A Reference to "Get Christie Love?" Now THAT Was Unexpected
This week, TV Land (in conjunction with TV Guide magazine) is presenting a week-long look at the "100 most unexpected moments in TV history." This series of specials is running all this week at 10:00pm.
Without a doubt, there are some truly great moments on the list. I could especially relate to the ones that I watched as they were originally happening: the appearance by Suzanne Pleshette on the Newhart finale (although it was not 100% unexpected by yours truly; I had predicted the final scene weeks before it had happened), the Zell Miller tirade against Chris Matthews on Hardball (a duel? Now THAT was good stuff!), the impromptu reunion of Sonny and Cher on Late Night with David Letterman, and even the "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" line delivered with such incredible effectiveness by Lloyd Bentsen against Dan Quayle.
But please - someone tell me: out of the entire history of the medium of television - THE ENTIRE HISTORY - couldn't they have found a full 100 unexpected moments? Instead, the producers populated the list with inanities such as...
The debut of The Flying Nun
Unexpected? Hardly. The premise of this show was well known for months prior to its debut. The truly "unexpected" aspect of this show was just how bad it was. So tell me, TV Land -- if this extraordinary premise was so unexpected, then why not include the show about the ordinary man who marries a witch? Or the astronaut that opens a bottle and finds a genie? Personally, I have far fonder memories of those two shows than of the Nun nonsense. Still, "none" belongs on this list.
The contestant who scored only 12 points on Family Feud
A bad game-show contestant? Gee, what a rare television moment. THIS is what passes for unexpected these days?? You know, if a bad score on Family Feud is so memorable, then maybe they should list each and every horribly-bad bid on The Price is Right (do you remember the woman who bid $95 on a $700 television?). Or how about the Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant who missed his first question? Missing the first question on Millionaire is the video equivalent of not knowing who's buried in Grant's Tomb.
The two new Dukes on The Dukes of Hazzard
New Dukes? Come on - what was truly unexpected was the fact that this show kept returning week after week after week!
The use of the "N" word on Get Christie Love
It's hard to get too worked up over the gratuitious use of the "N" word on a bad 1974 series that NOBODY saw.
The disappearance of "Seven" from Married with Children
Seven? Does anybody even remember the character of Seven?? I'm guessing not. And if the disappearance of Seven is so newsworthy, then don't you think that we should be sending out a search party for poor little Judy Winslow from Family Matters? Or what about older brother Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days? And what about Theo's best friend Cockroach from The Cosby Show? All of them... AWOL. But unexpected? Hardly. In fact, most viewers didn't even realize that the characters had disappeared! And you were one of those viewers, weren't you? Come on - admit it.
If it had been up to me, I'd have included several other genuinely unexpected, unforgettable moments on this list, such as the series finale of Six Feet Under and the season-one finale of Lost.
So come on TV Land and TV Guide - if I can come up with a couple of genuinely unexpected, unforgettable moments in only about 3 minutes, would it have been so difficult for you to come up with a few more?
Of course, now that I think about it, those Flying Nun wimples were pretty impressive. Not unexpected, mind you, but impressive...
Without a doubt, there are some truly great moments on the list. I could especially relate to the ones that I watched as they were originally happening: the appearance by Suzanne Pleshette on the Newhart finale (although it was not 100% unexpected by yours truly; I had predicted the final scene weeks before it had happened), the Zell Miller tirade against Chris Matthews on Hardball (a duel? Now THAT was good stuff!), the impromptu reunion of Sonny and Cher on Late Night with David Letterman, and even the "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" line delivered with such incredible effectiveness by Lloyd Bentsen against Dan Quayle.
But please - someone tell me: out of the entire history of the medium of television - THE ENTIRE HISTORY - couldn't they have found a full 100 unexpected moments? Instead, the producers populated the list with inanities such as...
The debut of The Flying Nun
Unexpected? Hardly. The premise of this show was well known for months prior to its debut. The truly "unexpected" aspect of this show was just how bad it was. So tell me, TV Land -- if this extraordinary premise was so unexpected, then why not include the show about the ordinary man who marries a witch? Or the astronaut that opens a bottle and finds a genie? Personally, I have far fonder memories of those two shows than of the Nun nonsense. Still, "none" belongs on this list.
The contestant who scored only 12 points on Family Feud
A bad game-show contestant? Gee, what a rare television moment. THIS is what passes for unexpected these days?? You know, if a bad score on Family Feud is so memorable, then maybe they should list each and every horribly-bad bid on The Price is Right (do you remember the woman who bid $95 on a $700 television?). Or how about the Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant who missed his first question? Missing the first question on Millionaire is the video equivalent of not knowing who's buried in Grant's Tomb.
The two new Dukes on The Dukes of Hazzard
New Dukes? Come on - what was truly unexpected was the fact that this show kept returning week after week after week!
The use of the "N" word on Get Christie Love
It's hard to get too worked up over the gratuitious use of the "N" word on a bad 1974 series that NOBODY saw.
The disappearance of "Seven" from Married with Children
Seven? Does anybody even remember the character of Seven?? I'm guessing not. And if the disappearance of Seven is so newsworthy, then don't you think that we should be sending out a search party for poor little Judy Winslow from Family Matters? Or what about older brother Chuck Cunningham from Happy Days? And what about Theo's best friend Cockroach from The Cosby Show? All of them... AWOL. But unexpected? Hardly. In fact, most viewers didn't even realize that the characters had disappeared! And you were one of those viewers, weren't you? Come on - admit it.
If it had been up to me, I'd have included several other genuinely unexpected, unforgettable moments on this list, such as the series finale of Six Feet Under and the season-one finale of Lost.
So come on TV Land and TV Guide - if I can come up with a couple of genuinely unexpected, unforgettable moments in only about 3 minutes, would it have been so difficult for you to come up with a few more?
Of course, now that I think about it, those Flying Nun wimples were pretty impressive. Not unexpected, mind you, but impressive...
posted by TV Boy at 6:11 PM
1 Comments:
They could have come up with something better, but they realize that someone will always watch it.
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