Well, on the bright side, you’ll probably hear less about it on the 75th. And even less on the 100th. So you’ve all got that to look forward to.
You think this is bad? I was in fourth grade when it happened. We were given a day off of school, but it was a day off that our parents weren’t expecting and we weren’t allowed to go play with friends. There were four channels on the TV and it was all funeral all the time on all of them. All day long, or at least it seemed that way to an eight year old.
I remember trying to watch and at one point they all had cameras on the coffin lying in state with people filing slowly past. Oh, they probably also had news about Oswald and Johnson, and once the funeral had happened they could all play the iconic scenes over and over; but what I remember is the coffin cam and the frustration at not being able to find a cartoon anywhere.
So as sick as you are, be thankful that nothing is being pre-empted.
Naw, it’ll be over tomorrow.
Just so long as there isn’t a 50th aniversary commerative coin from the Franklin Mint.
Don’t forget, the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation will soon be upon us! Buy your presents early, is my suggestion.
They had to recall it because it was defective. Every time you flipped it, it went back and to the left.
It would be a standard Kennedy half-dollar with a small 50 engraved over the profile. And a hole will be the zero.
We get the same inundation in Canada. The local news talk radio station is hosting a “where were you when JFK was shot” show as I type.
I watched CNN last night as they replayed the events of that weekend, and I liked it. I like the nostalgia, news men smoking on camera, the reactions of the interviewees, etc.
I’d rather hear about JFK than the Miley Cyrus’s of this world.
Yup, mighty sick of the barrage of “Where were you when you heard the news?” coverage. Can someone explain why this is supposed to be interesting?
Good god, yes. Because absolutely nothing on earth is worse than missing your show.
I had fun today carrying on a conversation with a co-worker about how “50 years sure has been a long time” but refering to the 50th birthday of “Doctor Who” (tomorrow) while he thought I was talking about JFK. I was able to pull it off for about four minutes; being happy about it doesn’t help.
I’m very interested in the coverage. I wasn’t born yet but all my siblings had been by that time, so I was right on the cusp of it. It makes me think of exactly where I was during the Challenger explosion and of course, as 9-11 unfolded. I can appreciate the significance of it, especially as a moment the US experienced together. Antiques Roadshow replayed an episode where the photographer who took the iconic photo of Lyndon Johnson being sworn in. NPR had a story corps from the wife and son of one of the paramedics who were in the room with JFK as he was given last rites. I find these stories compelling.
To be honest, I don’t recall hearing too much about the assassination other years and haven’t found this coverage particularly gratuitous or overwhelming.
About all I have to say is… unless you live in the D/FW area, quit whining. We’ve been hearing about it on the local and national news, the newspapers and on the radio for weeks now, complete with interviews with Marina Oswald, Mrs. Tippit, etc…
And we had to hear about how the city demolished LHO’s apartment building that he lived in before the house he lived in when he shot Kennedy. Talk about something that nobody cares about!
People of a certain age identify with it. If you are under the age of 55 or so, it probably doesn’t appeal to you. But the world still largely turns around those of us in the Baby Boom, and the media indulges us. I can see why it would be annoying. Buck up, it’s only another 20 or 30 years until you are shed of us altogether.
I’m 38, but it appeals to me. I’m a nerd for history though. I love hearing first-hand stories about the events leading up to, during and after the event. From as simple as hearing my dad tell me about where he was when he first heard about it and how the whole thing kind of sucked the fun out of his 17th birthday, to reading about a guy who was friends with the Oswalds. It’s history, and soon the people that were there won’t be around to tell these stories.
Hearing the facts is dry and boring, but hearing the stories, to me, doesn’t get old. Even the conspiracy theories are interesting to me.
I haven’t seen much of that fawning coverage of JFK that people are alluding to. I’ve mostly been hearing smarmy right-wing revisionist history about how “the Kennedy myth has been shattered” and crap like that. 
If it’s any comfort, in February it’ll be the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles performing on Ed Sullivan. Which meant the beginning of Beatlemania here and the 60’s, in a Pop Cultural sense, for that matter.
Yes, but with a disclaimer. It’s significant that it’s the 50th anniversary, but the plethora of ridiculous conspiracy theory nonsense seems constant. It all dilutes the impact of something legitimately significant like today.
YES.
(FWIW, speaking as someone who was a thirteen year-old Catholic when Saint JFK was shot.)