IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE ROSALIND SHAYS GET THE SHAFT: I'm kinda impressed that the list of 30 Most Surprising Moments In TV History contains two different Mark Harmon roles within the top four ... and yet still didn't pick the right show. I'll explain why below the fold.
Number four was when he got shot on The West Wing -- surprising, sure, except insofar as the arc of the character almost demanded that something bad happen. (More surprising on TWW was Mrs. Landingham's death, perhaps.) Number two was when Kate Todd was shot on NCIS -- like Harmon's own shooting on TWW, a second fatal assailant once the deceased-to-be was thought to be in the clear.
But, seriously, didn't St. Elsewhere's Dr. Bobby Caldwell (Harmon) finding out he had AIDS -- the first major tv character to do so (and years before our diagnostics improved) kinda trump both in the "surprising" department?
(#1 on the list, FYI: You get a car! You get a car!)
Harmon's West Wing death was stunning not in what happened, but in how it happened--we expect him to die in the act of heroically saving CJ, but instead, he dies in an ordinary robbery. (Something similar can be said about how George O'Malley died).
ReplyDeleteThe NCIS selection seems to me pretty indefensible, but I wasn't watching the show at that point--I would have thought the Liza Lapira arc would have been a better choice.
One I'm betting wasn't there that should have been the climax of Season 1 of Veronica Mars, with Lily Kane's killer being revealed.
Was not there, but Omar's death on The Wire was #11, IIRC, topping (among other things) The Sopranos episode when Janice killed Richie Aprile -- which itself is a totally defensible pick from the show. (What else? The Joe Pants killing and how it happened, possibly. But that was a good call.)
ReplyDeleteWe live in a society prone to stupid lists and this may be the stupidest of the stupid lists. I mean, the Paley Centre, which sponsored or participated in the list refers to how this is a list of the most shocking events "in prime-time TV history" and No. 1 is an "event" that took place in daytime?
ReplyDeleteSomebody winning on "Deal or No Deal" is among the most shocking things in TV history. Lee Harvey Oswald being executed live on TV coast-to-coast is not.
So there you go!
-Daniel
I feel like the Oprah car giveaway is the mom equivalent to Yaz's home run- waaaaay more people claim to have seen it than actually saw it.
ReplyDeleteAnd for surprising, I would have included Kal Penn's suicide on House. Just completely out of nowhere, and at the beginning of the episode.
Oh, and for live TV, Kanye is sorely underrepresented on this list- "George Bush doesn't care about black people", "Imma let you finish girl..." etc.
I like the fact that they include that Twilight Zone episode. You know, the one with the surprise twist at the end? (Somehow they forgot to include any network showings of M. Night Shyamalan films.)
ReplyDeleteThe Oprah thing was not only not very surprising if you'd ever seen one of her Favorite Things shows, but its survival in the national consciousness may be more attributable to the SNL parody than the original event itself. In our family, we treat it as a joke and reference it often when we're handing out things to the kids -- the 6 y.o. does a pretty good impression ("You get an Oreo! You get an Oreo! Evvvvvryyyyyybodyyyyyyy gets an Oreooooooooo!!!!").
Did CBS actually show clips of The Wire on last night's show? If so, that's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteUnscripted "news" doesn't qualify, but unscripted "reality" does? Yeah, that was odd. And that someone finally won on Millionaire and DonD isn't that surprising -- indeed, years ago we figured out the circumstances under which someone would go for the million (last two suitcases both being six figures), and that's what happened.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that Oprah was #1, I figured it was the Tom Cruise appearance. And Kal Penn's suicide DID make the list.
ReplyDeleteThey did. They had clearance for clips for everything named on the list. I just wish on the Janice Soprano one they included Tony's deadpan line about what happened to Richie's body. "We buried him. On a hill. Overlooking a little river. With pine cones all around."
ReplyDeleteThe Lost flash-forward was probably the only time I've stared at a TV going "WHAT?"
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love the Wire getting credit, I don't know how surprising Omar's death was. As soon as he decided to go back to Baltimore, there was really only one way it could end. The only question was who, and in the larger scale of things, it wasn't all that surprising, fitting in well with the show's overreaching narrative structure.
Combining Richie Aprile and The West Wing, I was pleasantly surprised to see Richie on WW during my recent re-watching of the first season; he's Toby's rabbi.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that came to my mind was the last episode of the Bob Newhart Show, when he wakes up from the dream.
ReplyDeleteAnd, more recently, the first point-blank gun shot on the season finale of Grey's Anatomy this season. I actually said, "Wow!" out loud (and I was alone in front of the TV).
And I agree with the helicopter death of the doctor on ER. I believe my response to that was "Whoa!"
And in the news very recently...(and I'm not at all saying this to be political, but I just thought it was humorous)...when Ben Netenyahu referred to the boat going into Gaza: "This was not a Love Boat; this was a Hate Boat." It was a somewhat dopey thing to say, whatever side of the argument you're on.
Needed more Breaking Bad. I can't get through an episode without being shocked by something. "Run."
ReplyDeleteWas here a specific moment for All in the Family being on the list? I would have put the Sammie Davis Jr kiss as a Top 10 moment.
No, it was more "Archie kept saying outrageous shit." I agree on which one to choose, based on my limited knowledge of the show's specifics.
ReplyDeleteHow about Alex's friend dies in drunk driving accident on Family Ties?
As for All in the Family, wasn't there an episode where Edith found a lump in her breast? I remember Archie's reaction showed how deeply he loved her.
ReplyDeleteNow that we're in that time frame...there's got to be something from Happy Days. Let's think.
<p>Fonzie. Waterskis. Shark.
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I just assumed that one of the Mark Harmon moments (either on the list, or your "one they missed") would be him answering the door at Maddie Hayes's house.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd vote that in. Good memory. (The miscarriage episode was surprising for other reasons.)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree about Bobby Caldwell's diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteIf we go for sheer shock value, most Alias season finales would have a shot at the list. The double-whammy of "my name isn't Michael Vaughn" (truck) made me spill my drink.
ReplyDeleteMalachi CRUNCH. Pinky T hospitalized.
ReplyDeleteOne of the rare moments when I was surprised watching the Sopranos, and maybe I shouldn't have been, was when Tony killed Chris.
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