Most surprising / "edgy" thing you've ever seen on TV

news events aside, I think the first couple of years of Saturday Night Live might have done more to change television than any other program in my lifetime.

it wasn't just pushing the line on language. it was stuff like the take-off of the Ford LTD commercial where a rabbi circumcises a newborn baby in the back seat to demonstrate the smoothness of the car's ride, the Julia Childs spoof ("I've cut the dickens out of my finger!") and who could forget Mr. Bill?

for better or worse, I don't think television has been the same since.

 

"Save the giblets!"

 

I just started watching ER about a month ago. Today, TNT showed Dr. Greene's last episode, and in it, Anthony Edwards angrily drops the s-bomb (which I actually think was very appropriate considering what was happening to him). Didn't think that was allowed on broadcast TV.

 

"I'm Rick James, b***h!"

 

You know what? On a lark, I did. I'd never heard of R. Budd Dwyer until I read this last night, which is kind of surprising, since I lived in Pennsylvania for about a year shortly after it happened. (I guess no one wanted to talk about it.) I think I vaguely remember this happening, but we had something on the West Coast happen around the same time, the kid who blew his brains out at his high school graduation ceremony ("This is what school means to me."). I think the two stories got mixed up together, but the kid certainly didn't off himself on live TV.

After doing a bit of research on the Dwyer incident, and reluctantly watching the uncensored video, I felt more sad than horrified. I guess the consensus is that he was innocent, and that he was railroaded by the judge. So what we're seeing is not a coward taking the easy way out, but a man at the end of his rope, watching everything he worked hard for his entire life go down the drain. But as horrific as the footage is, it just couldn't compare to having witnessed the entire incident live, when it happened, not knowing what to expect. Someone said it affected an entire generation of Pennsylvanians, especially the many children who accidentally viewed it.

We did have a similar thing happen in LA a few years back, back in the middle of "High Speed Pursuit Mania," where every local station interrupted regular programming to cover every single yahoo who wanted to elude the cops. This guy, however, stopped in the middle of the freeway, and, with the press copters circling above with their cameras, he blew his brains out. KTLA, Channel 5, covered the whole thing live. They had interrupted children's programming in the afternoon to do it. There was a hell of an uproar after that.

 

A few years back watching TV with my young nieces, "Clarissa" was the hot show for kids then. In this particular episode Clarissa almost gets busted for shoplifting at the mall. What was she wearing and forgot to put back when the store was evacuated by a fire alarm? Lingerie! IIRC, a teddy with straps for stockings. Wow, man.

 

He actually started himself on fire before that. The tv stations still didn't pull back after he was on fire for a while and then put it out. That was surely something shocking to see live.

 

I saw that when it originally aired on NBC and the curse word was there. The whole episode was very powerful though.

Speaking of ER, the episode earlier this season of Dr. Romano getting squished by the chopper was pretty shocking.

For the life of me I can't remember the name of the show (about a low-rated TV news station), but it was the first season of the UPN network and someone gave the camera "the finger". The cameraman character on the show said "They can't do that on TV, can they?". The series was quite lame but that was a pretty funny moment.

Dan C

 

I remember watching the DEER HUNTER on HBO. The Russian roulette scenes made me cringe. They were very brutal.

 

They drop the s-bomb every week on NYPD Blue. Actually, I've heard that as a result of the Janet Jackson bruhaha, they've started to tame that show down a bit. Perhaps we won't see Dennis Franz's butt anymore. (We can only hope!)

 

Isn't "NYPD Blue" in its last days? I thought I heard it was cancelled (or at least going off the air) - am I confused?

 

It's got one more season after this one's over........

 

Seeing President George H.W. Bush vomit and keel over in the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister was pretty edgy. I'd never seen the footage until the other night on one of those VH1 countdown shows.