Ayup.

Stars for strohs

Yup.

This was my first major tv viewing disappointment event.

Same here, Meme.

Don't forget Weird Al spoofing it in "UHF".

All I remember is Homer Simpsons writing a song about it.

It was even worse than his song about Mr. T.

Homer for me, too.

I remember Bloom County and UHF. I've never seen the actual thing itself.

I remember living through all the people making fun of the hype and then the outcome, but I never actually watched the 'event' myself.

Because it seemed really dumb.

Bloom County ripped the fuck out of this.

There's always the time John Stossel tried to get to the truth behind professional wrestling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0q44ALM7jo

Aw, man. I forgot that was Stossel. I thought it was Geraldo.

Watching those slaps take me back.

Two mustachioed dweebs, easy to confuse them.

I always thought Stossel was Geraldo's cousin or something, like he got Stossel the job on "20/20" because he was doing a favor for his aunt.

I remember it being a huge deal with much hype & ballyhoo leading up to the event itself.

"Pretty good TV"??

So are you saying this garbage was actually BETTER than most television of the time?

Are you expressing a contrary opinion, or asking me if that whole post was just one huge typo?

Yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying. I enjoyed having it on while doing some housework, and later when I was taking a nap.

I'm expressing my amazement! As I was watching this, the very first thing that struck me was how awful it was. I was picturing tens of millions of Americans all huddled around their TV sets, watching this crap together, and thought to myself "My God. This was American culture? How the HELL did we beat the Communists?"

I know TV has (and continues to have) a reputation for being utter garbage, and I'm not saying that there should be no room in our lives for simple, mindless entertainment. But this is *really* bad, and at least with the garbage shows of my own generation (Jersey Shore and 24, for example) there were no pretenses towards them having significant cultural or educational value. If this Geraldo special was "pretty good" by 1980s standards, then I shudder to think what else American minds were subjected to...!

I can see that you feel very deeply about this.

To me it's like two different documentaries running simultaneously. One of them is about crime in the 20s. The other is about shiitty 80s TV.

I enjoy how they play off each other. It may not be your cup of tea.

I feel very deeply about most things, John, you know this. And I think you do, too.

Geraldo Rivera actually ADMITS this was the turning point in his career (http://www.ew.com/article/1994/04/22/geraldo-riveras-failure-laun ches-his-career). ABC News president Roone Arledge allegedly killed Sylvia Chase's 20/20 piece related to Marilyn Monroe's affairs with John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Geraldo complained publicly about this, so he was fired.

It's not like Geraldo was obscure before this special, yet Al Capone's vault freed him from whatever journalistic "credibility" he had. From there, Geraldo could operate on pure spectacle, which is the most honest, uncut form of Geraldo.

The canned crap was a frustrating distraction. We kept telling the TV to stop with the boring documentary stuff and get to the much-vaunted vault.

It was terrible TV.

You don't understand. I'm not saying it was good tv in 1986, when you expected a payoff. I'm saying it's pretty good TV now, as we knowingly watch Geraldo giddily unwrap the box of dogshit he's prepared for our birthday.

Anybody remember Geraldo's coverage of the OJ trial? He did hours and hours of daily television about how OJ was guilty. It made Nancy Grace look like the PBS news hoiur. And then it turned out he was fucking Nicole's sister.

Did I remember that correctly? Better look it up.

Well, What I know now is that Denise Brown was asked if she'd fucked geraldo, and refused to answer.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19960503&id=vg QhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5HUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1444,468059&hl=en