TV Guide and TV Land Join Forces To Count Down The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments(List included)

PR Newswire ^ | 12/01/05

[Semper Paratus]

$3000? That's it? Was that supposed to be the joke?

Of course not! he also offered to put them up at a hotel in upper Harlem.

[Semper Paratus]

Bobby Kennedy was shot live on TV too

Not quite. He had just finished his victory speech after winning the California Primary and was exiting the hotle through the kitchen. I don't believe he was followed live but given that it happened a minute after speech the cameras came in.

I remember watching the speech and turning off the TV as soon as it was finished as I had an early wake-up.

[dfwgator]

Speaking of Newhart, a few years back he made a surprise guest appearance on MAD TV, and proceeded to do one of the funniest skits I had seen in years. He played a "Five-Minute psychiatrist."

Some neurotic women was going on how she always lived in fear of being buried alive.

So Newhart goes, "OK are you ready to hear the words that are going to change your life? Here it is...STOP IT!!!!"


And it goes on for the next few minutes, but I just thought it was so dead-on funny.

[dfwgator]

Scanning the list quickly, I didn't see Sammy Davis Jr's kiss to Archie Bunker.

"Mr Davis do you take cream and sugar in your eye?"

[babaloo]

The "Dean Scream" was so loud I heard it in my living room. I live about 5 blocks from the scene of the event--the Val-Air Ballroom in WDM, IA. Local TV had it on live and it was not enhanced.

[pollyannaish]

When I saw this was going to be on I decided that if the final Newhart episode was not number one (which was one of the most brilliant moments in all of television history) that the rest of this list had no credibility.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I'm going to have to read it again.

[ConservativeStatement]

Classic show.

[ConservativeStatement]

Are you familiar with number 82 -- Match Game? I enjoyed that show but do not recall the incident.

[pollyannaish]

That was definitely unexpected at the time. If I had known then what I know now...

Well, not so surprising after all.

[Mad Dawgg]

"They pegged it right about #1. Absolutely, by far and under no shadow of doubt the funniest minute of TV ever...I mean EVER."

Nope sorry maybe second but not first WKRP Turkey incident is the funniest moment on TV ever!

[Mad Dawgg]

"I didn't check the whole list, but it seems like John Kennedy getting his head blown off on national television..."

Ahh The only film of JFK getting Shot was the Zapruder Film and it wasn't released to the general public until many years later

[Sensei Ern]

Most expected moment
1 I spent more time reading this than I invested in watching the show.


Is it really unexpected that half of Hellywood is gay?

[FlatLandBeer]

FUNNIEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tall_Texan]

And they don't even mention the on-air smackdown Dan Rather received at the 1968 Democrat National Convention.

I suppose I was looking more for unscripted moments. "Shock" moments in scripted shows shouldn't count. If they did, Sammy Davis Jr.'s kiss on Archie Bunker ought to rank somewhere.

[Mad Dawgg]

Of course not! he also offered to put them up at a hotel in upper Harlem.

Best part was that George was there and Him and Michaels started dickering in the background of a sketch about the money.

Michaels: "No George 3k for all Four Beatles"

[Semper Paratus]

WKRP Turkey incident is the funniest moment on TV ever!

It is, but a close second would be the MTM show about the death of Chuckles the Clown.

[Richard Kimball]

Several have told me that it wasn't on national television. Here in Texas, the visit was covered live on all the local stations. I was home sick from school (a regular occurrence, since I was a total slacker). All the live cameras picked up was the limousine suddenly speeding up, and there was confusion as to why. A couple of people said they heard something like "pops", but it was about five or ten minutes before they explained that Kennedy had been shot. Within a few minutes, they had switched to national coverage (CBS was what I was watching).

For about an hour, they said he was gravely injured, and was being operated on in Parkland Hospital. They never announced he was dead, but put up a photo of him that said John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963). There was no audio for about twenty minutes. They never returned to regular programming until after his funeral. I remember getting up at three in the morning that Saturday, going in, turning on the television, and it was a live feed of his casket lying in state at the Capital.

[Tall_Texan]

Good points.

[Tall_Texan]

They also missed a streaker at the Oscars in the early 70s after which presenter David Niven quipped about his "shortcomings".

[hummingbird]

Ohmigosh...I have one Golden Throats CD where Shatner "performs" "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and his rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is unparalleled!

Jack Webb does "Try a Little Tenderness."

Kinda'....