[Dane]

Some interesting and some not so interesting. The 68 democrat convention makes an appearance twice.

[dfwgator]

[Fledermaus]

Who puts together this junk? "Heidi game" followed by Dean scream?

What criteria do these idiots use? ER finale in top ten? Did anyone watch it?

I'll give them the Newhart #1 though...I laughed when I saw it for an hour! Perfect comedy.

[tang-soo]

I knew Newhart would be number 1. And the event it spoofed was number 3.

[metesky]

From the "Heidi-Bowl" to Muhammad Ali raising the torch at The 1996 Olympics to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at The Superbowl, television has provided some of the most significant and surprising moments in history.

More significant than The American Revolution or more surprising than December 7, 1941?

I can see those new history books now: There's the Kennedy assassinations and Janet Jackson's boob right on the same page! Golly gee!

Self-referential BS. I couldn't get past that first sentence.

[Fresh Wind]

I would suggest the episode of the Dick Van Dyke show in which they just had their baby, and he convinces himself that the hospital switched babies on him. He finally gets to meet the parents of the other baby, and they turn out to be black.

[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]

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

[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?

[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.

[RedRightReturn]

Since the list hasn't limited itself to Hollywood produced TV moments, how about (in no particular order):

Bud Dwyer suicide???
Challenger disaster???
Columbia disaster???
Reagan assassination atempt???
Pope JPII assassination attempt???

They seem to have missed the boat for Unexpected AND Memorable for these and many others. BTW anything produced and in the can is NOT unexpected IMHO...

R3

[Xenalyte]

The Debbie Downer crack-up is only #99? Rachel wuz robbed!

And I am deeply saddened to note that Chris Farley's Matt Foley coffee-table smush is excluded. Look, it's about to happen!

[Lucky2]

How about the Seinfeld episode when Kramer kissed Jerry full on the mouth? I've forgotten which episode it was.

[7thson]

One thing missing that I thought would be here. On the Dean Martin show, he had a habit of sliding down a pole, and then jumping on the piano before he sang a song. Once, they rigged it where the piano would collapse without telling him. He jumped on the damn thing and the look of shock on his face was priceless. Also, nothing here about finally getting the one-armed man in The Fugitive.

[jackieaxe]

1) Ruby shoots Oswald (This didn't make the list??)
2) 72 Olympics kidnapping (actually, I could not believe the World community didn't immediately recognize the PLO for the murdering criminals that they are and continued to treat Yasser Arafat as a statesmen [I digress, but isn't it a shame he died a non-violent death?])
3) John Kerry's 40 minute Dem Convention speech where he reveals no position(s)
4) Dan Rather - "...the documents were false but the story is TRUE..."