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Kennedy/Nixon Debate
If anyone should’ve known the political power of television, it was Nixon. Yet he didn’t fully grasp the importance of his mere appearance when he met rival John F. Kennedy on September 16, 1960, in the first televised presidential debate. Those who listened on the radio thought Nixon had won. But on television, the poised, handsome, and well-rested Kennedy was the clear winner; Nixon, tired from a long day of campaigning and wearing a suit that blended badly with the background, looked nervous -
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Television often unites us in moments of tragedy, and the space program is no exception — it’s easy to remember where one was when first learning of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, orof the Columbia in 2003. But television also captured the astonishing beauty of space travel, and the tremendous achievements of those who dedicated their lives to it. John Glenn’s first orbit in 1962 was televised in its entirety, and when the crew of the Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Jul -
Do You Believe In Miracles
Few types of programming captured the magic and energy of live television like sports, which found fans across the world glued to their sets, yelling at their screens, and shaking their friends in excitement. And one of the greatest TV sports moments ever came on February 22, 1980, when the ragtag underdog US Olympic hockey team faced the heavily favored Soviet team at Lake Placid, New York. The Soviets had dominated Olympic play from 1956 to 1976, but the never-say-die spirit of the American sq -
The Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana
Granted, we may laugh at their silly monarchy, but we sure do love a good royal wedding. The modern phenomenon of these affairs as Must-See TV began on July 29, 1981, when Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles at St. Paul’s Cathedral in an opulent spectacle of a ceremony, viewed by nearly three-quarters of a billion people. It was a lavish introduction for “the People’s Princess”; 16 years later, people around the world would again turn to their televisions, this time to mourn her untimely d -
MASH: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen
“Goodbye, Farwell, and Amen,” the final episode of the long-running Korean War series (11 years — eight more than the war itself) was an epic: It ran 135 minutes, considerably longer than not only an average episode (30 minutes) but most feature films. It was appropriate, though, as “Goodbye” had the depth, nuance, and pathos of a very good movie; it dealt, as the show’s best episodes had, with the genuine psychological horrors of war, but with grace, wit, and emotion. And viewership was astonis -
Johnny Carson's Final Tonight Show
In the pre-cable days, when all three of the networks went to test patterns after the evening news, The Tonight Show was quite literally the only game in town, and though others would attempt to challenge him,Johnny Carson remained the undisputed king of late night. But in 1992, after 30 years on the job, Johnny decided it was time to step down. The months-long run-up to his final program was a parade of stars, with everyone in Hollywood stopping in for one more chat with Johnny. But his class -
The OJ Simpson Chase
On a June night in 1995, nearly 95 million viewers tuned in to watch the weirdest goddamn car chase in history. It wasn’t really a chase: a fleet of LAPD cruisers followed a white Bronco ever-so-slowly down Interstate 5. Inside was former football star O.J. Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman had been killed three days earlier; charged with the double murder, Simpson was to turn himself in earlier that day. He didn’t. Instead, he left a b -
Muhammad Ali Lights the Olympic Torch
Muhammad Ali’s personal charisma, challenging politics, and unmatched athletic skill had rendered him one of television’s most prolific and, ultimately, beloved figures. From his victory at the 1960 Olympics through his celebrated verbal sparring with Howard Cosell to his 1975 “Thrilla in Manilla” bout (which helped establish the upstart cable company HBO), Ali always meant ratings. But his appearance at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta was kept a secret until the mome -
Election Night
For all the months of anticipation, opinonating, and polling, election nights had tended to be pretty mundane affairs, with calls often made early in the night, leaving pundits and anchors to fill time and announce forgone conclusions. But that wasn’t the case on November 7, 2000, when the bitter campaigns of George W. Bush and Al Gore came to a close. With various networks and exit polling service calling, then recanting, both the state of Florida and the entire election for both Bush and Gore, -
9/11
The morning news shows were winding down on that Tuesday morning in September when reports came in to their control rooms: a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Initial word was that it was a small passenger plane, but it was soon revealed as a commercial airliner, and when another smashed into the second tower, it was clear that a coordinated attack was underway. Those revelations, those of an attack on the Pentagon, and the crumbling of each tower all happened on live television, with not o -
Hurricane Katrina
Severe weather coverage has, by now, become a series of visual cues: breaking waves, heavy rains, on-the-scene reporters braving the forces in network windbreakers. But Katrina became more than just a weather story, as New Orleans’ levees broke, thousands of residents pleaded for help from news cameras, and reporters on the ground relayed stories of heartbreak and fear from the streets, the roofs, and the New Orleans Superdome — sometimes telling those stories to politicians on their air. In the