Live television
- November 30, 1958 - Midway through transmission of the Armchair Theatre play Underground on the British ITV network, actor Gareth Jones died off-camera, forcing the production to improvise for the remainder of the telecast.
- March 5, 1975 - Graham Kennedy mimicked a crow call ("faaaaaaark") remniscient of the f word during a hairspray ad on The Graham Kennedy Show on the Nine Network in Australia. He was banned from live TV indefinitely for the stunt. He quits the network on April 17 after the network took advantage of the pre-taping to delete a speech critical of Senator Doug McClelland (the then Minister for the Media).
- December 1, 1976 - Appearing in a live interview on the Thames Television pre-watershed programme Today, the Sex Pistols were interviewed by Bill Grundy to promote their recently released Anarchy in the UK single. After being called a "dirty old man" by Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Grundy goaded the band into swearing on live TV. Jones ended the interview with "you dirty bastard," "you dirty fucker," and "you fucking rotter".[1]
- February 20, 1981 - Appearing on the live ABC comedy show Fridays as guest host, comedian Andy Kaufman refused to read his lines during the last sketch, to the annoyance of the cast and crew. The situation escalated into a minor brawl, and the network cut off the broadcast. Kaufman later admitted that the fight was planned by him and some of the cast and crew.
- January 4, 1987 - A massive bench clearing brawl occurred in the WJHC between Canada and the Soviet Union. After Pavel Kostichkin took a two handed slash at Theoren Fleury, the Soviet Union's Evgeny Davydov came off the bench, eventually leading to both benches clearing. The officials walked off the ice and tried shutting off the arena lights, but the brawl lasted for 20 minutes until the IIHF declared the game null and void. Both teams were disqualified from the tournament and barred from attending the end-of-tournament dinner.
- October 17, 1989 - Right before Game 3 of The 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, The Loma Prieta earthquake occurred.
- February 1, 2004 - During a performance by singers Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl XXXVIII half time show, Timberlake pulled off a part of Jackson's leather corset, revealing her right breast covered by a piece of jewelry attached to her nipple. He later described the incident as a "wardrobe malfunction". The incident caused public outrage and demands for the FCC to crack down on indecency on television and radio.
- April 21, 2004 - After commenting on a UEFA Champions League match on ITV1, Ron Atkinson thought that the broadcast had finished. However, although transmission in the UK had finished, he was still on air to various countries in the Middle East and proceeded to say that "...he is what is known in some schools as a fucking lazy thick nigger" towards Marcel Desailly. He resigned with immediate effect.
- April 14, 2007 - At the conclusion of an AFL match between Fremantle and West Coast on Network Ten, Eagles player Michael Braun (in front of a TV audience of 550,000 and a crowd of 42,051) concludes his Ross Glenndenning Medal acceptance speech with "Let's have a fucking good year". Braun was fined $5,500 by the AFL for the stunt.
[
Live television episodes
Although all programs were once live, the use of videotape means that very few television programs in the modern era have ever attempted such a feat. In the U.S., soap operas including As the World Turns and The Edge of Night were broadcast live until 1975. The most recent scripted series to do so on a regular basis was the Charles S. Dutton series Roc in the 1992-93 season.
However, on occasion, scripted series will do an episode live to attract ratings. In the U.S. and Canada, the episode is usually performed twice: once for the east coast (Eastern and Central time zones) and again three hours later for the west coast (Mountain and Pacific time zones). Notable examples of shows that have had a live episode include:
- Gimme a Break! (1985)
- ER (1997)[2]
- Coronation Street (for its 40th anniversary in 2000)
- The Drew Carey Show (1999, 2000, & 2001)
- The Bill (2003 & 2005)
- The Daily Show (2004)
- Blue Heelers (2004)
- Will & Grace (2005 & 2006)
- The West Wing (2005) - An episode ("The Debate") was presented as a live debate between presidential candidates[2]
In recent years there have been a number of special films broadcast live as well. These include the remakes of Fail Safe (2000) and The Quatermass Experiment (2005).
[
References and footnotes
- ^ Sex Pistols vs Bill Grundy
- ^ a b Performed twice so that viewers in multiple time zones saw a live version
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.