# Worst technical screwup you've seen on TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674 "2012-01-16T07:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/61 "2012-01-18T04:47:53Z")
The [Heidi Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game) was the first thing that came to mind. You can’t IMAGINE who irritated my father was. Gosh… the outrage went on for days. Mind you, my dad was young at the time and TV was his passion. We were the ones who ha d the first color one as an example. Years later, my brother and I could get him to laugh talking about it. But… it was YEARS later. ETA: Just linked to Wiki. WTF? “Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.” Do we have a thread for this yet? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/62 "2012-01-18T04:58:15Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I meant the Queen of Australia apologizing to the Queen of Great Britain. > [@Cunctator](#): > > Why? I’m sure the Queen and her mother could have had a normal, two-way conversation. They’d probably both have though it vastly amusing. > > Or are you thinking that the Queen and the Queen Mother were the same person? Well the Queen of Australia and the Queen of the United Kingdon the same person are. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/63 "2012-01-18T05:01:27Z")
> [@sco3tt](#): > > A similar incident, also in the 80s, on a different channel 5 (KCTV in Kansas City) during one of those five-second “Coming up at ten” newsbreaks they run in primetime: The shot opened on the newsdesk where the male anchor (Wendall Anschutz possibly?) just sat silently smiling, alone at the newsdesk. A second or two later the female anchor (Anne Peterson or Lili Bliss, for you KC folks keeping score) arose in her chair, coming up from under the desk as though she had just bent down to retrieve a lost pen. She looked at the camera like a deer in the headlights and exclaimed “Excuse me!” as the male anchor burst into laughter. It looked for all the world like she had just finished, uh, servicing her co-worker, and the moment was not lost on him. I don’t think they managed to tease a single story before the newsbreak ended. Live local news promos are a rich source for disaster. One of the best is the famous WNBC [Salty Sue](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAMDhVT50I) incident. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/64 "2012-01-18T05:04:34Z")
> [@Saint Cad](#): > > I meant the Queen of Australia apologizing to the Queen of Great Britain. Ah, I see. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > Well the Queen of Australia and the Queen of the United Kingdon the same person are. Indeed they are. But I just assumed that any apology (whoever ended up making it) would be made to the Queen Mother, as it was her death that was prematurely announced. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/65 "2012-01-18T05:07:33Z")
[MSNBC producer in a blue frenzy of profanity, on-air](http://youtu.be/W9M3BP8uaWA). Speaking of MSNBC, [Joe Scarborough drops the f-bomb](http://youtu.be/3SJUwn6eSNo). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/66 "2012-01-18T05:20:36Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The [Heidi Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game) was the first thing that came to mind. As a football fan, I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, but–my sister and I, both children at the time, were anxiously awaiting the showing of Heidi and hoping that football would not delay or cancel it. We were glad when the football was shut down so the Heidi show came on; and we enjoyed the Heidi show, as I recall. Then, of course, new rules came in, such that football got priority over everything. I didn’t really care, but my sister (who hated football to begin with) was constantly upset that football got priority over what was scheduled. Even if “her” show came on in full after football, it interfered with our parents’ mandated bedtime; and so, she would be angry at football, since it delayed what she wanted to see, and an immovable bedtime meant that she couldn’t see all of it. I’ll admit that she did get her own back. If, say, a figure skating competition was on at the same time as, say, the Super Bowl, Mom made sure that my sister got to see figure skating on our TV, just so my sister would shut up and stop complaining. My Dad and I would have to go elsewhere to watch the Super Bowl game. (Usually a neighbour’s, as I recall.) ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/67 "2012-01-18T05:45:04Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I was watching late night TV years ago, and they showed the same car commercial over a dozen times in a row. The first time it’s a commercial. > The second time it’s peculiar. > The third time it’s an amusing glitch. > The fourth time you’re wondering if it’s going to do it a fifth time. > The fifth time you can’t believe they did it a fifth time. > The sixth time you spend trying to find the TV station listing in the Yellow Pages, even though it’s midnight and no one’s likely to answer the phone at this hour. > The seventh time you watch the commercial as you’re waiting for the TV station recorded message to end, eagerly hoping someone will pick up. > The eighth time you’re trying to count how many times you’ve actually seen the commercial. > The ninth time you don’t want to duck to the bathroom, as the movie obviously has to start when it’s over. > The tenth time you’re latched onto the TV, screaming, “_WHERE’S MY MOVIE!!!_” > After that it’s all just a blur. Not technically a technical screw up, in 1989. 98 Rock in Tampa played, without interruption or explanation, Stairway to Heaven for 24 hours straight. When they finally finished they announced that they were becoming an all Led Zeppelin station. This lasted a couple of weeks. It was one of the oddest things I’ve ever experienced. Anyway, imagine the blur after 20 or so hours of Stairway to Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/68 "2012-01-18T06:36:14Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Not technically a technical screw up, in 1989. 98 Rock in Tampa played, without interruption or explanation, Stairway to Heaven for 24 hours straight. > > When they finally finished they announced that they were becoming an all Led Zeppelin station. This lasted a couple of weeks. It was one of the oddest things I’ve ever experienced. > > Anyway, imagine the blur after 20 or so hours of Stairway to Heaven. Probably the station was undergoing a change of ownership and had shut down. They have to keep broadcasting to maintain their license, so stations in this situation often just put something on repeat and fire everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/69 "2012-01-18T07:00:03Z")
Super Bowl of 2009, the Arizona Cardinals were playing and in the last few minutes of the game, a Cox cable supervisor broadcast a snippet of a porn movie. And they thought Janet Jackson’s nipple slip was bad! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/70 "2012-01-18T07:15:53Z")
About 10 years ago, a classic rock station I listened to in San Diego accidentally played AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” twice in a row. The DJ acknowledged the screwup on the air afterward. On a few occasions, i’ve heard stations accidentally start playing two songs at once, or start a song while the commercials are still playing. I remember an episode of SNL from around the same time where one of the actors (Daryl Hammond, maybe?) accidentally called Tina Fey by her real name during a sketch instead of by her character’s name. Fey became angry, declared “Lorne was right, I shouldn’t be in sketches!”, and stormed off the stage. The sketch continued without her. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/71 "2012-01-18T08:12:17Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > British TV channel ITV, which is one of the country’s biggest network’s, ran a big football (soccer) game. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting example of the sport and the game had only one goal. Of course, the two 45 minute halves are normally shown without commercial interruptions but in this game an ITV transmission operator accidentally cut to the commercial break mid-game. The break lasted only 20 or 30 seconds before the operator took the live feed back. Guess which one incident this interruption managed to affect? > > There was genuine fury from fans up and down the country. The game was a big local derby and the goal was dramatically 2 mins from the end. If it is [this incident](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/world-cup-2010/7823692/Viewers-miss-opening-England-goal-after-ITV-shows-commercial.html) you are thinking of then it was worse than that. I’d totally forgotten about it and I saw it live (I had been in the UK for my birthday). Basically, ITV had touted the last World Cup as the big one for HD. Loads of people bought HD sets for it. HD was everywhere. HD HD HD HD HD. Everyone was utterly hyped. England’s first game was against the US. Half the nation sat down to watch it, many with their new HD sets. And then ITV HD (and only ITV HD) cut to commercial after three minutes, meaning everyone watching on ITV HD missed England’s first goal of the 2010 World Cup. Let’s just say there was some shit slinging in the press. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/72 "2012-01-18T08:14:53Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Missed the edit window in finding the clip: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXp9wPgZVOM&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXp9wPgZVOM&feature=youtube_gdata_player) > > The goal was actually 2 mins from the end of extra time in a cup game so there had been 178 goalless minutes before that. Very dramatic finish, ruined by the broadcaster after a very long watch! Ah, I see it wasn’t the one I was talking about. I didn’t think about searching for mine on YouTube: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ehaxXYZFTvs/hqdefault.jpg "England's first World Cup Goal - as broadcast by ITV HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehaxXYZFTvs) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/73 "2012-01-18T08:19:10Z")
“We have rather been invaded by some people” (Sue Lawley vs Lesbians) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JKHOOFwkr4) Edit: This one appears to be behind the scenes with studio chatter: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xuXjebz91HQ/hqdefault.jpg "Six O'Clock News - Lesbians Protest Section 28 (with gallery talkback)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuXjebz91HQ) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/74 "2012-01-18T08:31:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I remember an episode of SNL from around the same time where one of the actors (Daryl Hammond, maybe?) accidentally called Tina Fey by her real name during a sketch instead of by her character’s name. Fey became angry, declared “Lorne was right, I shouldn’t be in sketches!”, and stormed off the stage. The sketch continued without her. I’m pretty sure that was part of the sketch. If it wasn’t, Lorne would have fired her on the spot ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/75 "2012-01-18T09:13:17Z")
Indeed. A transcript of the sketch is [here](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/01/01nnewscasters.phtml). ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/76 "2012-01-18T09:35:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > About 10 years ago, a classic rock station I listened to in San Diego accidentally played AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” twice in a row. The DJ acknowledged the screwup on the air afterward. On a few occasions, i’ve heard stations accidentally start playing two songs at once, or start a song while the commercials are still playing. > . This reminded me of this, which I heard in my university hall of residence with my roommate and I just staring at each other. BBC Radio 1 accidentally played the uncensored version of “Killing in the name” by Rage Against the Machine in the top 40 run down, which occurs in the middle of a sunday afternoon. https://www.youtube.com/embed/qLqfg9hFjsE?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/77 "2012-01-18T13:45:58Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > The [Heidi Bowl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game) was the first thing that came to mind. > You can’t IMAGINE who irritated my father was. > Gosh… the outrage went on for days. > Mind you, my dad was young at the time and TV was his passion. > We were the ones who ha d the first color one as an example. > > Years later, my brother and I could get him to laugh talking about it. > > But… it was YEARS later. > … Was that a technical glitch, or did you skip post #9 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/78 "2012-01-18T13:57:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Well the Queen of Australia and the Queen of the United Kingdon the same person are. Hence my comment that it wold be a one-sided conversation. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/79 "2012-01-19T00:51:43Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I remember a wrestling program (I want to say one of the WWF ones) that aired the wrong promo for an upcoming event. There was a big pay per view special that night, and the promo was for the next pay per view, and gave away some of the results for that nights matches. This was back when kayfabe was a really big deal. Reminds me of the time WCW accidentally ran the wrong clips of Mean Gene talking about upcoming events on an episode of WCW Sat. Night that gave away the winner of the title unification match between WCW World Champion Rick Flair and WCW (international) World Champion Sting. They clips were clearly meant to run the week after the match, not before, but this is back when they taped about 3 months worth of shows in one weekend and someone dun goofed. > [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > In 1996, the WWF had a PPV during a wild storm that knocked out power to the arena. The tv feed also died and the rest of the matches took place in the dark. They redid the missed matches a couple of days later. In Your House: Beware of Dog. They actually restored power in enough time to go through with the main event, so you had the opening bout, a promo for the next bout, lights out for about an hour, then the main event. For the make-good a few nights later they replayed the two aired matches, then redid the other two. Turned out to be a pretty good deal, since they both refunded the fee for the original airing, and then didn’t charge at all for the make-good. Though I hear a few cable systems were assholes and didn’t go along with the WWF in refunding/freebieing the shows. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674/80 "2012-01-19T05:38:50Z")
I was watching Dennis Miller’s late night show 20-some years ago and they came back from commercial and Dennis was chatting with the crew members for a good 2 or three minutes. He turns to his producer and says “What the hell, Marty. Are we on fuckin’ vacation here?” Marty: “You’re on the air.” A friend’s father once told me about a local PBS station who would frequently rerun a favorite old movie, some gangster-type thing where at one point the gangsters are discussing splitting up their ill-gotten gains, with someone getting “the lion’ share of it”. Apparently the tape had broken and been re-spliced at that part so many times the line actually became “The lion’s shit.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-technical-screwup-youve-seen-on-tv/609674.md?page=5)