# "classic" TV moments you saw "live" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2001, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907 "2001-08-18T16:14:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/21 "2001-08-18T20:40:26Z")
Jack Ruby blasting Lee Harvey Oswald Apollo 11…hot diggity dog Hank Aaron’s 715th HR ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/22 "2001-08-18T21:10:30Z")
It was winter in Charlotte, N.C., a few years back, and one of our local weather clowns thought it was a cool idea to stand out back at 11 p.m. and do his stand-up. It was going pretty good until a barrage of snowballs smacked him in the face and chest. Whoops! Jump-cut to the anchor who moved on to the next item. The next night, the anchor announced that police had caught the two miscreants (a couple of teens), named them, and gave their mug shots. He sounded totally offended. Some people have no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/23 "2001-08-18T21:21:22Z")
Ike’s funeral. Ongoing Vietnam footage. 69 lunar landing!!! Nixon’s resignation speech. Trudeau’s pirouette behind the Queen (a still photo on the news). Trudeau’s funeral and [Justin Trudeau’s eulogy to his dad.](http://brantfordicq.tripod.ca/eulogy.html) ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/24 "2001-08-18T22:06:17Z")
I was up late and saw all the live coverage immediately following the bombing at the Atlanta Olympic games. Same thing with the Princess Diana car crash. Just stayed up late and happened to catch them. Also have seen a few of the school shootings-in-progress. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bitterdrunk_Kid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/25 "2001-08-18T22:08:52Z")
This wasn’t on TV, but I had to leave school one day for an orthodontist appointment. In the car on the way there, the radio station broke into the programming with the news of the Oklahoma City bombing. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/26 "2001-08-18T22:21:04Z")
I saw Sinead tear up the pope picture. The day I graduated high school was also the day of the infamous OJ Bronco chase. Everybody at my graduation party ended up watching the TV. I remember watching the Scrabble game show. The question was “Cher has a lot of this. And your letters are: T and A.” I was watching CNN when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I had no idea what or where either country was. I saw the Challenger explode. I remember when Ronald Reagen got shot. They interrupted Scooby Doo. I have been a Democrat ever since. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/27 "2001-08-18T23:06:15Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but I watched as Senator Jim Jeffords made his official switch to Independent after so many years in the Republican party. (I gave out a silent YES! for that little event.) That’s about it. Hey, what do you expect, it’s like that line in “Fight Club” I think it was, about not having any major wars, or something like that to live through. He wasn’t kidding. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/28 "2001-08-18T23:10:37Z")
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan (though so has everyone else of my vintage). The original “Turn-On” (Yanked after one episode). Lee Harvey Oswald being shot – live! ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/29 "2001-08-18T23:23:28Z")
Wilt Chamberlins 100 point game Walter Cronkite choke on the words “President Kennedy is dead” Ike’s funeral JFK’s funeral John Glenn’s space flight. Gee ,there have been a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/30 "2001-08-18T23:51:27Z")
I saw the Space Shuttle’s first launch on my 10th birthday. I ran upstairs during my party to watch the launch. I made a very conscious effort to avoid everything involving the OJ incident. I only saw the after effects of the Challenger accident and the Reagan shooting. ---
**Author:** ![sdarr2002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@sdarr2002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdarr2002)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/31 "2001-08-19T00:06:10Z")
i rember walter cronkite annouce jfk had been killed. he took of his glasses and sort of bowed his head. i have never seen a more eloquent expression of grief from a tv reporter since. i remember lee harvey oswald getting shot, as well as jfk’s funeral. i also remember when bobby got shot, thouh it wasn’t actual film of him, just the announcement. i also saw the firt moon landing. and of course the streaker walk past david niven on the acadamy awards. he didn’t miss a beat. just said something like “well, now we see his shortcomings” and went right on with his presentation. didn’t faze him a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/32 "2001-08-19T00:55:42Z")
All the Apollo missions - we watched them in elementary school. The streaker on the Academy Awards. Most of the VietNam War. The announcement that Robert Kennedy had been shot. The Jack Ruby shooting of Lee Havey Oswald. The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. Dad kept saying they needed haircuts. Those plate spinners on Ed Sullivan 🙂 The O.J. “chase” The Challenger explosion The first season of “Saturday Night Live” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/33 "2001-08-19T01:35:11Z")
Some of these I was too young to appreciate but I remember seeing them… JFK’s Inauguration The Mercury Launches The Beatles on Ed Sullivan Jackie Kennedy’s tour of the White House I was home from school sick the day JFK was assassinated, so I watched that unfold. LBJ announcing he would not seek reelection in 68 The 1968 Dem Convention in Chicago The Senate Watergate Hearings Nixon’s Resignation Ford’s Pardon of Nixon Lorne Micheals offering the Beatles $3,000 to appear on SNL Lorne Micheals offering the Beatles $3,200 to appear on SNL Lorne Micheals explaining to George Harrison that the $3,200 check was for all 4 of them to appear. Charles Rocket saying ‘Fuck’ and getting canned Paul Schaffer saying ‘fucking’ and not getting canned. I suspect premieres or first seasons of old tv shows don’t really apply to this thread, so I’ll pass on those. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/34 "2001-08-19T02:28:08Z")
Well, none of you will know what I’m talking about, but I saw the Greg Chappell ‘underarm incident’ live. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/35 "2001-08-19T02:33:37Z")
Maybe I was just niave at the time, but the verdict in the OJ case was a memorable TV moment for me. I was at work and we wheeled a TV into the break room so everyone could watch. When they read the ‘innocent’ verdict we all gasped! It was so surreal. I do remember the night Diana died…I was never her biggest fan, but I could not sleep that night after hearing the news and stayed up until the wee hours watching all the coverage. For some reason her death really bothered me. Got up at 3am to watch her funeral. For that matter, I also got up like at 5am to watch her and Charles’ wedding back in 1981. I remember watching the Mike Douglas show where John Lennon was the co host. I was sick from school that week and my mom let me watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/36 "2001-08-19T02:37:40Z")
I also remember during the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, the camera was on Herb Brooks (US Hockey coach) saying to some US player, “Shove that goddam Cojo down his throat.” Living in the Deep South, the only “cojo” I had ever read about was a salmon, so I didn’t understand it. Some of my Yankee friends had to explain it to me. And one of the great moments in Boxing: The Larry Holmes/Scott LeDoux fight. LeDoux lost on a TKO shortly after taking a thumb in the eye. Real pissed off at having lost the way he did, he was in no mood to deal with Howard Cosell, and took a swipe at him that disheveled Cosell’s “hair.” ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/37 "2001-08-19T03:12:56Z")
Apollo 13 landing back on earth…they took the whole school to the gym to watch it, I was in grade two and it gripped the whole school. Later on when Howard Cosell broke into Monday Night Football and said “I have some terrible news, John Lennon has been shot” ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Es\_Loca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Sarah\_Es\_Loca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Es_Loca)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/38 "2001-08-19T03:16:58Z")
I registered just to add my two cents…but I’m pretty sure I’ll stick around! I remember being nine years old and watching the news one night. The anchor nonchalantly mentioned that “Seattle rocker Kurt Cobain died at age twenty-seven today…”. At the time I didn’t care. What nine year old girl cares about grunge? Now, I wish I had discovered Nirvana beforehand! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/39 "2001-08-19T03:19:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hardygrrl \* > \*\*I saw Sinead O’ Connor rip up the picture of the pope on SNL. > > \*\* Saw that-it confused the HELL out of me. I was only, let’s see-11 years old? I was shocked-appalled! You just didn’t do that! My parents, of course, saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live television. I saw the Grammy episode where Axel Rose and Slash were dropping the F-bomb every third word. I don’t know if this counts, but I used to listen to my radio while I slept-on an easy listening station to help me fall asleep. In the middle of the night, I sort of woke up and heard something about Diana, Dodi Al Fayed and a car crash. I was half asleep and thought-naw-couldn’t be, I’m dreaming. Fell back to sleep and forgot about it. Then the next morning my mother came in to tell me Diana was dead-that was really creepy. BTW, John and Paul were watching SNL that night at John’s apartment, and actually considered going down there. Just for shits and giggles. They went out to hail a cab-but decided they were way too tired. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2001, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907/40 "2001-08-19T03:34:23Z")
I saw the very first episode ever broadcast. I also saw the very first episode in which Oscar the Grouch appeared Green (he had been orange during the first season of the show). I remember my younger brother and I going nuts with the color adjustment dial on the television set, trying to get Oscar to look orange again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-tv-moments-you-saw-live/76907.md?page=3)