B&C Beat puts together a great roundup of public meltdowns, inspired by Bob Novak’s no-no-word-boogie off the set at CNN. Among them: Dan Rather over that tennis match, Valerie Harper, Dave Chapppelle. Who else?
This entry was posted on Friday, August 5th, 2005 at 4:10 pm and was tagged Culture, Media.
20 Responses to “He’s melting… he’s meltinggggg…..”
Grandaddy of them all: Jack Paar.
Lester Maddox on Dick Cavett.
Bill O’Reilley on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Ted Turner on, um, I forget, but he was asked a question about his father’s suicide and stood up and left.
I don’t want to divert this comment thread, but did anyone else look at Novak and think he was simply drunk? Even before his outburst I thought he was slurring and had droopy eyelids. Medication, maybe, but he just seemed kind of impaired.
As little as I like Mr. Novak, at least he knows whose fault that whole thing is and gave an appropriate apology. By the way, when he gets excited he slurrs, I wonder (and this is JUST A GUESS) if he has a bilateral lisp that he is keeping under control.
Not exactly a meltdown but along the lines: Tony Randall’s confrontation with Alex Karrass over smoking a cigarette on the Carson show. (And yes, Novak seemed medicated but it may just be that, as David says, he slurs.)
Pekar on Letterman for sure. I don’t think that was performance art, either…
Marc Summers and Burt Reynolds on the Tonight Show. I didn’t see it because Jay Leno was on the screen, but apparently they almost got into a fistfight onstage over some comment Summers made about Loni Anderson. (Yes, Summers is the guy from Double Dare and Unwrapped. Doesn’t sound right to me either, but there were a lot of witnesses.)
the blog that you linked to has a pretty disjoined list. how are the FAA strikers part of this list?
anyway:
former football qb jim everett pushing over the table after sports-talk host jim rome took him up on his dare to call him “Chrissy” one more time is a classic
Dan Rather and the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament was another meltdown, but this one happened off-screen, so all viewers saw was dead air and Rather survived the incident, though it did give Bush 41 a good comeback line to Dan a few months later.
Ironically, it was a Novak comment a few years ago on “Capital Gang” that caused Mark Shields to drop the BS word on-air. But Mark didn’t walk offstage and never was hit with a suspension, getting away with just an apology for losing his cool.
It seems dumb to want to be on TV or any public venue and then complain or throw a fit when people don’t agree with you. Knowing when to use silence is half the battle. I guess silence is now against the law or at odds with the law, as in the Judith Miller case and what you get now in exchange is an expanding media dominated by outbursts and bad language. You have the right to be a moron, anything you say can and will be broadcast. It’s more like a cultural meltdown, than an individual meltdown. You might not agree, but that’s cool. Television requires different skills than writing a column. This is why there are so few columnists on TV trying to be politicians or explain politicians. A man must understand his limitations and act accordingly. Television can be brutal. Not as brutal as the Internet. Some people are just mean, some are silent and what can you do? Life is good, so light a candle and enjoy the meltdown in silence while you still can.
Before blogs
The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center states:
February 4, 1841 Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris’ diary…”Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”
Today the Groundhog is promoting the Pennsylvania state lottery. He doesn’t care for Nick Perry, of 666 lottery fame. I believe that North Carolina has a groundhog called General Lee. There could be a NASCAR deal in the works.
A little history
Pennsylvania’s official celebration of Groundhog Day began on February 2, 1886, with a proclamation in The Punxsutawney Spirit by the newspaper’s editor, Clymer Freas: “Today is Groundhog Day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow.” The groundhog was given the name “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary,” and his hometown of Gobbler’s Knob was dubbed, “the weather capital of the world.”
Phil does TV, but he can’t write or read. He lives in a library though and doesn’t seem to get angry. His predictions are correct about 39% of the time. Phil has not been banned from CNN or the Internet.
A quote
“Im glad I live in this luxurious burrow on the Knob and not in a dirty, smelly spider hole like a slob. When I come out I don’t want to negotiate, But to just do my job and prognosticate. Today because my shadow I see, six more weeks of winter there will be!” Phil
I wonder if Mr. Novak is now trying to negotiate with CNN. What will be will be.
Phil is correct less than 50% of the time and the media keeps showing up every year to cover him. CNN/US President Jon Klein said Friday that Robert Novak’s future with the network is uncertain. I wonder if CNN will cover Phil next year. I’m more certain about this than I am about Phils prediction. Phil may have a better chance of being on CNN in the future than Mr. Novak does. Imagine being tossed out and a groundhog being broadcast. And Phil is wrong more than half the time. Maybe Novak can cover Groundhog Day and get a job with Fox.
This whole story is good. I think it really illustrates the huge reconnect between the mainstream press and the people who believe Phil. Phill gets the benefit of the doubt and Novak gets a disconnect notice. Novak may be right more than Phil is, but Phil has the left and right tuning in every year. The CIA could have some reason to question Phil and this whole relationship with the media. Phil is wrong more than he is right, so I suspect he could be up to something. If Phil won’t talk, he could end up in jail like Judy Miller of the New York Times. I’m not saying Phil is dishonest, but it makes you wonder what the whole agenda really is. I’m going to try to find some CIA background about Phil.
“…throw a fit when people don’t agree with you”?
I don’t quite know how to make clear the utter foolishness of this except to point out that there was once a more honest time when Carville would have been invited to defend his assertions with his blood.
Only one fact precludes my conclusion that Novak should have slapped Carville in the back of the haed on his way off the set, and it’s the fact that Novak spent all those years sitting there with that bloody creep.
Maybe Novak is just really dumb. I’m not saying he is, but why lose control when you can keep control? The political battles we fight all come down to control or somebody ending up out of control. The cool heads always prevail as a World War Two sailor once told me. Be cool.
#1 meltdown in TV history was Lawerence O’Donnell. Sorry, there’s not anything out there to even compare.
If anyone on the face of the planet has not seen this one (several times) they need to give themselves a treat. Better than SNL. Don’t you know the little guys in white had the jacket ready. Yep….fear…..run……fear for your lives.
“Clones aren’t getting in. Only special ones get in.” Like Frank Sinatra. Arguably bigger than the original. (This is because the boys were getting back at the girls.)
Ronald Reagan was never a good actor. As such he needed a different claim to history to become firmly eligible. As president he was a filthy bastard who exponentially increased the homeless population and endangered the public by closing mental hospitals.
President Ronald Reagan was an evil fuck who created mayhem (on his watch. He was cooperating, being obediant.).
Attack of the Clones:::It’s a clones world now.
It’s the reason for Fleetwood Mac’s TERRIBLE attendance at the concerts, their fans being a demographic who has awareness, unlike Stones fans, ignorantly packing in at $300 per ticket to see copies.
And the reason for DMB creative falloff.
And the fall in the quality of Hollywood movies (and attendance).
The list goes on and on.
Like how Arnold is going to choke off public employees.
But it isn’t Arnold. I believe it is his clone. Terminator is a movie sufficiently great to buy him entry, and who doesn’t want to be young forever?
Or it isn’t FilthyEvil playing the role of the rope. Yes, this is sad. It makes me sad to think they set my life up for destruction and exploitation to get their fuck-up son in, someone who wasn’t going to make it during the 2000 exodus without me.
They say this is a creative absence here now. Rather, those who remain suffer from creative repression, mine being a fine example. We’re all on auto-pilot.
And, after all, we’re just peasants and don’t deserve a good life.
Many celebrities have great favor and are allowed to use their clones to earn, siphoning off funds for their use there:::
- Rolling Stones phenominal paydays.
- I was promised to FilthyEvil for just the same reason: constantly growing cash flow, perhaps going big time.
Too bad it isn’t going to work out that way.
Perhaps other objectives.
They claim now after the 2000 exodus they are free to gouge people, where as they would have to hear about it from their friends::
- gas
- real estate
All that money they still complain about prices. “Nobody likes to be gouged.”
Considering real estate::Inter-planetary profiteering. Some aren’t free to earn like the Stones, but are given some favor, so they are allowed to exploit the real estate market, which has been artificially inflated, giving their friends the opportunity to cash in, a continuation of the stock market in the late 1990s, and similar to the 1980s exodus with the bond markets in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And the little guy will fill their friend’s pockets in a buying flury right before the bubble bursts.
These are two examples of mass exodus, the period of time inbetween becoming increasingly worse.
So what do we have to expet from now until 2020?
As an expert the only recommendation I can offer the reader is don’t reproduce.
They are beings, just like you and me, and they invented the computer that is god. And they control it.
And earth unfortunately is a planet they slated for evil.
It’s all downhill from here.
Jay, Bob Novak always has droopy eyes and slurs, but then maybe he takes meds all the time.
And has anyone seen Pat Robertson’s latest prayer for ‘more vacancies on the Supreme Court’, which I do nominate as on-air unintentional baring of a really ugly persona.
We can’t forget Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC last year with Swift Boat Vet John O’Neil: http://www.dailyrecycler.com/blog/2004/10/breakdown.html
Grandaddy of them all: Jack Paar.
Lester Maddox on Dick Cavett.
Bill O’Reilley on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Ted Turner on, um, I forget, but he was asked a question about his father’s suicide and stood up and left.
I don’t want to divert this comment thread, but did anyone else look at Novak and think he was simply drunk? Even before his outburst I thought he was slurring and had droopy eyelids. Medication, maybe, but he just seemed kind of impaired.
As little as I like Mr. Novak, at least he knows whose fault that whole thing is and gave an appropriate apology. By the way, when he gets excited he slurrs, I wonder (and this is JUST A GUESS) if he has a bilateral lisp that he is keeping under control.
Monica Lewinsky on Fresh Air, also.
Harvey Pekar and Crispin Glover on Letterman (both doing performance art, if you ask me).
I suppose the ultimate ones are the handful of local TV folks who’ve killed themselves on air over the years (at least two).
Not exactly a meltdown but along the lines: Tony Randall’s confrontation with Alex Karrass over smoking a cigarette on the Carson show. (And yes, Novak seemed medicated but it may just be that, as David says, he slurs.)
Pekar on Letterman for sure. I don’t think that was performance art, either…
Marc Summers and Burt Reynolds on the Tonight Show. I didn’t see it because Jay Leno was on the screen, but apparently they almost got into a fistfight onstage over some comment Summers made about Loni Anderson. (Yes, Summers is the guy from Double Dare and Unwrapped. Doesn’t sound right to me either, but there were a lot of witnesses.)
Dare I say Cruise?
the blog that you linked to has a pretty disjoined list. how are the FAA strikers part of this list?
anyway:
former football qb jim everett pushing over the table after sports-talk host jim rome took him up on his dare to call him “Chrissy” one more time is a classic
Dan Rather and the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament was another meltdown, but this one happened off-screen, so all viewers saw was dead air and Rather survived the incident, though it did give Bush 41 a good comeback line to Dan a few months later.
Ironically, it was a Novak comment a few years ago on “Capital Gang” that caused Mark Shields to drop the BS word on-air. But Mark didn’t walk offstage and never was hit with a suspension, getting away with just an apology for losing his cool.
It seems dumb to want to be on TV or any public venue and then complain or throw a fit when people don’t agree with you. Knowing when to use silence is half the battle. I guess silence is now against the law or at odds with the law, as in the Judith Miller case and what you get now in exchange is an expanding media dominated by outbursts and bad language. You have the right to be a moron, anything you say can and will be broadcast. It’s more like a cultural meltdown, than an individual meltdown. You might not agree, but that’s cool. Television requires different skills than writing a column. This is why there are so few columnists on TV trying to be politicians or explain politicians. A man must understand his limitations and act accordingly. Television can be brutal. Not as brutal as the Internet. Some people are just mean, some are silent and what can you do? Life is good, so light a candle and enjoy the meltdown in silence while you still can.
Candlemas and Phil
Before blogs
The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center states:
February 4, 1841 Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris’ diary…”Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”
Today the Groundhog is promoting the Pennsylvania state lottery. He doesn’t care for Nick Perry, of 666 lottery fame. I believe that North Carolina has a groundhog called General Lee. There could be a NASCAR deal in the works.
A little history
Pennsylvania’s official celebration of Groundhog Day began on February 2, 1886, with a proclamation in The Punxsutawney Spirit by the newspaper’s editor, Clymer Freas: “Today is Groundhog Day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow.” The groundhog was given the name “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary,” and his hometown of Gobbler’s Knob was dubbed, “the weather capital of the world.”
Phil does TV, but he can’t write or read. He lives in a library though and doesn’t seem to get angry. His predictions are correct about 39% of the time. Phil has not been banned from CNN or the Internet.
A quote
“Im glad I live in this luxurious burrow on the Knob and not in a dirty, smelly spider hole like a slob. When I come out I don’t want to negotiate, But to just do my job and prognosticate. Today because my shadow I see, six more weeks of winter there will be!” Phil
I wonder if Mr. Novak is now trying to negotiate with CNN. What will be will be.
Phil is correct less than 50% of the time and the media keeps showing up every year to cover him. CNN/US President Jon Klein said Friday that Robert Novak’s future with the network is uncertain. I wonder if CNN will cover Phil next year. I’m more certain about this than I am about Phils prediction. Phil may have a better chance of being on CNN in the future than Mr. Novak does. Imagine being tossed out and a groundhog being broadcast. And Phil is wrong more than half the time. Maybe Novak can cover Groundhog Day and get a job with Fox.
This whole story is good. I think it really illustrates the huge reconnect between the mainstream press and the people who believe Phil. Phill gets the benefit of the doubt and Novak gets a disconnect notice. Novak may be right more than Phil is, but Phil has the left and right tuning in every year. The CIA could have some reason to question Phil and this whole relationship with the media. Phil is wrong more than he is right, so I suspect he could be up to something. If Phil won’t talk, he could end up in jail like Judy Miller of the New York Times. I’m not saying Phil is dishonest, but it makes you wonder what the whole agenda really is. I’m going to try to find some CIA background about Phil.
“…throw a fit when people don’t agree with you”?
I don’t quite know how to make clear the utter foolishness of this except to point out that there was once a more honest time when Carville would have been invited to defend his assertions with his blood.
Only one fact precludes my conclusion that Novak should have slapped Carville in the back of the haed on his way off the set, and it’s the fact that Novak spent all those years sitting there with that bloody creep.
Maybe Novak is just really dumb. I’m not saying he is, but why lose control when you can keep control? The political battles we fight all come down to control or somebody ending up out of control. The cool heads always prevail as a World War Two sailor once told me. Be cool.
#1 meltdown in TV history was Lawerence O’Donnell. Sorry, there’s not anything out there to even compare.
If anyone on the face of the planet has not seen this one (several times) they need to give themselves a treat. Better than SNL. Don’t you know the little guys in white had the jacket ready. Yep….fear…..run……fear for your lives.
Attack of the Clones
“Clones aren’t getting in. Only special ones get in.” Like Frank Sinatra. Arguably bigger than the original. (This is because the boys were getting back at the girls.)
Ronald Reagan was never a good actor. As such he needed a different claim to history to become firmly eligible. As president he was a filthy bastard who exponentially increased the homeless population and endangered the public by closing mental hospitals.
President Ronald Reagan was an evil fuck who created mayhem (on his watch. He was cooperating, being obediant.).
Attack of the Clones:::It’s a clones world now.
It’s the reason for Fleetwood Mac’s TERRIBLE attendance at the concerts, their fans being a demographic who has awareness, unlike Stones fans, ignorantly packing in at $300 per ticket to see copies.
And the reason for DMB creative falloff.
And the fall in the quality of Hollywood movies (and attendance).
The list goes on and on.
Like how Arnold is going to choke off public employees.
But it isn’t Arnold. I believe it is his clone. Terminator is a movie sufficiently great to buy him entry, and who doesn’t want to be young forever?
Or it isn’t FilthyEvil playing the role of the rope. Yes, this is sad. It makes me sad to think they set my life up for destruction and exploitation to get their fuck-up son in, someone who wasn’t going to make it during the 2000 exodus without me.
They say this is a creative absence here now. Rather, those who remain suffer from creative repression, mine being a fine example. We’re all on auto-pilot.
And, after all, we’re just peasants and don’t deserve a good life.
Many celebrities have great favor and are allowed to use their clones to earn, siphoning off funds for their use there:::
- Rolling Stones phenominal paydays.
- I was promised to FilthyEvil for just the same reason: constantly growing cash flow, perhaps going big time.
Too bad it isn’t going to work out that way.
Perhaps other objectives.
They claim now after the 2000 exodus they are free to gouge people, where as they would have to hear about it from their friends::
- gas
- real estate
All that money they still complain about prices. “Nobody likes to be gouged.”
Considering real estate::Inter-planetary profiteering. Some aren’t free to earn like the Stones, but are given some favor, so they are allowed to exploit the real estate market, which has been artificially inflated, giving their friends the opportunity to cash in, a continuation of the stock market in the late 1990s, and similar to the 1980s exodus with the bond markets in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And the little guy will fill their friend’s pockets in a buying flury right before the bubble bursts.
These are two examples of mass exodus, the period of time inbetween becoming increasingly worse.
So what do we have to expet from now until 2020?
As an expert the only recommendation I can offer the reader is don’t reproduce.
They are beings, just like you and me, and they invented the computer that is god. And they control it.
And earth unfortunately is a planet they slated for evil.
It’s all downhill from here.
Hey Jeff,
I know you’re seasoned enough to remember Bill Buckley versus Gore Vidal, circa ‘68. I was an impressionable young’n and boy, do I ever remember.
http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/debates.html
Does this support or refute Bernie Goldberg’s hypothesis that we’ve become less civil? Discuss.
Cheers
Attack of the Clones just said everything I’ve been trying to tell people for years. Please tell us more, Mr. or Ms. Clones!
Jay, Bob Novak always has droopy eyes and slurs, but then maybe he takes meds all the time.
And has anyone seen Pat Robertson’s latest prayer for ‘more vacancies on the Supreme Court’, which I do nominate as on-air unintentional baring of a really ugly persona.