# Things you saw on TV right as they happened. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2015, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534 "2015-02-13T03:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/21 "2015-02-13T13:15:58Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The 2011 Japanese tsunami’s - coverage began late (after 11pm here in TX), so I stayed up much of the night watching it unfold. I watched live coverage of the earthquake, and later tsunami. I turned the television on when my house was still shaking from said earthquake. In a similar vein, last year I turned the television on to live images of Mount Ontake erupting. I went outside to take a look at the mountain with my own eyes. I caught the OJ car “chase” live. That was a surreal bit of television. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/22 "2015-02-13T14:52:06Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > You mentioned Sinead O’connor ripping up the picture of the pope. I saw that live as it happened. She declared him “the real enemy” as she tore it up. This was my first thought. It was odd because I normally don’t watch Saturday Night Live. I was watching a Canadian politics channel many years ago - I don’t know why, I must have been channel-surfing and landed on it - and they were debating a bill. The Member of Parliament (or Provincial Parliament, I don’t remember if it was Federal or Provincial) kept referring to it as a “bully bill.” The next day this “bully bill” outburst was all over the news. I thought it was funny that I had actually watched that debate when I had never watched a debate before or since. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/23 "2015-02-13T15:02:23Z")
I worked in a large corporation and my work area was right next to an auditorium with state of the art video equipment. I went into the auditorium just after the second tower was hit. I saw the towers fall on a 35 foot screen. I’m also an old fart and saw the “one small step for man” on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/24 "2015-02-13T15:24:51Z")
I just remembered one I don’t think has been mentioned yet – John Glenn’s orbital flight in _Friendship 7._ I remember my parents tracing out the path on our globe with thumbtacks and thread. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/25 "2015-02-13T15:32:29Z")
Most of mine have been mentioned. How about Prince William and Kate’s wedding? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/26 "2015-02-13T15:35:20Z")
Some already mentioned – Virtually every Apollo launch and splashdown; “In the beginning…”; “one small step…” Nixon resigns. Berlin Wall celebrations OJ chase and verdict 2nd plane impact Wardrobe Malfunction Chilean miner rescue But also a more obscure one but quite impressive IMO – Televised address by George HW Bush Sept 27 1991: > [@](#): > > I am directing that all United States strategic bombers immediately stand down from their alert posture… ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/27 "2015-02-13T15:39:35Z")
Jonathan Edwards breaking the world record triple jump in 1995. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/28 "2015-02-13T15:39:44Z")
Sinead O’Connor ripping up the photo of Pope John Paul II (“Fight the real enemy!”) I will confess (red-faced) that I watched Geraldo Riviera’s infamous special about opening up [Al Capone’s vault](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone%27s_Vaults) and finding…absolutely nothing. Not really “live”, but I do remember seeing the “General Hospital” episode in which Luke & Laura got married - my sister was a fan at the time and she and her girlfriends bulldozed into the room, turned off the reruns of “Batman” I was watching and took over the TV set for the next hour. (I think I mostly remember it as the first time I ever saw Elizabeth Taylor in anything.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/29 "2015-02-13T21:16:26Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > I will confess (red-faced) that I watched Geraldo Riviera’s infamous special about opening up [Al Capone’s vault](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone%27s_Vaults) and finding…absolutely nothing. The one with the vault from _Titanic_ was even better! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/30 "2015-02-13T21:26:22Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > September 11, I was working nights and had just gotten home and turned on the TV. It was on “The Today Show,” about 30 seconds before the second plane struck. They were showing the smoking hole from the first impact and I remember thinking “Why is NBC showing a movie this early in the morning?” But then I recognized the voices as Katie Couric and Matt Lauer and right about then was the second plane and I realized it was real. It was 17:00 in Moscow. I had just finished working on a translation and had to get ready for an open house the language school where I taught was giving that night. I was about to turn off the radio when the BBC World Service announced “We now switch you to New York, where something is happening at the World Trade Center.” I went into the living room and turned on the TV just in time to see the videotape of the second impact on CNN. I was already on the phone with my ex and said “Oh, God! That was no accident, that was no small plane! That was a kamikaze attack!” ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/31 "2015-02-13T21:28:10Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > –I was watching the basketball game where Kevin Ware broke his leg. Similarly, I just happened to turn to the South Carolina football game when Marcus Lattimore suffered his horrific leg injury. I remember thinking that I probably just saw that dude’s career end, and that pretty much ended up being the case. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/32 "2015-02-13T21:35:49Z")
For a couple of years, I did the news for an English-language radio station in Moscow. I learned about all breaking stories either as they came over the wire or popped up on CNN. I was the one who broke both the Oklahoma bombing story and the OJ verdict for those who were listening at the time. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/33 "2015-02-13T21:42:35Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I just remembered one I don’t think has been mentioned yet – John Glenn’s orbital flight in _Friendship 7._ I remember watching one of the Mercury launches; I think it was Glenn’s, because I’m pretty sure the rocket was an Atlas and not a Redstone. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/34 "2015-02-13T21:48:13Z")
I was not yet 14 when I saw Nixon resign, live. That was just surreal. (I swear [Louis CK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-btTHxEMTw) looks and acts so much like my brother it’s bizarre! Bro has a bit more hair though.) [The moon landing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4). I’m not sure some of our younger Dopers are cognizant of what a huge freaking deal that was then. The first broadcast of [MTV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1-DHI_-K1w). God that channel was great back then! I saw both [Secretariat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V18ui3Rtjz4) win the greatest horse race in all of history, and [Ruffian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsi_ixx4pAY) in the worst horse racing disaster in history. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/35 "2015-02-13T21:50:28Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > September 11, I was working nights and had just gotten home and turned on the TV. It was on “The Today Show,” about 30 seconds before the second plane struck. They were showing the smoking hole from the first impact and I remember thinking “Why is NBC showing a movie this early in the morning?” But then I recognized the voices as Katie Couric and Matt Lauer and right about then was the second plane and I realized it was real. > . Not on TV, but I was listening to a talk station on the radio while driving to work. They announced a fire in the WTC, and that they could see the smoke from the studio. Then word came in that a plane had crashed into the building. Everyone assumed that it was a small private plane that had gone off course, though one newscaster who was a pilot seemed to think that it was something bigger. When they received the news that it was a commercial airliner, and then the second plane hit, panic set in as they realized it was not an accident. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/36 "2015-02-13T21:52:49Z")
[Miracle on Ice](https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A86.JyC1cd5U9SsAkDknnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTB0c2puYm1xBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1lIUzAwM18x?p=Miracle+on+Ice&tnr=21&vid=09BA6AB281343CB9B46809BA6AB281343CB9B468&l=117&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DUN.608010568910769606%26pid%3D15.1&sigi=11rag59dn&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqYscemhnf88&sigr=11bka741d&tt=b&tit=Final+Minute+of+the+%26quot%3BMiracle+on+Ice%26quot%3B&sigt=11erla0ik&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3DMiracle%2Bon%2BIce%26ei%3DUTF-8%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla&sigb=12qjiq3oe&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001) ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/37 "2015-02-13T21:53:23Z")
The 1989 World Series Earthquake game. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/38 "2015-02-13T22:36:17Z")
Sinead OConner Pope thing Collapse of the WTC OJ bronco chase OJ trial Coverage of OKC bombing Waco Rodney King Riots WTO riots in Seattle Labor Day riots in Seattle Mary Lou Retton’s winning performances Clinton playing Sax on Arsenio MTV’s first Rock the Vote interview panels with Presidential candidates Nipplegate Britney and Madonna’s kiss Rage Against the Machine’s weird protest at the MTV music awards Nirvana playing the live perf where Krist Novoselec clocked himself with his Bass Announcement of Kurt Cobain’s suicide ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/39 "2015-02-14T02:52:55Z")
Wasn’t alive for JFK (or Oswald), wasn’t old enough for Apollo 11 (kinda remember 17), and unfortunately I worked third shift my whole life so I slept thru Challenger, 9/11, and Columbia. Actually I’m sorta glad I wasn’t awake to see 9/11 happen… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/40 "2015-02-14T03:25:43Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [ul] > [li]Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up.[/li] > [/ul] Did you catch it on CNN live or watch the replay really soon after? I watched it not-quite-live, but within minutes of it happening. > [@Doyle](#): > > The 1989 World Series Earthquake game. Me too! I also remember the moment they announced the name of the Oklahoma City bomber. I can pinpoint the exact moment I first heard the name Timothy McVeigh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534.md?page=3)