Fox Won't Televise Canyon Jump Where Knievel Failed

KTVB ^

[nickcarraway]

Fox Broadcasting officials say they will not televise two daredevils' efforts to jump southern Idaho's Snake River Canyon where Evel Knievel failed 40 years ago.

A spokeswoman told The Times-News Wednesday that the television network opted out because of budget concerns and not enough production time.

Texas motorcycle daredevil "Big Ed" Beckley and Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun say they will

[Mastador1]

We have a possibility of a new reality show, The Two Dead Ed's Show!

[GreenHornet]

As I recall, Knievel’s stunt, billed as an attempt to jump the canyon on a motorcycle, was in reality, an attempt to shoot Knievel across the canyon on what was basically a rocket.

[Kirkwood]

Well, how often do you see that? I was disappointed he didn’t try again.

[Beowulf9]

I think they are right not to televise this.

[SamAdams76]

The Evil Kneivel attempt on September 8, 1974 galvanized the entire country. I remember that day very well even though I was only about 11 years old. The TV stations wouldn't show it because it had an exclusive on "closed-circuit TV" (I still don't know what that means).

At the time of the jump, the nation literally ground to a halt. In Times Square, people stopped and gazed at the news ticker to see what the results were. Many people did not show up at church that morning.

I was listening to a Top 40 radio station at the time because they promised to break-in and let their listeners know how Evil fared. Right after the Bo Donaldson song "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" played, the DJ breathlessly announced that the jump had failed. Then he tossed "Nothing From Nothing" by Billy Preston on the turntable. My friends and I thought he was killed in the attempt and it wasn't until later that night that we found out he was alive. This was way before the Internet and other ways of finding things out. Back then, you pretty much had to wait for the 6 o'clock news to know anything.

It was also the day, for history buffs, that our new president Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Ford figured that nobody would notice because of all the attention being paid to Evil Kneivel.

For some reason, when I was younger, I often got Evil Kneivel confused with Elvis Presley.

[dfwgator]

I remember that time well, it was all anyone talked about in the days leading up to it.

[M Kehoe]

A JATO motorcycle with a parachute. Great theatre.

5.56mm

[21twelve]

We were just talking about Evil Knieval in a class with kids and adults. The kids of course had no idea who he was. And the interesting point of how EVERYONE was paying attention to the jump was brought up - and how nowadays a jump probably won’t be a big deal. We have moved on in what we find entertaining.

And also was trying to figure out what would be something that EVERYONE would watch again. All I could come up with was things like 9/11, Boston Bombing, a school shooting, etc. Sad.

I broke my first bike with the stingray handle bars doing a jump like Evil Knieval. Well, sort-of like Evil Knieval - we would get 4 feet airborne I bet!

[nascarnation]

Evel was an interesting guy for sure.
An amazing promoter, serial philanderer, limitless boozer, and all-around rascal.

In a different world he could have been Bill Clinton....

[MinuteGal]

I'd have more respect if Fox had released a statement saying that the network decided not to pander to the Lions vs. Gladiators mentality of some viewers in its audience.

Show the video of the "great theater" after it's over with.

Some other network, maybe HBO, will pick it up, anyhow, and there'll be thousands of on-the-spot observers clicking away for the later benefit of the Indy-hoping-for-a-crash crowd.

Leni

[Neidermeyer]

Knievel didn't want to do the jump ,,he wasn't pulling in enough money to do it properly ... everything was "rigged" and barely functional... but if he didn't do it he wouldn't have been able to control the biker crowd that was already getting out of control.

Can this jump be made? SURE ... and it would have been easy using the tech of the time... look up "Turbonique" NASA guys that had a side business making all kinds of rocket powered stuff for drag racing ,, a 2000 hp engine was cheap... What Knievel came up with was crap and he was lucky he didn't drown.... but then he never bothered with real engineering ,, he was a "run what you brung" kind of guy who would guess at the details.

A go-cart with a small Turbonique rocket SPANKING TV Tommy Ivo's dragster...

[nascarnation]

I’m sure if it’s not carried on tv it will be live streamed on the net.

[ozzymandus]

I watched it at the time, Evil pretty much blew it. I won $10 from a friend who bet he’d be killed.

[PJ-Comix]

The parachute deployed too early. Maybe that was intentional.

[eartrumpet]

My dad and I had gone fishing that day and were pulling in the driveway when the radio announced he had gone into the canyon and his fate wasn't known. My dad wasn't given to cussing but I still remember he said, "That poor sumbitch."

Here is another event that happened that day to go with Evel and Ford...

On September 8, 1974, a Boeing 707-331B (tail number N8734) operating as TWA Flight 841 took off from Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv en route to JFK International Airport, New York City. It was scheduled to land in Athens, followed by Rome, and then proceed to New York. After stopping for 68 minutes in Athens, it departed for Rome. About 30 minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into the Ionian Sea. The out of control aircraft was observed by crew on the flight deck of Pan Am 110. They watched the aircraft execute a steep climb, the separation of an engine from the wing, and the death spiral. All 79 passengers and nine crew members were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the plane was destroyed by a bomb hidden in the cargo hold, which caused structural failure resulting in uncontrollable flight. This was the first known instance of a young Arab boarding an American plane in a suicide mission.[1]

[McGruff]

With the Pay Per View capabilities of cable tv I’d bet alot of people would pay to watch.

[McGruff]

[McGruff]

[McGruff]