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You won't believe these actually happened on live TV! Join us as we count down the most jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, and utterly unbelievable moments ever broadcast to millions of viewers around the world. From shocking sports upsets to world-changing historical events, these are the moments that left audiences completely speechless — and proved that reality is truly stranger than fiction.
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00:00That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, and utterly unbelievable events
00:14that unfolded right before our eyes, broadcast live to millions.
00:17The wall that the East Germans put up in 1961 to keep its people in will now be breached by
00:23anybody one who wants to leave.
00:26Number 10. The ground trembles during the World Series.
00:29And home for the Giants, one of the most spectacular vistas on this continent, any continent.
00:36Downtown San Francisco in the background, and we zoom into Candlestick Park in the southeastern corner of this city.
00:43For the first time in 27 years, a World Series game will be played in Candlestick Park. The Battle of
00:50the Bay continues.
00:51Imagine settling in for Game 3 of the 1989 World Series on October 17th.
00:55The Giants and A's at Candlestick Park. Al Michaels on the call. The Battle of the Bay ready to go.
01:00Then at 5.04 p.m. local time, everything changed. The broadcast jolted violently.
01:05The light flickered, and Michaels delivered one of the most famous ad-libs in TV history.
01:09And he fails to get Dave Parker at second base, so the Oakland A's take...
01:16Take...
01:17I'll tell you what, we're having a nerve...
01:20It wasn't a technical glitch. It was the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, which killed 63 people, and caused
01:27devastating damage across the Bay Area.
01:29In an instant, a major sporting event became live disaster coverage.
01:32Well, I don't know if we're on the air or not, and I'm not sure I hear this in a
01:37moment, but we are.
01:38Well, folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television, bar none.
01:44Yes, it certainly did. We're still here.
01:47Number 9. A nation watches baby Jessica's rescue.
01:50This is CBS News live coverage of the scene from Midland, Texas. Dan Rather with Bruce Hall.
01:55As we, with the doctors, the men in green that you see there in your picture, continue to eagerly and
02:03anxiously await the next development,
02:05which we believe, hope and pray, will be Jessica McClure coming up and out of ground.
02:13In October 1987, America was transfixed by a gripping rescue mission.
02:17On October 14th, 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell into an abandoned well in Midland, Texas,
02:22becoming trapped about 22 feet underground in a shaft only 8 inches wide.
02:26For roughly 58 agonizing hours, rescuers worked around the clock,
02:31digging a parallel shaft and then tunneling horizontally to reach her.
02:33Man, it looks like they're getting ready to bring something up from the hole.
02:36I can't tell. They're tightening the slack on the cable,
02:41and people are moving in very, very close to the hole.
02:44Two doctors are right on the edge as they tighten the slack a little bit.
02:50The story dominated the major broadcast networks, turning a local emergency into a nationwide one.
02:55When Jessica was finally pulled out alive on October 16th,
02:58you could almost hear an audible coast-to-coast sigh of relief.
03:01Live and direct from Midland, Texas, Jessica McClure is up.
03:05She's alive. What a fighter.
03:08Number 8, Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal.
03:10The wide men have found little space in this contest.
03:17It's not true of Ola Tico Oche at the moment.
03:21But certainly it's been true of the England team.
03:23Haven't seen that much of hard draw of Trevor Stephen.
03:26Maradona just walked away from Harden then.
03:28By the time Argentina faced England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal
03:32on June 22nd at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca,
03:35the match already carried enormous tension.
03:37Then Diego Maradona produced one of the most infamous moments in sports history.
03:42They're appealing for offside.
03:44The ball came back off the foot of Steve Hodge.
03:48And Maradona gives Argentina the lead.
03:52The England players protesting to the referee.
03:55Rising with England goalkeeper Peter Shilton,
03:57Maradona used his left hand to help punch the ball into the net.
04:00Maradona later described it as being scored a little with the head of Maradona
04:03and a little with the hand of God, giving the moment its immortal nickname.
04:06What makes it even more unbelievable is that only minutes later he scored again,
04:10this time with the dazzling solo run now known as the goal of the century.
04:13Somehow a single match gave us both a scandal and a masterpiece.
04:17Peter Shilton narrows the angle as Maradona opens his body up to shoot,
04:22but instead drags the ball outside the keeper and rolls it into the net.
04:28Argentina's talisman had covered an incredible 68 meters,
04:32weaving his way through the England defense and into FIFA World Cup history.
04:37Number 7. The Miracle on Ice
04:56On February 22, 1980, the Soviet hockey team entered Lake Placid as the overwhelming favorite.
05:03They were seasoned, dominant, and widely viewed as unbeatable.
05:05Across from them stood a young U.S. team made up largely of amateur and college players.
05:10Nobody was supposed to remember this game as anything but another Soviet victory.
05:13Instead, the Americans took a 4-3 lead into the closing moments and held on.
05:1628 seconds. The crowd going insane.
05:20Carl Amon shooting it in to the American end again.
05:24Morrow is back there. Now Johnson, 19 seconds.
05:28Johnson over to Ramsey.
05:30There you let the knock. It's checked by Ramsey.
05:32McClanahan is there. The puck is still loose.
05:3411 seconds. You've got 10 seconds. The countdown going on right now.
05:38Then came Al Michaels' legendary call.
05:40Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
05:43Unbelievable!
05:45Almost instantly, the upset entered American legend as the ultimate underdog victory.
05:50It was more than a sports upset. It became a Cold War-era cultural flashpoint.
05:59Number 6. Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction.
06:03Story. Janet Jackson, Kid Rock, T. Diddy, Nelly, Jessica Simpson, and Justin Timberlake.
06:13Produced by MTV.
06:14The Super Bowl 38 halftime show on February 1st, 2004, was supposed to be a polished pop spectacle.
06:21Instead, during the final seconds of the performance in Houston, Justin Timberlake tore away Janet Jackson's costume,
06:26exposing her breast, which was partially covered by a nipple shield, to a massive CBS audience.
06:37The phrase wardrobe malfunction entered the culture, and the controversy exploded far beyond the broadcast itself.
06:42The so-called Nipplegate incident led to an FCC fine against CBS that was later overturned,
06:47helping to accelerate the wider use of broadcast delays on live television.
06:51The moment itself was brief. The aftermath was anything but.
06:54Well, 24 hours after that Super Bowl, Janet issued an apology, and I had read in another magazine that you
07:00regret making that apology.
07:02Is that true? Why?
07:03Uh, it was an accident. And management that I had at the time, they thought it was important that I
07:13did.
07:13Number 5. Lee Harvey Oswald is shot live on television.
07:16From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o'clock
07:26Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
07:30Just two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Americans were already glued to live TV,
07:36as police prepared to transfer accused gunman Lee Harvey Oswald from city jail to the county facility.
07:41On the morning of November 24, 1963, cameras rolled in the basement of Dallas police headquarters as officers led Oswald
07:48through a crowd of reporters.
07:49He's been shot. He's been shot. Lee Oswald has been shot.
07:54Then, in an instant, nightclub owner Jack Ruby lunged forward and shot him at point-blank rage, making American history
08:00in the process.
08:01Oswald was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where President Kennedy had been taken two days earlier, but
08:06he soon died of his wounds.
08:07No effective heartbeat was ever established. When the signs of death were absolute, he was pronounced dead at 1.07
08:16p.m.
08:18The patient never regained consciousness and obviously died of a massive injury from a close-range shotgun wound.
08:25Gunshot wound.
08:26Gunshot wound, sorry.
08:28Number 4. O.J. Simpson's slow-speed white Bronco chase.
08:31Police believe he is in that vehicle. Let's pick up what the KCAL broadcaster is saying.
08:38It seems at this point that the officers would do just about whatever they do in any type of a
08:44pursuit.
08:44Now they're telling me that they believe that this vehicle is registered to Al Cowling's, one of O.J.'s oldest
08:50friends, a teammate at Southern Cal.
08:52On June 17, 1994, America found itself watching one of the strangest live spectacles ever broadcast.
08:58O.J. Simpson, former football superstar and murder suspect, sat in the back of a white Ford Bronco while his
09:04friend Al Crowlings drove through Southern California with police in pursuit.
09:08The chase unfolded at low speed with helicopters overhead and crowds gathering on overpasses and along the route.
09:13The cars on the top of the screen heading east on that freeway are just slowing down to look and
09:19get a glimpse of one of the icons of American sports history, O.J. Simpson, on this tragic June day.
09:30In a city besieged with stories when you think what can top one with another, another occurs.
09:36It drew an estimated audience of about 95 million viewers and even interrupted coverage tied to the NBA Finals.
09:42The whole thing felt, and in many ways still feels, surreal.
09:45Part criminal manhunt, part celebrity spectacle, part national psychodrama.
09:49Both sides of the street, half-pedestrians.
09:53They just passed us at Barrington.
09:55He just went past Barrington.
09:57It's only...
09:58Just passed us at Barrington, followed by the sheriff, the Orange County sheriff, Santa Ana police officers, who are in
10:03pursuit.
10:04Remember, there are people there in that mansion, and I don't think law enforcement wants any kind of siege to
10:12take place.
10:13Number three, the Challenger disaster.
10:15Let's go down to the Kennedy Space Center and take a look at Challenger sitting on the pad.
10:1810, 9, 8, 7, 6, we have main engine start, 4, 3, 2, 1, and liftoff, liftoff of the 25th
10:32Space Shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower.
10:35Classrooms across America were watching the launch live, owing to the presence of teacher Krista McAuliffe aboard Challenger.
10:42Then, 73 seconds after liftoff, disaster struck.
10:45O-ring failure and the ring-solid rocket booster worsened by usual cold Florida weather, led to the destruction of
10:51the shuttle.
10:52The entire crew of seven was lost.
10:54In the aftermath, NASA halted shuttle flights for nearly three years, as investigators uncovered the fatal engineering flaws behind the
11:00disaster.
11:01But for millions of viewers, the shock was immediate and unforgettable, a moment of hope that turned into heartbreak, unfolding
11:07before the world could even process what it was seeing.
11:10We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.
11:14Flight director confirms that.
11:16We are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.
11:21Number two, the fall of the Berlin Wall.
11:23From the Berlin Wall specifically, take a look at them.
11:26They've been there since last night.
11:27They are here in the thousands.
11:29They are here in the tens of thousands.
11:31Occasionally, they shout, die mal muss weg, the wall must go.
11:35Thousands and thousands of West Germans come to make the point that the wall has suddenly become irrelevant.
11:41Something, as you can see, almost a party on.
11:44For nearly three decades, the Berlin Wall stood as perhaps the most visible symbol of the Cold War.
11:49Then, on November 9th, 1989, a bungled press conference by East German official Gunter Schabowski helped trigger its collapse.
11:55His muddled remarks made it sound as though travel restrictions were being lifted immediately.
12:00And thousands of East Berliners rushed towards border crossings.
12:02Especially Bornholmerstrasse.
12:04Thousands of East Germans came across the border today.
12:07Perhaps more than 100,000.
12:09So many that border police lost count.
12:15And at every border crossing, thousands of West Germans there to say welcome.
12:20Faced with swelling crowds and mounting confusion, border guards finally opened the checkpoint.
12:25What followed looked almost unreal.
12:26People streaming through, climbing the wall, celebrating on top of it, and hacking away at it with hammers.
12:31In short, it was a geopolitical order breaking in real time.
12:34Right in front of the cameras.
12:35Many of the East Germans were stunned by it all.
12:40I've been waiting 28 years for this, he told us.
12:44Will you come permanently, we asked.
12:46How long will you stay?
12:47I haven't much money, he said.
12:49But I'll stay till I run out of gas.
13:01Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's Adia.
13:05Songs from Iran.
13:07Reimagining Persian melodies as modern rock, metal, and pop songs.
13:11Check out the full track and album below.
13:13Call it madness if you must.
13:16I came back because my soul came back to you.
13:28Number one, the moon landing.
13:30ABC News presents the flight of Apollo 11.
13:32Beginning 30 hours of continuous coverage of the lunar landing.
13:36Good day from ABC Space Headquarters in New York.
13:40It is July 20th, 1969, and man is about to land on the moon.
13:47On July 20th, 1969, humanity pulled off what had long seemed impossible.
13:51Earlier that day, Apollo 11's lunar module Eagle landed on the moon.
13:55Then, at 10.56pm EDT, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface
13:59and delivered the words that would echo throughout history.
14:02That's one small step for man.
14:07One giant leap for mankind.
14:10More than half a billion people watched on television
14:13as the grainy black and white images came in from Tranquility Base.
14:16Alongside Buzz Aldrin, Armstrong made the kind of moment
14:19that redefined what humanity believed it could do.
14:21Even President Richard Nixon called the astronauts on the moon.
14:24For pure scale, wonder, and impossibility,
14:26nothing else in the history of live television quite compares.
14:29Oh, boy.
14:32You're looking good here.
14:36What?
14:37We're going to be busy for a minute.
14:39I can't throw them on.
14:40Take care of the people.
14:43I'll get the stuff prepared.
14:44While they say something, I'm speechless.
14:46I'm just trying to hold on to my breath.
14:48Which live TV moment took your breath away?
14:51Are there any we missed?
14:52Be sure to let us know in the comments.
14:56We'll see you next time.
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