# Television Moments You Won't Forget. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397 "2003-07-14T15:42:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Aranea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Aranea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aranea)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/101 "2003-07-17T23:17:55Z")
I don’t know if this was first-run, re-run, or syndication, but it was an episode of \Laverne & Shirley\ that featured Edna’s daughter, who was retarded. Lenny befriended her, mostly against Edna’s wishes. At some point in the episode, Edna left a note for the daughter that warned her “…don’t let Lenny touch you…” Said Lenny, hurt, “She think’s I’m gonna hurt you.” For just a second, the buffoon character seemed adult and human. It was also one of the first times that I had an inkling that there might be undercurrents to TV shows that I was too young to get. I was probably 10 years old or younger when I saw this. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/102 "2003-07-17T23:55:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > \*\* > 5. The jury decisions in two highly publicized court cases: the O.J. Simpson trial (natch!), and the Exxon Valdez trial. I will always remain appalled at the smug, gloating look on the face of Capt. William Murphy after he got off scott-free of drunkenly causing one of the worst environmental disasters ever. > \*\* Unless there were two captains involved, you have the wrong name for the Exxon Valdez’s Captain Hazelwood. (I think his first name is Joseph.) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/103 "2003-07-18T00:52:28Z")
Captain Joseph Hazelwood didn’t get off scot-free, either. The court gave him a $5,000 punitive damages fine. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/104 "2003-07-18T01:46:07Z")
Evidently, William Murphy was the harbor pilot. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/105 "2003-07-18T02:17:44Z")
The harbor pilot was _Edward_ Murphy, and he was never accused of any wrongdoing. According to [this narrative](http://hosting.uaa.alaska.edu/moralcompetence/Exxon1.html) of the accident, > [@](#): > > The Exxon Valdez left the dock at 9:12 p.m., piloted by the harbor pilot Edward Murphy, and accompanied by a single tug. Hazelwood left the bridge at 9:35, while the Chief Mate, James Kunkel, stayed on. This was in clear violation of the Exxon Manual that required two officers on the bridge, while the ship was under Condition C—defined as a measure of navigational hazard that indicated closely bounded waters or limited visibility. At 9:50 Third Mate, Gregory Cousins came to the bridge to relieve Kunkel. At 10:49, Murphy reported to the Valdez Marine Vessel Traffic Center that it passed out of the narrows without event. At 11:05 Hazelwood called the bridge in order to intercept Murphy’s departure, and returned there at 11:10 p.m. Murphy was off the ship by 11:24, at which time the ship was up to a speed of 11 knots, good maneuvering speed. The ship did not hit Bligh Reef until 12:04 am. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/106 "2003-07-18T02:23:38Z")
Another one, and maybe a little jejune, but… From the Babylon 5 movie, _In the Beginning_, when the Mimbari armada is moving towards Earth, and the president is giving her “Farewell to the Species” address. Holy shit, that gets to me. ---
**Author:** ![overlaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc348/32.png) [@overlaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/107 "2003-07-18T02:42:39Z")
i was watching the price is right and this lady got called and she came running up and tripped so she and the host fell over! it was soo funny! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/108 "2003-07-18T21:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > **The harbor pilot was _Edward_ Murphy…** Odd, [this site](http://www.oilspill.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.html) and a few others call him William. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/109 "2003-07-18T22:14:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaxTheVool \* > \*\*Unless there were two captains involved, you have the wrong name for the Exxon Valdez’s Captain Hazelwood. (I think his first name is Joseph.) \*\* Ulp! I looked up some old internet reports on the disaster for the name of the captain. I couldn’t remember his name - just the smug, self-satisfied grin. I guess I forgot…eheh, heh, heh :smack: FWIW, the reports I looked at did name William Murphy as a defendant. I’ll try to provide a url as soon as I get a chance to look it up again. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/110 "2003-07-19T00:07:06Z")
I don’t think 9/11 will shift from memory ever. Similarly the Colombia, Challenger, Herald of Free Enterprise and Concorde disasters stick in my mind. As much for the visual impact as the human cost. There is a film from 1968 showing a Civil Rights marcher in Northern Ireland being beaten over the head by an police officer, certainly sticks in my mind. The sight of the Allied multiple rocket launchers firing into Iraq at night during the first Gulf War. The vast columns of exhaust left by outgoing rockets were illuminated from inside by following rockets, the flashes tore up inside them far into the night sky and then disappeared into the night. I remember well the MASH episode when Radar announces the death of the 4077th’s outgoing commander. (But can’t remember his name :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/111 "2003-07-19T01:07:19Z")
Well, most of mine have been mentioned, so I’ll just name one that hasn’t been mentioned yet. The Vault Heard 'Round The World: Kerri Strug, 1996 Olympics. Let’s go back there, shall we: it’s the women’s gymnastics team all-around, final rotation. Somehow, the Americans have a shot at the gold, something unheard of in a non-boycotted Olympics. But to get the gold, they need a decent score on the vault. Two American gymnasts are left: Dominique Moceanu, and Kerri Strug. Dominique, the youngest member of the American team and considered by many to be the team’s greatest hope, goes first. And she falls. _Twice_. It’s all up to Kerri. Kerri runs, she vaults. _She falls_. And when she gets up, _she’s limping_. Hope is lost. But by God, she’s loosening up that ankle. She’s going to take her second vault, come hell or high water. Again Kerri runs, she vaults…she sticks the landing. _On one foot!!!_ And after raising her arms in victory, she falls in pain, broken but triumphant. America wins its first team gold ever in a non-boycotted Olympics. Sport does not get finer than that, oh my brothers. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/112 "2003-07-19T01:51:01Z")
What a great thread this is! Being older than most of you, the one thing I remember that hasn’t been mentioned was Alan Sheppard sitting on top of the first manned rocket the U.S. sent into ‘space,’ with several holds during the countdown to liftoff. While it didn’t go that high or that far, I was all choked up about how brave he was to be there. And I was LIVID when they killed off the MacLean Stevenson character in M_A_S_H_– thought they should have written him out some other way. And speaking of M_A_S_H_, I loved the one where they were trying to rescue the found horse, and Radar’s manner in doing it, and the funny, touching things they all said around that. The first moon landing DID happen on a Sunday evening/night, honest! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/113 "2003-07-19T03:13:09Z")
I saw an episode of the Tonight Show once where Gabe Kaplan was the guest host, and the guests were Robert Conrad, Scatman Crothers, - and some blonde starlet who was coked up or something. She was bouncing up and down in her chair, she would stand up, sit down, stand up again; just couldn’t sit still. For no reason at all she suddenly tousled Conrad’s hair, and ripped the sweater off his body. So you had Robert Conrad standing there bare-chested and messy-haired with this manic bimbo bouncing around and giggling. Kaplan had no control of the show whatsoever by that point. During Crother’s segment, she actually asked him to get her on Chico And The Man: Starlet: Can you get me on? Crothers: Man, you’re _already_ on! He was kinda pissed off, it looked like. I didn’t catch her name; sometimes I wonder who she was. It looked like she committed career suicide that night, but who knows, maybe not - maybe she’s a well-respected actress now. Anybody remember who that was? I can’t be the only person who saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/114 "2003-07-19T03:38:35Z")
Talk shows are rife with material like that. The Arsenio Hall Show, in its prime, had some classic moments. Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito laughing and cursing up a storm juuuuust to make sure they got bleeped. Andrew “Dice” Clay breaking down crying on camera. Sam Kinison coming on the show a few nights later and mericlessly mocking Clay. Then-candidate Bill Clinton’s impromtu sax performance. The night when Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield did a tag-team interview and Muhammad Ali dropped in unnannounced. My favorite moment was when Hall asked Ali who would win if he and Tyson could fought in his prime and he said Tyson, and Tyson said Ali. The final episode with Hall giving Louis Farrakhan free reign to talk unchallenged for the whole show. Like watching somebody deliberately break a lease. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/115 "2003-07-19T05:03:47Z")
Real-life: The pictures of the cities burning after Dr. King’s assassination The moon landing (sorry, Bos’da, but it was a Sunday) O.J. in the Bronco. That last was just fucking surreal. Fictional humor: Gotta agree with Les Nesman saying “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” I remember an episode of Maude where here antique punchbowl got smashed at a neighbors’ party. She investigates and everyone gives a different story. Each time she asks her maid if that was the truth, and the maid replies: 'It is as God is my witness." Finally, Adrienne Barbeau reveals the maid got drunk and tossed the bowl over her shoulder, saying “God save the Queen.” Maude asks her if this is true and she replies "As God is my witness."Steve Martin doing “King Tut” on SNL Fictional drama: The episode of Twin Peaks where Leland Palmer dies, and Agent Cooper, Sheriff Harry Truman, and the Major discuss the event. Kunta Kinte’s father holding him up to the sky and saying: “Behold the only thing greater than yourself.” ST:TOS “The City on the Edge of Forever” Sports: Keith Smart hitting The Shot The 1983 Rose Bowl, absolutely the best football game I have ever seen at any level, in person or on television Kurt Gibson’s game-winning home run in the World Series. I don’t remember the year or the opposing team, but I have rarely seen one play take it out of the opposition the way that shot did. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/116 "2003-07-19T12:30:24Z")
On _Golden Girls_ , Bea Arthur and Estelle Parsons doing the take-off of Sonny & Cher singing “I’ve Got You Babe.” Englebert Humperdink was on _The Tonight Show_ when his and Willie Nelson’s record of “To All the Girls We’ve Loved Before” was popular. As he started to sing it, Johnny Carson appeared at his side with pigtails etc ala Willie to make it a duet, much to EH’s surprise. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/117 "2003-07-19T13:17:56Z")
Surprised that no Red Sox (or Mets :)) fans have mentioned Bill Buckner’s play at first in the 1986 World Series. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/118 "2003-07-19T13:19:12Z")
Oh yeah, another one for the Aussies and Kiwis on this Board: The famous underarm bowling incident. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/119 "2003-07-19T13:21:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Peyote Coyote \* > **Fictional humor: Gotta agree with Les Nesman saying "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."** It was actually Gordon Jump’s character, the owner of the station, who said this. I can’t remember the character’s name right now, for the life of me. But he was the one who had approved the promotion, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397/120 "2003-07-19T19:48:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*It was actually Gordon Jump’s character, the owner of the station, who said this. I can’t remember the character’s name right now, for the life of me. \*\* Gordon Jump’s character was Mr. Carlson, and you’re right, it was him who had that infamous line. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MizQuirk \* > **On _Golden Girls_ , Bea Arthur and Estelle Parsons** Estelle **Getty** , actually. Better Golden Girls moment, from the episode in which Rose (Betty White) and Dorothy (Bea Arthur) are collaborating on a Miami promotional tune for a contest: “Miami you’re cuter than… an interuterine.” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MizQuirk \* > \*\*Englebert Humperdink was on _The Tonight Show_ when his and Willie Nelson’s record of “To All the Girls We’ve Loved Before” was popular. \*\* And that would’ve actually been **Julio Iglesias**. My unforgettable moments: The Good – Watching kids dancing on the Berlin Wall and pounding with hammers and crowbars and chunks of brick and whatever they could get their hands on. The exhilaration of that moment, especially as a Cold War baby, was fairly unparalleled in my experience. The lone man, bags in hand, standing down the tanks in Tianenmen. The outcome was not good, but that one minute was the momentary triumph of good over evil, of freedom over tyranny. I have no idea what happened to that man, but that image is forever burned in my head as the highest epitome of courage and conviction and strength. Entertainment Good – On _The Cosby Show_, the family got together to do a lipsynch and dance routine in celebration of Cliff’s parents’ wedding anniversary. The song of choice is “The Nighttime Is the Right Time” and there was nothing ever so funny on the show (before or after) as the youngest daughter, Rudy, coming out from the hallway, fists clenched and this intense look on her little 5-year old face as she mimed a gruff blues singer wailing “Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby, baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby!” The Bad – I was just a little girl, but I remember watching television coverage after the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy which seemed to happen right on top of one another. I never remembered seeing the reporters and anchors looking so very sad. I also remember watching what was an otherwise unmemorable Monday Night Football game in a commons room of my college dorm, and the utter shock as Howard Cosell told of the murder of John Lennon. There were about 30 of us, and no one was dry eyed, college guys who probably wouldn’t have publicly cried for anything else broke down that night. I wasn’t able to sleep on a hot summer Saturday night in 1997, and was flipping around from channel to channel after SNL ended, and happened upon news reports of a car crash in Paris – I stayed awake all night until the report was confirmed that Princess Diana was dead. Entertainment Bad – In an episode that was a radical departure from the standard format, _Law & Order_ created a season-ender which took us into the personal lives of the characters and apparently (though this fact remained unconfirmed for more than two seasons thereafter) killed off the character of Claire Kincaid in a car accident. The episode was a shambles, and the character of Claire deserved a much better send off than a freeze-frame of her face in the car window, panic-striken as headlights glare and a horn blows. The Ugly – All have been mentioned. 9/11, most certainly. Challenger, Reagan’s shooting, Waco, Oklahoma City, Columbia. What more is there to say? Entertainment Ugly – Madonna’s embarassing and totally inappropriate Letterman appearance. Whatever she was smoking, it wasn’t good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-moments-you-wont-forget/188397.md?page=7)