I'll try to mitigate the onslaught of the endless "retro schedule" posts with another invitation to post some memories...
What are some of your favorite live TV "bloopers" that you have seen, either as they happened or on tape from another source? I'm speaking specifically of live material that was actually broadcast on-air -- not outtakes or never broadcast footage that was later circulated. (Or in-house contrived “gag reels.”) Here are just a few of my favorites:
1992 ORANGE BOWL (NBC) -- I just discovered this one, and it's on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5yeX42fKIpU. In the 4th quarter of the game, a short circuit knocked out NBC's production truck at the stadium. The video goes to snow, then to a static slide for a time. The video returns, somewhat noisy but watchable, but suddenly the announcers are calling the game in Japanese! Apparently, NBC grabbed whatever video feed was available, and it happened to be one for a Japanese TV network! Eventually they killed the audio on the broadcast link, and after the stereotypically canned "please stand by" announcement and superimposed text that blamed the problem on "atmospheric conditions" (well, it WAS raining...), the studio hosts (Paul Maguire and Gayle Gardner) try to improvise some play-by-play over the video. For some reason, at one point the video goes to an extremely LOOOONG overhead shot from the blimp (with the Orange Bowl looking like a postage stamp in the middle of the screen) and stays there for quite some time -- now they can't even comment on the action because they can't see it, and it leads to some humorous banter about how they're sorry, and would let viewers know what's happening, but they don't understand Japanese.
NBC NEWS UPDATE (circa mid-1970's) -- Saw this on a private blooper reel. The story is that Jane Pauley was originally scheduled to do the first couple of "Update" break-ins that followed "The Today Show," but someone forgot to note that Jane was somewhere in the Midwest that day doing a remote. So, the camera comes on (on an automatic timer) with the Update logo, intro, and music, and we see a perfectly framed shot of…..an empty chair! For about 10 seconds, the only audio we hear is of two unseen off-camera staffers carrying on a conversation about getting a part for a lawnmower(!). Suddenly, we hear the unmistakable baritone voice of Edwin Newman exclaim, “WE’RE ON-AIR!!” Apparently grabbing the first guy he saw (and clearly someone who was not normally on-camera), he sits him down in the chair instructing him sotto voce to just apologize for being late and read the first item. He starts to do so (looking scared as hell), then realizes he’s sitting on the mike! After some fumbling, he finally manages to get set, repeats his apology, and starts reading the first story. (My copy ends here, but my mother actually saw this happen live that morning. She tells me that he barely got partway through the first item before the automatic system broke to the commercial. At the ending tag, the “temp” again apologizes, explaining, “This was my first and, hopefully, my last news break!!”)
TODAY SHOW (again circa early-mid 70’s) -– Sorry if it seems like I’m picking on NBC. This was legendary newsman Frank Blair’s worst nightmare, but he handled it with aplomb and good humor. Starting the news, he read the first story and introduced a film report, which failed to come up. He gave a cursory apology and moved on to the second story, again leading into film. Which also didn’t come up. He again apologized and, with a slight smile, led into the 3rd item by saying “THIS story I think I can handle myself.” leading to some chuckles heard off-camera. He read through a couple of items and then, apparently assured that the films were now available, returned to the first story. And, of course, the film was nowhere to be found. After staring at the camera for a few seconds in anticipation, Blair’s shoulders slumped and he broke into a big smile, exclaiming, “You’re kidding!” He muttered that “Mother told me there would be days like this,” then the director can be heard saying something, to which he replies, “Well, where do you want me to go?” He is told to do the weather. “Do the weather,” Blair repeats resignedly. He glances back at the weather map and mutters, “…probably won’t get the weather, either.”
WCPX-TV (now WKMG) Orlando (circa early 90’s) -– Saw this one as it happened, and regret to this day that the VCR wasn’t running. The station had just inaugurated new state of the art production facilities, and were gearing up towards doing the first 6 pm newscast from their new set, teasing it all day long. In mid-afternoon, during a local break, suddenly a live shot comes on, showing a reporter holding a microphone and standing in front of the lake behind the station’s new building. Obviously unaware that he’s on-air, he just stands there, looking around, when all of a sudden, a voice rings out from off-camera, clear as a bell, exclaiming, “Oh, my God!! WE’RE F—KING LIVE!!!”
CBS EVENING NEWS (1980’s? 90’s?) -– This clip used to be up on TVParty – it may still be there. The broadcast begins with Rather saying “good evening,” but before he can get another word out, a gay activist (what he was doing on the set, I don’t know) suddenly jumps in front of the camera with a placard and starts shouting something about AIDS research funding. Rather cranes his neck in the background trying to be seen behind the interloper, and stutters, "Um….ah…we….we’re going to go to a commercial now….”
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS -– Gotta pick on NBC one last time. This one is almost impossible to appreciate in print, but it involved John Chancellor and David Brinkley. Chancellor was reading a news story about a government ban on a red dye that was shown to potentially cause cancer. One of the chief uses of this dye was for maraschino cherries, and unfortunately the word “maraschino” popped up 3 or 4 times in the story. And ol’ John just could NOT get his adenoids around the word, stumbling over it every single time. He then switched to Brinkley, who was to do a report about the Viking Mars spacecraft. But David, normally the epitome of professionalism and as unflappable as they come, commenced to have a major fit of the giggles after hearing Chancellor’s repeated malaprops, and found himself unable to get through the story. You have to see it to appreciate it. (And if I had a better connection, I would upload some of this stuff to YouTube sometime…)
What are some of your favorite live TV "bloopers" that you have seen, either as they happened or on tape from another source? I'm speaking specifically of live material that was actually broadcast on-air -- not outtakes or never broadcast footage that was later circulated. (Or in-house contrived “gag reels.”) Here are just a few of my favorites:
1992 ORANGE BOWL (NBC) -- I just discovered this one, and it's on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5yeX42fKIpU. In the 4th quarter of the game, a short circuit knocked out NBC's production truck at the stadium. The video goes to snow, then to a static slide for a time. The video returns, somewhat noisy but watchable, but suddenly the announcers are calling the game in Japanese! Apparently, NBC grabbed whatever video feed was available, and it happened to be one for a Japanese TV network! Eventually they killed the audio on the broadcast link, and after the stereotypically canned "please stand by" announcement and superimposed text that blamed the problem on "atmospheric conditions" (well, it WAS raining...), the studio hosts (Paul Maguire and Gayle Gardner) try to improvise some play-by-play over the video. For some reason, at one point the video goes to an extremely LOOOONG overhead shot from the blimp (with the Orange Bowl looking like a postage stamp in the middle of the screen) and stays there for quite some time -- now they can't even comment on the action because they can't see it, and it leads to some humorous banter about how they're sorry, and would let viewers know what's happening, but they don't understand Japanese.
NBC NEWS UPDATE (circa mid-1970's) -- Saw this on a private blooper reel. The story is that Jane Pauley was originally scheduled to do the first couple of "Update" break-ins that followed "The Today Show," but someone forgot to note that Jane was somewhere in the Midwest that day doing a remote. So, the camera comes on (on an automatic timer) with the Update logo, intro, and music, and we see a perfectly framed shot of…..an empty chair! For about 10 seconds, the only audio we hear is of two unseen off-camera staffers carrying on a conversation about getting a part for a lawnmower(!). Suddenly, we hear the unmistakable baritone voice of Edwin Newman exclaim, “WE’RE ON-AIR!!” Apparently grabbing the first guy he saw (and clearly someone who was not normally on-camera), he sits him down in the chair instructing him sotto voce to just apologize for being late and read the first item. He starts to do so (looking scared as hell), then realizes he’s sitting on the mike! After some fumbling, he finally manages to get set, repeats his apology, and starts reading the first story. (My copy ends here, but my mother actually saw this happen live that morning. She tells me that he barely got partway through the first item before the automatic system broke to the commercial. At the ending tag, the “temp” again apologizes, explaining, “This was my first and, hopefully, my last news break!!”)
TODAY SHOW (again circa early-mid 70’s) -– Sorry if it seems like I’m picking on NBC.
This was legendary newsman Frank Blair’s worst nightmare, but he handled it with aplomb and good humor. Starting the news, he read the first story and introduced a film report, which failed to come up. He gave a cursory apology and moved on to the second story, again leading into film. Which also didn’t come up. He again apologized and, with a slight smile, led into the 3rd item by saying “THIS story I think I can handle myself.” leading to some chuckles heard off-camera. He read through a couple of items and then, apparently assured that the films were now available, returned to the first story. And, of course, the film was nowhere to be found. After staring at the camera for a few seconds in anticipation, Blair’s shoulders slumped and he broke into a big smile, exclaiming, “You’re kidding!” He muttered that “Mother told me there would be days like this,” then the director can be heard saying something, to which he replies, “Well, where do you want me to go?” He is told to do the weather. “Do the weather,” Blair repeats resignedly. He glances back at the weather map and mutters, “…probably won’t get the weather, either.” WCPX-TV (now WKMG) Orlando (circa early 90’s) -– Saw this one as it happened, and regret to this day that the VCR wasn’t running. The station had just inaugurated new state of the art production facilities, and were gearing up towards doing the first 6 pm newscast from their new set, teasing it all day long. In mid-afternoon, during a local break, suddenly a live shot comes on, showing a reporter holding a microphone and standing in front of the lake behind the station’s new building. Obviously unaware that he’s on-air, he just stands there, looking around, when all of a sudden, a voice rings out from off-camera, clear as a bell, exclaiming, “Oh, my God!! WE’RE F—KING LIVE!!!”
CBS EVENING NEWS (1980’s? 90’s?) -– This clip used to be up on TVParty – it may still be there. The broadcast begins with Rather saying “good evening,” but before he can get another word out, a gay activist (what he was doing on the set, I don’t know) suddenly jumps in front of the camera with a placard and starts shouting something about AIDS research funding. Rather cranes his neck in the background trying to be seen behind the interloper, and stutters, "Um….ah…we….we’re going to go to a commercial now….”
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS -– Gotta pick on NBC one last time. This one is almost impossible to appreciate in print, but it involved John Chancellor and David Brinkley. Chancellor was reading a news story about a government ban on a red dye that was shown to potentially cause cancer. One of the chief uses of this dye was for maraschino cherries, and unfortunately the word “maraschino” popped up 3 or 4 times in the story. And ol’ John just could NOT get his adenoids around the word, stumbling over it every single time. He then switched to Brinkley, who was to do a report about the Viking Mars spacecraft. But David, normally the epitome of professionalism and as unflappable as they come, commenced to have a major fit of the giggles after hearing Chancellor’s repeated malaprops, and found himself unable to get through the story. You have to see it to appreciate it. (And if I had a better connection, I would upload some of this stuff to YouTube sometime…)
