time on RT brought MTV’ers to SNL, but maybe with Ober’s passing it will get the credit it deserved.
It’s one of those things – you may not have thought of the guy in years, and yet it feels like a loss. If, like me, you’re in your 30s, you watched that show a lot.
Shit, great analysis on Remote Control, Poland. You’re absolutely right about it’s impact, of course, and I’m shocked I’ve never given it that consideration.
I remember listening to Ober and Cindy from The Brady Bunch on their KLSX afternoon show when I first moved to L.A. Their chemistry wasn’t bad. One day they were having people call in and give their picks for a death pool. I was going to call in with John Popper, just to piss off Ober. Who knew at that time that Popper would outlive Kenny?
one of my oldest friends was a winner on rc and his pic was featured on the cover box art of the video game…ober was aces while doing the show….does anyone know what he died of?…i’m not seeing any refs……
Ken Ober would have been a huge star. If people would have watched the original Parenthood series. Seriously, he kicked ass on that show, and it should have taken him to another level. Why no one watched that show but me. Still pisses me fucking off.
Three cheers to you Ken. Three cheers.
Ken was apparently reporting flu-like symptoms before he died. That’s all I’ve heard.
Loved him on RC! Agree, haven’t thought of him in years, but it feels like a loss. Hmmm. Flu-like symptoms + sudden death could mean walking pneumonia-induced heart failure…5th leading cause of death, I know from personal experience. š
What, Poland — no love for Marisol Massey? Kari was middle of the run… but Marisol started it all!
Oh, that ’80s hair…
Edward Woodward died today too. It kind of sucks that in spite of The Equalizer, Breaker Morant, The Wicker Man, etc., he never really got a great third act comeback role to cap his career. One last hurrah to remind the world how awesome he was. Damn.
At one point or another after Remote Control went off the air — sometime in the 1990’s — I saw Ken as a correspondent for an ABC News piece. I don’t remember what the content of the piece was or where he was “reporting” from, but I do remember “Ken Ober” being how he was presented.