Most significant (live) TV you've ever seen.

[Mallory]

Either John Glenn's flight or coverage of John Kennedy's assasination.

 

[ancientone51]

As an oldie here......

GOOD
lots of Playhouse 90
Beatles on Ed Sullivan

INTERESTING
LBJ saying he would not run for re-election, folks were having a party and I was watching TV upstairs...raced down and turned on a set. Boy, the debates that one caused, just at the party.

BAD
Oswald getting shot
9/11

MOVING
First moon walk
JFK Jr. Salute to the casket

WAY TMI
Search for JFK Jrs. plane

off the top of my head

 

[gottacook]

The ones I thought important enough to record from the TV broadcast:

First Moon landing (photos)
Nixon's resignation speech, 8/8/74 (audio cassette)

I also saw parts of the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention (crowds chanting "The whole world is watching!") and stayed up late for George McGovern's acceptance speech at the convention 4 years later in Miami (I was 15).

I don't count 9/11 or assassinations in this category. People will, I'm sorry to say, always find new and horrifying ways to kill each other.

 

[DeeEss57]

There are too many to pick just one, so the best of the best:

JFK's funeral
the moon landing
return of Viet Nam POWs
Nixon's resignation speech
the Challenger explosion
and...
the Twin Towers coming down.



DES
watch my minicity grow
http://mn-duluth.myminicity.com/

 

[ThankQ]

Odd that no one things the OJ car chase was that significant.

Or Geraldo and the vault.

 

[trekkiedane]

Odd that no one things the OJ car chase was that significant.

Or Geraldo and the vault.

Or the first season of The Bold & the Beautiful.

 

[Kira's Mom]

The twin towers falling. I'd just turned on the television after the second plane hit.

Columbia disintegrating. I was watching the news that morning, and as soon as I heard "We've lost contact with the shuttle", I knew something had happened, and just kept watching.

I didn't see the Challenger disaster live, but watched CNN in my school's career center shortly after it happened.

Reagan getting shot (again, didn't see it live, but it was all over the television when I got home from school.

Oklahoma City bombing. I saw the first breaking news reports on CNN.

The good:

Nelson Mandela's release, fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

[Michael Chris]

September 11, most likely.

 

[Aurian]

September 11.

I also remember crying to coverage of the Estonia-catastrophe.

 

[Candlelight]

When New Zealand won the America's Cup in 1995. An extremely proud day to be a Kiwi and one of the very few events (even more than Lord of the Rings) that united our entire country.

 

[Count Zero]

The most significant event for me emotionally is the fall of the Berlin wall. Even though it'll be 20 years this November (damn, I'm getting old!) I still tear up whenever I see those pictures. Probably because we emigrated from the GDR in February 88 and therefore I'm personally involved.
I didn't see it live, though, because my parents didn't wake me up that night...

 

[Mysterion]

So many:

Second plane into WTC on 9/11.

Neil Armstrong takes that big step.

Challenger exploding in mid-flight.

Russian tanks firing into the legislature building in Moscow.

Crowds dismantling the Berlin Wall.

Nixon's resignation speech.

Viet Nam POWS arriving in Guam.

 

[ThankQ]

Odd that no one things the OJ car chase was that significant.

Or Geraldo and the vault.

Or the first season of The Bold & the Beautiful.

Who shot JR?

What? HOW THE FUCK IS BOBBY IN THE SHOWER!? He's dead!

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Before the world hears Obama say the magic words:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

What is the most momentous thing you have ever seen on television (be it "live" or "taped")?



To me it was the launch of Apollo 11.

I probably watched it live (at least I'm old enough to have) but I don't remember so; it's just that nothing I've ever seen on TV -even in innumerous repeats- has had quite the same impact on me.

Nothing else I have ever watched has had the same amount of hope, can-do spirit, belief in personhood… faith in the future -if you will… than those few minutes of television history!

Every single time I see this clip of a Saturn V blasting off, my belief in us, as a species, is rekindled.

What is your most significant TV-and-history moment?

9-11.

In the future it will be the next terrorist attack. The one made possible by Obama dismantling out protections in place and ending legitimate interrogation techniques. Then, and only then, will he be qualified to wash my car.

 

[thestrangequark]

I would go with 9/11 too, but I watched it in person, not on tv -- I didn't even turn on the tv for a few days afterward.

I suppose for me it'd be the Challenger. I was almost 3, but I remember it very clearly. I remember how upset my mother was.

 

[Colonel Green]

9-11.

In the future it will be the next terrorist attack. The one made possible by Obama dismantling out protections in place and ending legitimate interrogation techniques. Then, and only then, will he be qualified to wash my car.

Since you've already got your crystal ball out, could you get me next weeks lottery numbers?

 

[auntiehill]

The tragic things:
--The Challenger disaster. I was in high school at the time.

--The Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

--The Oklahoma City bombing. It was my day off from work, and I just happened to have the TV on at that time.

--September 11th attacks. I saw the second plane hit.

On the positive side:
--I think I will remember watching Obama's acceptance speech for a long time. I found it very moving.

--I also remember watching "Baby Jessica" get freed from the well, back in 1987. That baby girl is now 23 year old mother. Damn, that makes me feel old.

 

[propita]

Man landing on the moon in 1969--with my Grandpa saying that he never thought this would happen. He was born before the Wright Brothers flew.

SLA shootout in Los Angeles. Live news reporting where shots were coming at the reporters. A whole new style of news reporting in the US. (Yeah, nowhere near as significant as other things, but culturally new.)

Viking landing on Mars, watching from Caltech's Beckman Auditorium. One slice of picture at a time, old-style. Honestly, I think many there were hoping to see signs of life on the ground.

9-11, though not all was live.

Obama being elected President. I am very proud of my country, that we have come far enough that the majority of voting Americans are not voting for/against a person for his color. We have a ways to go, but I am so happy for this very important step.

 

[thestrangequark]

^You know, I'm going to change my answer and say Obama's election too. I didn't expect Id be so emotional, but I found I was crying tears of joy, and hope, and pride.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

At 62 years old, my first profound TV memory was footage of the first Hydrogen bomb test. Too many to list after that.

As for the remark above about Obama, such ignorance and bigotry in one place is extremely efficient of you.