# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loch\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Loch\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loch_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/41 "2015-02-14T03:27:09Z")
Budd Dwyer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.\_Budd\_Dwyerhttp://](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyerhttp://) committing suicide on the air. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/42 "2015-02-14T03:48:52Z")
I live about a mile south from where the three girls in Cleveland were held captive for years. When they were freed, there was a press conference outside the hospital that they were taken to. The street that I live on runs right into that hospital. As I was watching the press conference live on television, I could look out my window, and crane my neck to see the television trucks that were doing the live broadcast of the press conference. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/43 "2015-02-14T04:02:27Z")
The cops looking for the Boston marathon bomber. I hope he rot in HELL! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/44 "2015-02-14T04:12:35Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > [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) Only if you were in Canada or the USSR. It wasn’t broadcast live in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/45 "2015-02-14T04:19:57Z")
I’ve seen many of the things already mentioned but one that has really stuck with me hasn’t been commented on – or at least, I haven’t seen it, and my apologies if it was already noted. I couldn’t sleep on the night the earthquake happened in Japan, got up late and flipped on the news. Someone was filming the tsunami as it came ashore. It swallowed everything in its path. It just went on and on and on and on. An awful feeling, to understand how many people died horrifically as I watched. ---
**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 14, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/46 "2015-02-14T04:26:33Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Only if you were in Canada or the USSR. It wasn’t broadcast live in the US. It wasn’t?!? :eek: I would swear in court I watched it live, just I like watched the USSR “win” the gold medal in basketball back in '72. ---
**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 14, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/47 "2015-02-14T04:43:29Z")
Just thought of one - I remember being on a date and sitting in a cocktail bar when Clinton came on the TV and confessed that he’d had sex with Monica Lewinski. The TV was on mute and we watched Clinton make his confession while reading the closed captioning. The entire bar stopped everything they were doing at that moment and people were gasping in shock. Absolutely NOBODY seemed to think he would ever admit it. ---
**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, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/48 "2015-02-14T04:53:36Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Only if you were in Canada or the USSR. It wasn’t broadcast live in the US. On CBC? People in Michigan get that channel and might have seen it live. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/49 "2015-02-14T05:23:25Z")
Speaking of hockey, I watched Darryl Sittler (of the Toronto Maple Leafs) set the record for the most points (10) in an NHL game back in 1976. Yeah, not too momentous to most, but the record still stands and frankly I can’t imagine it being broken. Have a look [here.](http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=154867) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/50 "2015-02-14T05:43:11Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > On CBC? People in Michigan get that channel and might have seen it live. CTV. Buffalo, Detroit, and Seattle are about the only major Metro areas in the US that could have seen it (but I don’t know what their over-the-air coverage was like). ABC in the US showed it starting a couple of hours after it ended. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/51 "2015-02-14T06:04:37Z")
I watched Charles Rocket throw away his career on Saturday Night Live (“sure wish I knew who the fuck did it”). ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/52 "2015-02-14T08:09:27Z")
I saw Tommy Cooper die mid-act. As I remember it, he fell forward in a perfect faceplant that all the audience thought was part of the act, and it was several seconds before anyone realized anything was wrong and the curtain fell. It was on English commercial TV (not BBC) and there was then a sudden cut to a commercial break. ---
**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 14, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/53 "2015-02-14T17:00:30Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > I saw Tommy Cooper die mid-act. As I remember it, he fell forward in a perfect faceplant that all the audience thought was part of the act, and it was several seconds before anyone realized anything was wrong and the curtain fell. It was on English commercial TV (not BBC) and there was then a sudden cut to a commercial break. That reminds me - I remember Marie Osmond [faint](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMfY1qdmoVg) on “Dancing with the Stars.” I’ve heard that there’s some controversy that it may have been staged, but it sure looked real enough to me. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534/54 "2015-02-14T17:27:24Z")
I missed Sue Simmon’s "What the FUCK are you doing?’ On WNBC’s local NY news but did catch Ernie Anastos’ “Keep fucking that chicken!” on the Fox local news. Which is weird because I love Sue and hate the local Fox news. Keeping with the theme, I saw Charlie Rocket say, “I’d like to know who the fuck shot me.” at the end of a Saturday Night Live show. I did not want to watch that stupid Bronco chase. I wanted to watch the Knicks playoff game. The whole thing reminded me of the “I’ll shoot the nigger!” scene in Blazing Saddles. Was watching the concert when Kanye West said George Bush doesn’t care about black people. I, too, saw Janet’s nipple but didn’t realize I was looking at Janet’s nipple because of all the decoration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-saw-on-tv-right-as-they-happened/712534.md?page=2)