TV Events

[Swampy]

Solana brought up a kinda strange topic that I didn't want to end up hijacking her thread, so I'm bringing it back up here.

People seem to always remember the bad stuff. Rightly so? Cause it hurt perhaps? Probably. Was there anythying GOOD that was covered by TV though? Can you think of anything? The more I think about it, the more I get clouded over with bad things on TV.

Columbia was the first, which lead me to remember the latest shuttle disaster over Texas. Solana brought up that "THE" major TV coverage event of her lifetime will probably be 9/11. Rightly so though, but why isn't it something GOOD? Or why can't we think of something good? I mean something landmark good here. Thoughts on something good that's happened in the last 20-25 years on TV that was a landmark event?

Berlin wall coming down perhaps? what else?

[Andre]

Well, there was Janet Jackson at the Sup^H^H^H^H^H^H

Seriously...there is not much good news.

Only a couple of things come to mind...The end of the Cold War. Sadam being caught.

I do count such things as the Mars landing, pictures of Saturn, etc. And of course, the Moon landing 35 years ago. This just goes to prove that not much good happens on Earth.

[Serge]

1.

This will date me again, the first ever world TV sattelite simulcast hookup around the world, around 1967.
They cut from different parts of the world, including a live switch to the Beatles recording, "All You Need Is Love" in the studio, and a cut to the location of Franco Ziferelli on set, directing "Romeo and Juliet".
It was my last year of high school, and watching that before breakfast, in B/W, made me think for the first time how small our world had become due to communications technology.

2.

Flash forward to 1983!
married with two kids, having breakfast before going of to work, watching in color as Australia wins the America's Cup :beerchug:
There was lots of absenteism from work that day :D
Even the Prime Minister of the day, Bob Hawk said that
" any boss who fires someone for not showing up for work today, is a bum!" :lol:

[jhawk1000]

I think we remember the pain more than the joy and that is what we remember in history. The memorable bad things that have happened, at least in my mind, are individual losses since we can relate to individual losses and tragedies but have become acclimated to mass tragedies. By mass tragedies, I do not mean that masses did not die in 9/11 but taken against the deaths in floods in Bangladesh, the genocide in Bosnia, the African massacres and the continuing death in the mid-east, 9/11 becomes an event to focus on and to remember. I recall the faces of Eritreans in the mid 60's and the gaunt look of starvation because I was there and I was individually affected. Even though I did not know the injured and dead of 9/11, it affected me because of the symbolism of vulnerability and the press coverage showing us the lives of those who died, were injured or worked to recover and save the survivors. On the list of those things that I will always remember and will always hurt me I have added the death of JFK, the horror of the senseless killing of Martin Luther King, the killing of Bobby Kennedy, the Manson murders, of course, 9/11, the death of my loved ones from whatever causes, the death of my friends who died much too young, the shuttle tragedy, the Munich Olympic deaths. The problem is that while each and every tragedy affected me and are emblazoned in my mind, many other ongoing tragedies which affect another person really is put out of mind by us since we have our own grief to bear. I suspect that every person killed in every war for whatever reason, that every person who dies of starvation or of genocide because of hatred has someone who will never forget and affect someone who had hopes for themselves and for the dead or injured.
I suspect that we focus on the negative since we live the good every day. When we get up in the morning and know we have another day, however, fleeting that most of us consider it a "good" news day but we do not consciously think of this good news. But for my own idea of what sticks in my mind as "good news" would be the birth of my children, the memories I have of the good days with all my family, friends, ex whatevers, and of doing the things I enjoyed. Unfortunately, good news is common place to most of us and bad news is remembered because we do not expect it.

Sorry for the long post but I really have been considering what is good and bad news and how we digest it and categorize it for some time.

Mel

[Swampy]

Mel - No problem on the long post, but we're looking for 20-25 years, not 35+ :)

[deMille]

"Good" no longer makes money. That is what it's all about. Not the hokey pokey, not responsibility, not compassion, care, or feeding ,,, it is about profit.

Yea, it's a downer and it sucks. Anyone who thinks any different is a fool.

Should "we" change it? Please, God, let us do so.

If you don't feel there is a God, then do it for the human condition.

Dale

[Serge]

If you don't feel there is a God, then do it for the human condition.
Dale


Dale my aching friend, I feel your pain.

IT IS because of the human condition, the heart condition,
that the love of many has grown cold, and if one feels there is no God,
they are powerless to change that heart condition.

On Sunday, I was feeling quite miserable, it was my Namesday (a Russian tradition) and for the first time, my boys didn't ring to wish me, (however I had seen them the previous weekend,) anyway it was bitterly cold and windy.
I went to see my last remaining living Scoutmaster in the nursing home, he is 90, and another old Russian lady there I visit, is 85. While I was there an old woman was taken away by ambulence, there were old and infirm people all around.
The lady I visited gave me a chocolate for my Namesday when I told her, she's known me since I was a kid. Borris, who was too ill to come down for breakfast, but was glad to see me in his tiny room.
I left there, a little lighter of my own burdens, counting my blessings.

Why do I share that? not to draw attention to my own piety or goodness, that's for sure, but as you say, we should, and can, do our little bit to stem the tide. I share this as encouragement, please don't misunderstand,
thanks for speaking from the heart.


Peace
:)

[sandman]

Saw a news report last night about a new born baby girl born with her heart OUTSIDE of her body , doctors gave her a 2.000.000 to 1 chance of surviving the next 48 hrs.
They operated on her , made an incision and just pushed the heart back inside , and waited .
Last night they showed her 3 weeks old back in the arms of her mother gurgling happily , the doctors called it a miracle .
That made me feel good all evening

GOOD NEWS ?. you bet.

Brian

[NZDoug]

Every night for the last for years when "The Simpsons" comes on Im happy... :) :) :)

[robinp]

Mel - No problem on the long post, but we're looking for 20-25 years, not 35+ :)
That makes it difficult for us old folks Swampy, good stuff seems to have been a very long time ago - I too remember watching the Beatles doing "All you need is love".
Last 25 years? - well the fall of the Berlin wall sprang to mind immediately, surprised nobody's mentioned the Live Aid concerts....

Cheers, Robin

[Eddie the Gnat]

The fall of the Berlin wall would be the most memorable one for me (I'm 24). I gave up watching television nearly 2 years ago and life couldn't be more relaxing. I really don't feel like I'm missing anything!

Eddie.

[Linda G]

In the last twenty four years, trying to think of tv life-stoppers, good and bad, I think of (what is WRONG with you Britian's memories) the midnight coverage of Prince Charles and Diana's wedding, the Challenger disaster, the fall of the Berlin wall, the OJ chase AND trial verdict, saving Jessica Simpson from the well in Texas-did you know her rescue was blamed for the stock market crash the day after her rescue?-, The flood of 1993 along the Mississippi and it's tributaries and the heroism and despair and of course, assorted wars.

Some of these events were probably over coverage because nothing else was newsworthy at the time, others because of people's morbid fascination with other people's lives.

[KPRussell]

Just squeeking in under 25 years ...

US wins Gold for Hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics at a time when the country needed something positive to rally around. A memorable event that was more than just a winning game.

[Auminer]

Good...on TV? So many thoughts here and different ways to go with these thoughts. If you wouldn't have put in the limiter "TV", it would have been easier. As far as TV goes, having the Wall torn down is the first that comes to mind and the only other thing that stands out in my memory is Al inventing the internet. :rolleyes: Was the S2 covered on TV? :)

Seriously though as Dale pointed out "Good" no longer makes money. That is what it's all about. Not the hokey pokey, not responsibility, not compassion, care, or feeding ,,, it is about profit. and therefor there will not be anything "Good" on TV. Humans by nature are born into sin and will stay that way unless they change. Greed (and power) lays heavy in the heart of many and leads to destruction of the mind and soul. It is not money, it is the love of money. Very few rich men/women are truly happy with their lives. True, they go here, go there, buy this and that and are temporarily happy, but do not have a lasting peace even with themselves.

As Serge pointed out it is the feeling one gets when giving that lasts and is retained within. If given from the heart it means so much more...that is rarely shown on TV because it just doesn't sell.

Dave

[KeithM]

For me - two related events... and both good in a more cosmic sense... :)

I remember watching Neil Armstrong step onto the moon ( Could I also sneak in the moment when Apollo 13 made it back ).

. . . . . fast forward . . .

. . . . to Burt Rutan ( and all his people ) and SpaceShipOne.

It's good to see someone doing something that rises above the noise and babble on this planets surface...

Keith.

[Jacqui Jay]

All right, this may not mean much to some of you, but quite a few years ago, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Ireland (my homeland) and, in the interval before the judging started, a display of Irish dancing – as never seen before – was performed, and 'Riverdance' was born. It was joyous, innovative, involved a host of young, talented people and came out of a war-torn country, weary with corrupted ideals and principles. I saw it at a time when my personal life was at an all-time low; I had just buried my beloved first-born daughter and I couldn't see any good anywhere in the world or beyond. It didn't change my life, but it lifted my spirits and I started to think a little differently about things and perhaps it started me on a long road back. I was just thinking that perhaps its not always the big news that has the greatest impact, but the items that strike a personal chord with the viewer. In which case, perhaps it's someone's 'Good News Week' at some place in the world at practically any given moment.
Does that make sense?
Am I just rambling?

[Keith Cocker]

More than 25 years ago - but a 13 part TV series on BBC called "Civilisation" presented by Sir Kenneth Clark (The terrible Alan's Dad). A supremely intelligent and humane view of the incredible achievement of mankind (or some of them) in the last thousand years. I was 16 at the time and it has lived with me and inspired me ever since.

Almost the very final words in the final episode were "I said at the beginning that it is a lack of confidence, more than anything else, that kills a civilisation. We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs."

The script of the series is avaiable as a book. Read it. :)

[jhawk1000]

I recall September 11 for the bad and the good. I recall going to Court and an attorney told me that a plane had hit the tower. Within a few minutes another came in and told us of the second impact and the pentagon. Of course, Court was recessed so we could tell whether we were under general attack. I went back to my office and went through every imaginable emotion from horror, anger, fear and a feeling of confusion. That day, I had brought my tripod to work since my office was just across the street from a park on the river. I loaded my camera bag, my long lens and headed off to try to make some sense of what I had heard and now seen on television. I found nothing to even look at and went to my car to go home. On my way home, I found a spot with one lonely egret standing near the shore. I got out of the car by reflex action and took the tripod and my camera and started shooting pictures of the lone egret. He seemed to sense a need and stayed in one location for many minutes. As I looked through the viewfinder, a voice came to me and I looked up and a young man, who looked destitute was standing there watching me. He started talking about his camera and it was an old one and then we talked about the egret and then the terrorism. He made a wise remark when he told me that even though the towers were down, that egret was still alive and as "purty" as ever. I looked again and found that no matter how sad things are, there is still beauty if we look for it. Those pictures are not great, too much reflection in the water but I still have them.

On another time, years before, I was working in banking and hated it. Absolutely hated the "kiss ass" mentality in banking and thought I was trapped. My job was V.P. of marketing and was mindless to say the least. I went home with my usual frustration and was worrying about staying in the field. I turned the TV on and although I had heard the commercial many times, this time it clicked something in my head. It was the commercial for United Negro Colleges and the end thought was "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." Within a few days, my wife and I had talked, I resigned and went back to school on my way toward being an attorney and being my own boss. There are many times I dislike being an attorney and do pray for retirement but I don't think I have wasted my mind since we are called upon to be expert in many fields, at least for the trials and depositions. From that little commercial, I have been to school for birth misadventures for medical malpractice, have taught many seminars and have literally traveled much of the world for my job. I still look back at that commercial as the one that changed my life and can still feel the helplessness of those who do not have the ability to use their minds to the fullest and must rely on what others tell them. Thank God that I heard that commercial and heeded the siren call.

Mel

[sandman]

This is supposed to be a thread on ''GOOD'' news but as Mel has talked about Sept 11th .
I will always remember for one reason .
That day in the mid-afternoon one of my drivers came in and said a plane had hit a building in N.Y. the full horror had not yet unfolded . I'd had a raging toothache and had made a appointment to have my wisdom tooth out in half an hour and my mind was elsewhere , but i remember thinking it was another terrible day for the avaition ind , little did i know .
While i was waiting for the injection the take full effect and deaden my mouth , i watched in horror as the first plane hit one of the towers , then i was called in and the dentist began pulling and pushing and standing in my mouth to get the root out .
Up in the corner above my head was a small t.v set , other dentists stopped what they where doing and came in and watched , it was surreal ,i was sitting in a chair having a my mouth pulled in all directions and everybody including my dentist AND ME , watched the planes hit , one after the other , it was a news repeat so the whole destruction was shown.
That is the reason i'll always remember , i just have to run my tongue over the lump where my tooth was , and i'll know where i was that day .

Brian