Most Shocking TV Moments

[Sunnyhorse]

9/11 takes the cake, but, in a lighter vein, I can still remember seeing Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes slug a player on the opposing team who intercepted a Buckeye pass during the 1978 Gator Bowl. My mom's best friend and her family were visiting for the holidays, and we were all watching the game. Hayes hauled off and punched the player, and my dad (who never yelled), practically shouted, "God damn! He hit that kid!" Reprehensible behavior, but it still gives me the giggles.

[dwanollah]

I'm watching my Season 1 Felicity DVDs, and Felicity's stalker, Todd, getting plowed by that bus was outa left field.

[swanflake]

I love this video of Sinead O'Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope on SNL[/color].

[ang]

Wrestler Sid Vicious breaks his leg.

Ouchie. The sort of thing you watch on tv and stare at, then go WOOOOOOAAAHH!!

And also one of the reasons I freak out occasionally watching live wrestling broadcasts.

[Deleted]

welshgrrl said:

Budd Dwyer fellating a pistol on live television with horrific results in the late 1980s. On Canadian TV recaps they froze the picture from the moment he put the gun in his mouth, but let the audio continue and believe me, that was absolutely dreadful to listen to. I've never had any desire whatsoever to see the video ...

I read this thread and came across your post...I had never heard of this before and thought you must be joking...now I've seen a clip of that online and wish I hadn't. Horrible. I can totally understand why this would be a shocking TV moment.

As for fiction: every time BOB appeared on Twin Peaks I had to leave the room. And yet, I kept watching the show.

[luciano]

Since someone mentioned wrestling up there, let me just add: the death of Owen Hart a few years back. I remember watching the Pay-Per-View with my brother - they just kept showing the commentators instead of the ring and Jim Ross told the audience what happened [Hart had fallen from the rafters on to the ring], how it wasn't part of the show, and that Owen was going to the hospital. My brother and I really didn't process how serious it was and were joking about how he can't die due to having to do the stunts of a very stupid character. Then a few minutes later, Ross announced that he had died. After those two shocks, there was the shock of realizing that they said nothing to the audience at the arena, so the show was going on as normal even as you saw some managers trying not to cry as they gave interviews [I'm thinking specifically of Debra McMichael] and wrestlers avoiding a certain spot on the ring [which is where he actually died - he was already dead by the time they removed him from the ring].

[ang]

You actually saw it live?
God, Im so sorry, that must have been terrible. I'm still traumatised after looking at photos from the event. Im so glad theres no footage of him actually falling.

[softtissue]

I remember in the 1980's watching some late-night news show with Linda Ellerbee and some man set himself on fire protesting something or other. I was in my early teens and I was really freaked out by it. I was then more freaked out knowing that someone was filming it and didn't stop to put him out.

[diablocody]

This is extremely minor compared to some of the other stuff that's been posted, but I remember yelling "Holy shit!" when Richard Hatch won Survivor. Those were the early days of competitive reality shows (strokes long gray beard) and I just couldn't believe that the biggest asshole on the show didn't get voted off.

[Deleted]

This is going back many years, but I was terribly shocked by the funeral of JFK. It was my first brush with the idea of death, and coming home on a gray and dark November morning to find my grandmother hunched over the little black and white screen which showed his coffin wheeling along on the wagon...covered with the American flag...it was sad, depressing, and shocking at the same time.