Television Moments You Won't Forget.

Cafe Society
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Mentioned this before here I think:

Yes, it was the first tower collapsing on September 11, 2001, but with a difference. Like everywhere else in the world, we’d started with a newsflash, then an extended newsflash, then regular programming being suspended, then the full two or three days of saturation coverage. This, of course, meant that the coverage was a bit raw - not the usual slick evening news. The most memorable moment was watching the newsreader blabbing on, and there was a live satellite feed to the burning towers behind her left shoulder. When the first tower collapsed, it took me a second or two to take in the magnitude of what I was seeing: “Oh, it’s collapsing… I guess that’s not very surpr… HOLY SHIT IT’S COLAPSING!” But the newsreader (no fault of hers) had been reading the teleprompter and didn’t know what was happening. You could see the confusion on her face when somebody in the studion had obviously said to her, “Hey look!”.

That was memorable. And frightening.

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Actually, one of the funniest TV moments I recall happened on a local news station. I was in a community college at the time, and the break areas all had televisions. It was around noon, and I had picked up some lunch and brought it up to the break room so I could watch the news.

Nothing terribly eventful was going on, and the usual cast of characters on the news program were going through their routine. The newscasters for this hour were Gene and Kristin, and they cut to a Mr. Food feature. Now, I don’t know who has seen a Mr. Food feature, but it’s basically just some chef dude who does a quick prep of a recipe and shows a pre-finished final product. I believe it is filmed entirely off-site from the station.

Well, this day the food dude cooked up some mini meatloaf or something similar, and they were strange looking little critters. Segment ends, and the sound and cameras are back on the newsdesk. Kristin didn’t realize she was back on live and said to Gene something to the effect of “Those look like little turds.” You could see the strain on Gene’s face as he valiantly held back the laughter and tears. Gotta give the guy credit for holding that one together. IIRC, they quickly cut to a commercial. Apparently the station didn’t appreciate her misjudgement, and Kristin was suspended for a week (I actually don’t remember if she was back on to finish that day’s newscast).

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I saved a “Berry’s World” cartoon that showed a man and woman on a couch, watching TV.

Woman: Why are we watching this show? What happened to “Frank’s Place”?

Man: It was a subtle, intelligent show that appealed to viewers with taste.

Woman. Oh. :dubious:

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I haven’t seen anyone mention all the times on The Carol Burnett Show when the cast members failed to keep from cracking up. Those were some of the funniest moments I’ve ever witnessed.

Also what I think was Sam Kinison’s first HBO special, when at the end he sang a song to a lost love: “I hope you slide under a gas truck and taste your own fuckin’ blood! Die! Die! Die!” (pounds piano fiercely) “I want my records back! I want my fuckin’ records back!”

That made me laugh just about as hard as the episode of South Park where the boys fall in love with their substitute teacher, who is a lesbian. So they all want to become lesbians too. Cut to scene of one of them giving his rug a tongue bath. “If you want to be a lesbian, you have to lick carpet.” I thought I was gonna die!

Three words: Ren and Stimpy.

I agree with and have seen many of the events mentioned. I saw both Kennedys get murdered, The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, the space walks where they got three classes together in one room to watch it on TV as it happened, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Laugh In, Batman, The Monkees, MAS*H, I could go on all day!

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Aside from 9/11, Reagan getting shot, the Iranian hostages being released, and others mentioned above, I have two random TV memories I can’t seem to shake:

Jose Cardenal striking out as a pinch hitter to end the 1980 World Series.

Back in the early days of CNN Headline News, I was home sick and had the TV on for company. This was back when they used to run a short fluff piece at the end of the half hour, then go to commercial and start over with the big story. The anchor was either Bob Losure or Charles Zewe.

Anyway, the fluff piece was about some sort of frisbee event taking place in Washington, D.C., and he was supposed to say, “Thousands of plastic DISKS littered the Mall today…” but mispronounced “disks” as (part of the male anatomy). You could hear the crew and journalists starting to laugh as they cut to commercial. When they came back, the anchor was barely holding it together and there were people laughing in the background.

The best part was: It being Headline News, he had to do the same story again half an hour later. With a straight face.

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Willie Wilson struck out to end the World Series that year, actually. Tug McGraw struck him out.

The Tugger passed away this week. :frowning:

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A few recent ones:

-The Cubs and then Red Sox self-destructing to lose their respective playoff series. In particular, the infamous Steve Bartman moment, which at the time elicited a chuckle and “wow, if the cubs somehow manage to lose this game, and the series, that guy is in so much trouble”. I was less interested in the Red Sox-Yankees series, but game 7 was on while I was in Hawaii for a friend’s wedding, so a bunch of us wedding-attending guys were all hanging out in the living room of a rental house in Maui watching it together…

-Triumph the Insult Comic Dog doing the local weather report on the NBC affiliate in Hawaii after getting kicked out of the American Idol auditions. “Hawaii… you are a pussy!”

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I lived in Harrisburg in 1980 and attended a few Phillies games that year. Tug McGraw was my favorite player on the team and I remember jumping up and down and cheering in my living room when I saw him strike out the last batter in the series…

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Well, all the major ones have been covered, The Shuttle disasters, the attempted assasination of Reagan, 9/11…

I’m a fan of Sci-Fi movies and TV (but not of the sci-fi channel, though), i liked Trek and Wars, Dwarf, Lexx, Dr. Who, MST3K, etc, but the one show that really captured my attention was Farscape, it had well written characters, great drama and humor, just an all-around great show that happened to take place in a sci-fi setting, unfortunately Bonnie Hammer (frelling tralk) and the other morons in charge of the sci-fi channel decided to ccancel the show in the middle of season 4.

5 or 6 seasons were planned, but skiffy weasled out of them, the Farscape production crew were barely lucky enough to be able to finish season 4

for the past 4 seasons, a group of escaped prisoners (wrongly accused) and a Human from 20th century Earth had been on the run in a living starship from a number of baddies, the Peacekeepers, the Nebari, the Scarrans… the group had grown over the 4 years from a group of people that disliked each other, into a cohesive family unit.

the 2 lead characters, John Crichton, a 20th century Human, and Peacekeeper officer Aeryn Sun had been slowly growing to love each other, no small feat as Aeryn was trained from birth to keep her emotions suppressed by her Peacekeeper superiors

the final episode of Farscape has Aeryn and John in a small boat on a water planet…

Aeryn has just told John she’s carrying his baby, John proposes to her, she accepts, John hands her his Mother’s ring, scene cuts away to an unknown alien vessel that fires some form of weapon at them, they appear to disintegrate before our eyes, camera cuts to inside Moya (the living ship) where D’Argo (think a Klingon with tentacles on his head instead of the bumpy forehead), John’s best freind, lets out the most horribly anguished scream of rage, sorrow, and loss as he sees his freinds disintegrate in front of his eyes, the camera cuts back to the boat, and zooms in on the ring, in a pile of what appears to be the residue of John and Aeryn…

the scene fades to black, and the words “To Be Continued” appear on the screen

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I recall that.
Lenny said I got the long straw.
Laverne goes “You lost, huh?”
“No”, he said, “I won.”
ahhhhs in the audience.

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This is a great thread.
Where to begin?

Johnny Carson was great.
Once, I was really depressed about something that had happened, and had been crying (I was 20) and he came on and was funny, as usual, and it cheered me up.

I recall him introducing a Monty Rock the Third, who came out in an outfit that was a bit shocking for back then and for a man, and did his song.
Afterwards, Johnny says “I get the feeling there won’t be a Monty Rock the Fourth,”

Also, in the 80,s Tiny Tim came on and performed Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, wearing a t-shirt. At the end of the song, he’s writhing on the florr, ripping his t shirt, in an attempt to be “sexy”.
It would’ve worked great had it been Rod Stewart.
Cut to shot of Johnny’s expression.Priceless.

When I was really young (10) I was watching the news on our black and white tv, there were tons of demonstrators in the streets of Chicago during the Convention.
I recall my dad saying “They ought to shoot them all”, and I was thinking “I’m one of them”.

I was getting ready to go to the library, and saw the wtc with a hole in it and a plane had hit it.
I thought “Well, that’ll be on tv all day long.”
Boy, I was right about that.
It took me all day to feel sad,I was so caught up in the excitement of it(not good excitement just excitement)

I will try to think of more by tomorrow, I just wanted to post right now.

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For Loach:

Have a peek at this thread, on the NYC ABC Afternoon Movie, among other things.

(Eyewitness News, with Bill Beutell ran right after that, didn’t it?)

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I believe this happened on ABC Monday Night Football, but I don’t recall all the details. Here is what I have learned.

One of the most often repeated catchphrases on the Internet is “Look at that little monkey run!” and is almost always incorrectly associated with former Washington Redskins wide reciever Alvin Garrett in 1983.

FOR THE RECORD: This inquiry is to preserve historical sports accuracy. It has already been proven that these comments had nothing to do with racism. Cosell was a strong civil-rights supporter of all athletes including Curt Flood, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Arthur Ashe, Muhammed Ali, and John Carlos/Tommy Smith (1968 Olympics) among others.

THE FACTS: There were THREE separate “little monkey” comments made by Cosell, (not just one or two).

#1. August 29, 1972 K.C. Chiefs vs. N.Y. Giants preseason HOF game (Mike Adamle) “You know that little monkey… again, the theorem was that he was too small for pro football.” -COSELL

#2. “Look at that little monkey run!” -COSELL (Unidentified player and game)

#3. September 5, 1983 Dallas at Washington (Alvin Garrett) “That little monkey gets loose doesn’t he” -COSELL

I have already eliminated Alvin Garrett (Washington Redskins), Mike Adamle (K.C. Chiefs), and Joe Washington (Baltimore Colts and Washington Redskins) with my review of those games and players above. I have confirmed that was not the game where Joe Washington ran a last minute 91 yd kickoff return for a touchdown to win the game 34-27 during the September 18, 1978 Monday night game between the Baltimore Colts at New England Patriots.

As I recall, Howard Cosell’s “Look at that little monkey run” comment occurred during the “Halftime Highlights” voice-over recaps of Sunday games done during the halftime intermission of MNF. I dont remember if it was a kickoff, a punt return or a running play from the line of scrimmage.

So who has the straight dope on what game #2 above was???:confused:

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This one won’t mean much to anyone else, but I remember watching “It Takes A Thief” when I was about eleven. Al Munday (the Robert Wagner character) was receiving his next assignment from a woman sitting at a park bench.

Why did this make such an impression on me at eleven years old? Because it was the first time I looked at a pretty woman and said, “yeah, that’s something interesting”.

I’ve been looking ever since.

I looked the episode up on Hulu a while back, and I have to say that my taste in women at eleven was spot-on. She was seriously attractive.

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One that I haven’t been able to shake out of my head even though I saw it twenty years ago was from a 70s episode of SNL. It was a black-and-white film about the cast members remembering their first love, with the Shirelles’ “Soldier Boy” playing in the backround. I remember it being much more sweet than funny. I googled for “Soldier Boy” and “Saturday Night Live” and can’t find it. Can anyone remember what episode this was on?

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While we’re on the topic of zombies, tonight’s Walking Dead was pretty memorable.

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I’m overwhelmed with memories. Guess that means I’m an old lady.

All the Kennedy stuff. Seeing reruns of Walter Cronkite, and hearing the break in his voice when he announced that President Kennedy had died. Mrs Kennedy with her stained dress. The funeral, John-John’s salute, lighting the Eternal Flame, Anita Bryant singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby.

So many sad things. Shocking things. Challenger exploding. The World Trade Center being hit by planes, burning, collapsing, the chaos in NYC, the people covered in ash, running, so horrible. The Six Day War. The first Gulf War. Bush Sr addressing the world, telling Saddam Hussein he was a bad guy, and we were gonna get him. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, and the terrorist raid on the Israeli team.

Miraculous things. Apollo 13 splashdown. The POWs come home. The Iranian hostages come home.

More funny things than I can count!

What an incredible, valuable, priceless part of our lives!
~VOW

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Older British members may just recall the incident of Fanny Cradock’s Angel Cakes, broadcast live on the BBC early evening television show Tonight, sometime in the early 1960’s.

Fanny Cradock was a somewhat eccentric t.v. chef, read her wiki entry here:-

Various versions of this broadcast are written up on the internet but I can claim to have watched the show and this is my memory of what happened:-

Fanny Cradock (with husband Johnny hovering in the background as usual) had made Angel cakes. (Resembling these:- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=angel+cup+cakes&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&gbv=2&biw=1024&bih=578&tbm=isch&tbnid=mTe3lYM05fVJYM:&imgrefurl=http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/recipes/collections/galleries/g/-/8038782/4/cupcake-recipes/&docid=l_nP6ECkVfZMQM&imgurl=http://l.yimg.com/ea/img/-/100929/angel_cupcakes_16a65oc-16a65pq.jpg%253Fx%253D309%2526q%253D80%2526n%253D1%2526sig%253DXO1G5K0fQYLnbllUXiQqqQ--&w=309&h=231&ei=B7bTTujTAtC2hAf91-3LDQ&zoom=1) This involved baking some kind of cup cake, slicing the raised top off, cutting it in two, then sticking the two pieces on top of the cake in a near vertical arrangement to represent “angel’s wings” (hence Angel cakes).

To me, the gag was partly visual and entirely deliberate. The final shot was a view of the cakes, with their suggestively arranged “wings”, and the voice over was something like:

“And if you’re making Angel cakes, I hope they turn out like Fanny’s…”

There were multiple giggles in the background and the transmission ended abruptly.

American and Canadian members may need to remind themselves of the British meaning of fanny!

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#2 and #3 are really the same. #2 is the way it has most often been repeated with regard to Garrett, but #3 is probably closer to the wording.

It didn’t cause any controversy at the moment. It wasn’t until either half-time or the start of the second half, when another member of the broadcast team (Gifford, maybe?) mentioned that someone (at AP, possibly?) had sent a message up into the broadcast booth asking whether Cosell had called a Black player a monkey.

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Just reading this zombie and I was going to post about seeing this very race. The thing that I remember most about it was her groom kneeling in the dirt cradling the filly’s head on her lap, crying, saying “Wanda, no! NO!” Over and over; the camera briefly panned down and showed a shot of her hood turned completely backward >shudder<

I have never watched horse racing the same way since.
It was also about the same time they broadcast the Grand National Steeplechase on TV and the favorite, a GORGEOUS dapple grey names Dark Ivy, fell over a jump and snapped his neck. Both are images I will never forget.

My BEST racing image? Secretariat’s 1973 Belmomt win by 31 lengths… The words ‘he is running like a tremendous machine’ are burned into my brain forever. It still gives me chills.