The capture of Saddam and the slaughter of the Generals of his Army, Uday and Qusay.
Posted on 12/03/2005 6:58:09 AM PST by Dane
Was JFK being shot on TV live? I don't think so...
#30
Some of these listed are good, others are bogus.
I wonder how much Universal paid to have the new "Battlestar Galactica" plugged (not in the way it should be, mind you). There was nothing unexpected. Viewers knew Boomer was a Cylon since the miniseries.
bttt
What about Jim on Taxi, taking the drivers test and asking,what does a yellow light mean.
In the context of history, perhaps it's not so mysterious. The German POW camps were, according to my war historian husband, operated within Geneva Convention standards. Odd, the Germans were so horrifically awful to those in the concentration camps, but they were run by the sadistic SS; the German war camps were not run by the SS. War prisoners taken by the Germans were treated humanely.
War prisoners taken by Japanese and Russians, on the other hand, were treated with brutality beyond belief -- according to my husband, the mortality rate in German military POW camps was 6 percent; Japanese POW camps had a 60 percent mortality rate!!! The Germans, for all their faults -- and again, it was the SS, the German secret police, who were the sadistic folks behind the horrific work camps that enslaved Jews, Gypsies, and other "undesirables." -- were, when it came to military protocol, respectful of their prisoners.
The German culture's penchant for "ordnung" really is fertile ground for humor, so I can totally understand how a German POW camp filled with American soldiers who were treated humanely would be good fodder for a sitcom. A Japanese POW camp, or a Russian gulag, or an Iranian hostage situation ... no. The Germans were barbarians, true, in terms of their civilian concentration camps, but not in the military POW camps. Unlike the Japanese and the Russians, who were truly barbaric in their POW camps, and hostage-holding Islamacists, who are barbaric by definition.
This not to defend the Germans for their role in World War II, only to point out a historical fact that helps explain Hogan's Heros.
Not everything listed was live TV anyway so JFK could've been listed. 9/11 too, for that matter. Obviously the skewed away from "tragic" (their favorite term!) moments when making this list.
The capture of Saddam and the slaughter of the Generals of his Army, Uday and Qusay.
Space shuttle Challenger explosion.
Apollo 13 coverage. I don't know how much it was covered on live tv, but it was an event where anything could happen.
The second airplane hitting the World Trade Center
I was home sick from school and saw it. I live in Texas, so it may not have been national, but it was covered live here.
My father would not even let us watch Hogan's Heroes- he thought it was terrible to make a comedy about WWII POW's. He also would not us watch MASH either- thought it demeaned soldiers in Korea. He saw no humor in war. Unlike my husband who was in Vietnam and still liked MASH and other war-related comedy.
JFK wasn't on TV at the time.
As for Oswald, was it unexpected?
Certai...
Oops, I think I've said too much.
BTW, my favorite comment on the Dallas "Bobby dream" episode was from David Letterman. I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "This episode makes me think that we need a Federal agency, and they'd be limited to acting, oh, maybe once every ten years. What they'd be able to do is tell someone, 'I'm sorry, you can't do this. It's too stupid.'"
Another one: The Earthquake during the World Series in San Fransisco.
That's another one, although the DUmmies will probably believe that was just a test for Karl Rove's, weather and earthquake making machine.
I'll go along with that. As in Hogan's Heroes, the camp was run by the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe, in real life I gather, was not a hotbed of the hard core Nazi and SS types, comparatively speaking.
Of course it would not be politically correct these days, but I would still like to see some show with Islamic terrorists portrayed as bumbling oafs. Colonel Achmed Al-Klink, and Sergeant Achmed Al-Schultz. And Hogan could have the hots for Al-Klink's secretary, who would take off her veil, only for Hogan.
Actually the most unexpected moment was when everyone was watching the burning World Trade Center Tower when a plane flew into the other tower.
I had thought that was Carson, but I think you might be right.
One great moment from Carson, one night during his monologue they had a minor earthquake (they had had a good sized one earlier in the day). When the tremor hits, a dead silence falls over the audience, You can feel the tension. Carson stops, looks to the camera, and says, "The God is dead meeting scheduled for tonight has been cancelled."
It wan't the VOLUME of Dean's tirade that sank him, it was the CONTENT.
He's just blown through 75% of his campaign budget to finish third or fourth in the most peacenik state in America, his much-vaunted grassroots army had fallen apart like an Eagles offense without T.O., the entire party is united in the "Anybody But Dean" movement, and the entire media has deserted their beloved frontrunner.
Not only does Dean refuse to acknowledge the drubbing he just took, he starts predicting wins in 49 future states.
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
Yeah, now that was unexpected. You kind of hoped for a while that OJ somehow was the guy, but that just screamed: "Yeah, it was me."
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