Could it be your memory combined 27 June 1977 and 18 June 1975?
I can see this being right - Adrienne Barbeau is the guest in that 18 June episode that fits the bill (get it? bill, Manduck…)
This of course exposes me as a geezer.
The films of the civil rights marches and freedom riders in the early and mid-sixties. As much as anything else these images on the 6:00 news spurred the civil rights movement. Pot-bellied, arrogant Southern sheriffs, dogs and fire hoses turned on what seemed to be unoffending people, local officials nearly frothing at the mouth at the thought that Black people had the right to vote, the Governor Wallace confronting the Deputy US AG at “the school house door,” the Selma march, the rally in Washington. This was the stuff of history. To a great extent the TV coverage transformed the nation. When this stuff, one horrible brutality after another, came into your living room every night with Walter Cronkite it had a devastating effect on people who thought they could bunker up in their own quiet corner, ignore the whole thing and expect that everything would be all right.
The TV coverage of Vietnam had a similar effect, especially the Tet Offensive. Every night I watch that exercise in futility and every morning I went off to train more young men who were going to be fed into the meat grinder.
Total silence and then that totally singular first cry/wail as Diana’s coffin left the gates at Kensington Palace. The hairs on the back of my neck have just settled down again ….
Then, just a couple of hundred yards along the road from Ken Palace but in the early 80’s, the SAS storming the Iranian Embassy. Live on teevee; Early evening, I’m putting on my shoes, hurrying to get to the pub and meet the gang when, in totally black kit (balaclava’s included), they suddenly appear and start abseiling down the side of the building . . and then crouching on the balconies . . and then throwing bombs in the windows . . and then the gunfire . . .completely transfixing.
The first punk footage; The Stranglers performing ‘Hanging Around’ in the basement of the Hope and Anchor in Upper Street, Islington. Tiny, heaving venue, seemingly sweat and steam dripping off the walls.
Don’t remember Churchill’s funeral or the 1966 World Cup win but I think I recall the moon landing, if not itself, then so much around it.
The Task Force sailing for The Falklands – my first experience of the UK alone and in a conventional war.
So many sporting moments . . .
A couple of sports moments I will never forget : The Shot, as it is known in Indiana basketball lore, by Keith Smart to win the '87 championship. Next to that comes the win over Duke in 2002. They got screwed in '92, my freshman year, against Duke and that win was 10 years worth of payback.
Reggie Miller's 25 point quarter against the Knicks in the '94 playoffs. It is not always easy to pinpoint the exact moment when a team has finally emerged from the shadows of national obscurity and become a national recognized force. For the Pacers, you can trace it right down to that one quarter. Up to that point, they were a perenial NBA also ran that no one seriously believed could win much of anything. That one quarter changed it all.
Tony Dorsett's 99 yard run from scrimmage against the Vikings. I think it was a Monday night football game. I don't know why no one ever mentions the quote that came right before his run. This was in the 80s during the Cowboys decline. One of the announcers, right before the play, said something to the effect that "The Cowboys have to learn they can't just 'turn it on' whenever they want anymore and expect to win." The very next play TD runs 99 yards for a TD. Right after is one of the longest moments of silence by the announcers I have ever heard during an NFL game.
As for TV shows, in a drama the saddest thing is the episode of ER where the mom gives birth and then dies at the end. A beautifully done episode. Next to that comes an episode of The Sopranos where Tony finds out his daughter's soccer coach is sleeping with one of the players. He is pissed and has to decide whether to just call the police or take matters into his own hands. In the end, he calls the police. At the end, he stumbles home drunk into the family room and his wife finds him. He mumbles, "I didn't hurt nobody" in a great drunk NY accent. It is such a small step for him, but its a great scene that wonderfully illustrates some true, meaningful character growth for him.
Too many Simpsons moments to count.Wow, that is above and beyond the call of duty 
I should have thought of that
I don’t think so. Kaplan was definitely hosting and Conrad was definititely there and the drugged up bimbo was definitely blonde and I would have recognized Adrienne Barbeau, whom I had a tremendous hardon for at the time (and still do ;)).
Bingo. For a show that was satirical comedy, that moment - the sound, the look on ‘Mike Moore’s’ face…absolutely chilling.
Certainly 9/11.
My earliest TV memory was seeing network coverage of the Nixon-Kennedy election as a very young child. They kept talking about the “race” (for president), and I asked my dad whether they had cars or whether it was a foot race. 
Hmm…maybe Carol Wayne wandered over.
I was going to mention this one. This remains for me the most incredible sports event ever. I remember simply being stunned at how it unfolded. It’s the only time in my life I can remember not believing something that was happening before my eyes. It was all so improbable - like a master suspense writer was making it up.
Sigh, what a great time to be a Mets’ fan…
The Challenger disaster… I was in my college cafeteria when the broadcast came over the TV… I was sure it was a joke at first… I still remember the chills that went down my back when I realized this was reality…
I guess I might as well add to this list the “Market Crash” in Santa Monica. (Yes, one of the local news stations is calling it the “Market Crash”. Someone on their staff has a sick, sick sense of humor!)
News:
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1980 Olympics the whole family with the Atlas out trying to identify all the flags in the opening ceremony.
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Challenger disaster footage. I was in school when it blew up. In music class. The only reason we knew something was wrong was a teacher passed our door sobbing.
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The collapse of the Berlin Wall, Gulf War I, Gorbachev’s coup, L.A. Riots, Kurt Cobain’s suicide, O.J.'s white bronco, the screaming throughout my dorm in reaction to his verdict, and then there’s a nice expanse of time with no horror/disasters. The Columbine massacre, Bush’s regime installation, 9/11, and Gulf War II.
TV Show Moments:
- Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap with the phone bomb. Comedy gold.
- Luke Skywalker on The Muppet Show.
- Theo gets a lesson about “the real world” on The Cosby Show
- Carol’s boyfriend Sandy dies from a drunk driving accident on Growing Pains
- already been mentioned: Lucy & Carter’s stabbing on ER. Creepy as hell and still haunts me. Also of note is Julianna Margulies’ last scene. The secret George Clooney guest spot.
- Ellen Degeneres’s character realizes that she’s gay.
- Buffy’s mother’s death.
I remember JFK’s funeral, the first moon walk, and others already mentioned.
On a lighter note, I remember watching “The Electric Company” when I heard the L-Y song. A few moments later I realized, “OMG! That’s Tom Lehrer!”
Bets happy TV moment:
The gold medal hockey games of the Salt Lake City Olympics - not a dry eye in Canada. The womens victory was especially sweet.
Worst moments (for me) have already been mentioned, but the horrors of the Challenger explosion and September 11th will remain in my memory forever.
Not actually a good memory, but this is something from local Television in Louisville Kentucky: A young blonde TV host is interviewing a now quite old Col. Harlan Sanders (as in KY Fried Chicken founder) and everything is going fine until he begins relating this charming story. He was at an event when “this little darkie came up to me”. Yes! YES! he said that in the mid-70’s on LIVE television. I’ve never seen anyone go as white as that poor woman interviewing him. I never heard the rest of the story as I couldn’t believe he actually said that.
On a more humorus note, on the same program, Jay Silverheels (actor best known for the role of Tonto in the Lone Ranger films and TV show) told his favorite Lone Ranger Joke. The punch line in the joke is delivered by Tonto and hearing Jay Silverheels say it made it seem hysterically funny.
Just remembered another one. Watching Michelle Kwan skate to Fields of Gold the night after she won bronze in the 2002 Winter Olympics. She executed everything perfectly, and the look on her face seemed to be quite distinctly “Why couldn’t I do that LAST night?” I was in tears and still have a hard time listening to that song. I also recall coming very close to dropping an F-bomb when I saw her fall the night of the competition, which, IIRC, she later said was her last time skating, due to her own choice. Please correct if I’m wrong.
I also don’t think she’s ever won gold, which would make the moment even more emotional. Again, please correct.
I just thought of one more seen recently on the children’s show “Between the Lions”. It’s a sort of Sesame Street- level show, or slightly above, about words.
Apparently, they have (sex therapist) Dr. Ruth Westheimer as a constant guest, but I didn’t know that the first time I saw her show up… All I knew is I was sitting there watching and they proclaim the arrival of “Dr. Ruth Wordheimer” and a look-alike (so I thought at the time) comes out.
The part that really got to me is she was interviewing the word “hot” which showed up to complain “I’m hot all the time.”
Maybe you had to be there, but I just about died laughing. I wonder if my daughter will understand some day when I try to explain who that lady was.
From Northern Exposure:
The piano fling.
The puppet show.
Ruth-Ann dancing on her own grave. (Peg Philips, may she rest in peace.)
The old series Cupid, with Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, had so many astonishing moments in its short run, it was incredible.
And Firefly… I can’t believe they cancelled it.