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List: TV's Most Memorable Moments

BD Sullivan said:
With regard to the Dwyer suicide, it got plenty of network coverage--though they didn't break in to mention it. The combination of actually having video and the very public way he did it made it a huge news story.
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Same with Christine Chubbuck and her live 1974 suicide on local Sarasota, Florida television. It was seen by a small handful of viewers BUT it made national news.

Someone earlier mentioned the death of Whitney Houston. I don't get it either. Her death wasn't much of a shocker to many folks now Michael Jackson, Elvis, John Lennon and many others were shocking.
 
Personally, while 9/11 has scared me the most, it was the space shuttle exploding that really upset me. I was in the school library doing a project during 9/11 and at first i didn't understand what the TV was talking about, but when the second plane hit i dropped what i was doing.
 
One rule of thumb is if the networks were still breaking into shows or having specials about the story three days later (or longer) to report updates, it qualifies. BTW, Katrina should be on the list
 
I remember that either Katrina was about or was landing at the time that the Little League World Series title game was going on, so ABC switched the game to ESPN2. Under normal times, ABC probably would have dumped their network news in the East and Midwest, but given there was a possibility of a category 5 hurricane, ABC felt they had to go to news.

The very next week, ABC had a similar situation come up, when the Chief Justice died during the secondary NCAA game, Texas A&M at Clemson, which was about to end. ABC did a bulletin, and still had time to go back to the game before it ended. I was watching the backhaul feed on both so didn't see the initial coverage.
 
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Mark Giardina said:
Out of the 100 TV Guide list I am surprised that the final two episodes of The Fugitive didn't rate a mention.

From 1967 until it was either the "Who Shot JR Episode on Dallas, or the final episode of M.A.S.H., The Fugitive two-part finale held the record for the largest TV audience. That, and besides I think it was a damn good show.

It is noted that the list was pre 9-11
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Yes the list from TV Guide was from the mid 90's and that alone is a big deal since few had the internet at the time. I can only imagine what that list would be like today. Sure 9/11 ad Katrina would be on the list as is big event such as the Aurora, Colorado movie theater massacre however that had been "renamed" here in Denver by too many anyway "the murder of Jessica Ghawi". Her parents for a time had a bad habit of talking about her death and ONLY her death on the talk show circuit and to them the other victims didn't have much of life unlike Jessica. I don't buy that but what can one do ?? If I were one of the other victims I would be frankly well pissed !! Anyway I would imagine that viral videos online would be on that list. I can see it now..."a giant rat found in New York City eating pizza" or "a little boy finding an unopened pack of cigarettes from the 60's while camping" would rank up there along side 9/11 and Katrina. ..and so it goes !!!
 
The 2000 election has to be on the list. CBS in fact, when the results were being made official, was showing the end of the Broncos-Seahawks game, so rather than upset football fans, they did a split screen. Once the results were announced, the game went back to full screen and then afterwards there was much more complete wrap up(60 Minutes was preempted.)
 
I wonder besides the OJ Chase and the 2000 election results, have the networks ever had to split the screen between a sporting event and breaking news?
 
In 1991, the Senate hearings that eventually confirmed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court were very controversial. due to Anita Hill's testimony alleging sexual misconduct. She testified on a night when CBS was covering a baseball playoff game. The network put both on split screen, alternating the audio feed from each location. This basically ticked off everybody, since neither event was being covered properly. ABC and NBC had no problems junking their prime-time lineup for full coverage of the hearings.
 
The very next day, ABC preempted part of the Penn State-Miami college football game for coverage of the hearings. I ended up watching the backhaul feed of that game, because i didn't want to miss any of it.
 
Baby Jessica is one i remember vividly. I was watching Rags to Riches on NBC, and they cut in to show her being pulled out of the well. When the firefighters brought her out, i started crying. That image of her being pulled out of the well is a moment i will never forget for the rest of my life. The 1989 SF earthquake during the World Series on ABC is another one, was well as 9/11. 9/11 traumatized me more than the SF earthquake, because the second attack was live on TV. I also saw Dale Earnhardt die live during the Daytona 500 on FOX, and then Mike Helton's announcement on FOX News that night.
 
Mark Giardina said:
Out of the 100 TV Guide list I am surprised that the final two episodes of The Fugitive didn't rate a mention.

From 1967 until it was either the "Who Shot JR Episode on Dallas, or the final episode of M.A.S.H., The Fugitive two-part finale held the record for the largest TV audience. That, and besides I think it was a damn good show.

It is noted that the list was pre 9-11
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The final episode of The Fugitive was a HUGE TV event, and had the highest rating up to that point in TV history. It was aired just under 50 years ago...that's a loooonnng time ago. Even in the late 90s, it was 30 years prior. Shows like I Love Lucy stay in the collective memory because they're re-broadcast so often. I'm 65, and I only know Lucy from reruns - I was too young for the original broadcasts. 40-something people who remember The Fugitive probably think of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

If you asked millenials who the top rock bands of all time were, I doubt the Beatles or Stones would be on the list. Damn young 'uns! A travesty, I tell you!!
 
LKellerIII said:
The final episode of The Fugitive was a HUGE TV event, and had the highest rating up to that point in TV history. It was aired just under 50 years ago...that's a loooonnng time ago. Even in the late 90s, it was 30 years prior. Shows like I Love Lucy stay in the collective memory because they're re-broadcast so often. I'm 65, and I only know Lucy from reruns - I was too young for the original broadcasts. 40-something people who remember The Fugitive probably think of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

If you asked millenials who the top rock bands of all time were, I doubt the Beatles or Stones would be on the list. Damn young 'uns! A travesty, I tell you!!
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The last two episode(s) of The Fugitive (since it was a two-parter) were unique in that ABC went through a summer of reruns AND THEN showed the two episodes on 8/22 and 8/29/67. Obviously, ratings month wasn't the be-all it is now--otherwise, the eps would have been shown in May 1967. Richard Anderson played Leonard Taft, Kimble's brother-in-law in those eps--the third different actor to play that character: James B. Sikking played him in the first season and Lin McCarthy in Season Three.

After the show, Joey Bishop talked to David Janssen by phone (he was filming The Green Berets in Georgia), with Janssen joking that Kimble killed his wife "because she talked too much."
 
LKellerIII said:
The final episode of The Fugitive was a HUGE TV event, and had the highest rating up to that point in TV history. It was aired just under 50 years ago...that's a loooonnng time ago. Even in the late 90s, it was 30 years prior. Shows like I Love Lucy stay in the collective memory because they're re-broadcast so often. I'm 65, and I only know Lucy from reruns - I was too young for the original broadcasts. 40-something people who remember The Fugitive probably think of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
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When the Fugitive movie with Harrison Ford came out in 1993(?) NBC showed the first episode and the 2 part final episode of the TV series over 3 nights. That was the first and only time I ever got to see it until it showed up in reruns on Me TV.
 
Ironically, A&E took it off right about the time the 1993 movie opened--after it had been on since January 1990.

The NBC showings took place on August 18, 19 and 21, 1993 (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday night) all at 10 p.m. ET.
 
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I didn't have cable at that time other than seeing it at my brother's' house occasionally, so I didn't know The Fugitive was on A&E. I couldn't remember the exact dates for when NBC showed it other than I thought it was the Summer of 1993. Thanks for the info.
 
The dramatic opening title of The Fugitive was narrated by William Conrad, who later became famous as Cannon and as The "Fatman" in Jake and the Fatman.

IIRC, both The Fugitive and Cannon were Quinn Martin productions.
 
LKellerIII said:
The dramatic opening title of The Fugitive was narrated by William Conrad, who later became famous as Cannon and as The "Fatman" in Jake and the Fatman.

IIRC, both The Fugitive and Cannon were Quinn Martin productions.
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Conrad also played Matt Dillon--on the radio version of Gunsmoke. His less-than-sculpted figure didn't translate to a big hero on TV, so James Arness got the job for 20 years. Of course, CBS tried to get John Wayne, who rejected the idea but agreed to introduce the first episode.
 
Wayne also suggested Arness(the two had worked together previously), and suggested doing the intro for the first episode, to make up for declining to star in the show.
 
The main difference was that, due to Conrad's age and girth, Cannon's fistfights with the bad guys didn't last as long (or damage as much furniture) as Mannix's 'brawls of the week'. 'Cannon' made up for it with car chases, and 'trading paint' with the baddies often trying to force him off winding mountain roads.
 
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