The Coveted Silver Sow: Most Newsworthy moments in show

[David T. Cole]

Lol nice title suggestion.

[Shannon L.]

Not sure what exactly should go in here.  Things like "Tornado hits Cincinnati" or "Single mom leaves baby with local DJ"? 

Here's the biggest one, imo, because it was real and done so well on the show:  Eleven people dying at The Who concert.  What a show that was. 

Edited April 9, 2014 by Shannon L.

[bunnywithanaxe]

The thread title was my suggestion--I guess I was thinking of just what you are talking about-- the show seemed really sharp about incorporating current news concerns into the news spots. The Who concert is a perfect example.

 

Another one-- Baily is called up at one point for fictionalizing a trip to a children's hospital. On show, Andy rescues the situation by adding a disclaimer to the article that identifies the fictional child in Bailey's story as "a composite character." IIRC, there was a similar controversy in the news at the time, some reporter who had made up "representative characters" to act in a story  she'd written about Central America, or something.

[Shannon L.]

I remember that episode!  They really were good at incorporating real life issues.  Many times over the years, I've thought of the episode where Jennifer pretends to be "Arlene", a person who gives advice to callers.  When that woman called in saying her boyfriend had beaten her?  Really well done for a comedy, imo.

[AimingforYoko]

Another one-- Baily is called up at one point for fictionalizing a trip to a children's hospital. On show, Andy rescues the situation by adding a disclaimer to the article that identifies the fictional child in Bailey's story as "a composite character." IIRC, there was a similar controversy in the news at the time, some reporter who had made up "representative characters" to act in a story  she'd written about Central America, or something.

 

Wasn't it closer to the Janet Cooke scandal?

Edited April 10, 2014 by AimingforYoko

[bunnywithanaxe]

Bingo! Thank you!

I guess I read a bunch of similar stories at the same time, and conflated them all. Probably on Cracked.

Edited April 10, 2014 by bunnywithanaxe

[mbutterfly]

Can anyone tell me whether the Who Concert show is on DVD and if so what year, please? I loved that show and lived not too far from Cincinnati at the time. 

[AimingforYoko]

It's Season 2 ("In Concert") and only Season 1 is out on DVD.

[maplebrew]

Season 1 has the episode where Venus admits to being a Vietnam War deserter from eight years earlier. The show tried to soften the controversy by saying he deserted during his last three weeks of military service, after having already been transferred back to the U.S. Andy had no issue with Venus deserting. Mr. Carlson, the WWII vet, was initially disapproving but came around by the end of the episode. Good newsworthy, time capsule stuff in that episode. That and Venus' mirror pant jumpsuits. 

[bunnywithanaxe]

Good suggestion.

There was one episode where Johnny made some flip comment about dumping garbage on the steps of city hall, and he then found out he had an audience of hundreds that were pretty impressionable. I have this vague feeling something similar happened to Young Howard Stern, or Young Alex Bennett.

[scowl]

The backstory with Venus being a Vietnam deserter (barely) cleverly fit in with another bit of his backstory. Remember that Venus had once been on a children's television show. If he didn't want to be seen in public, why would he have been on a television show? Simple: he was "Sailor Ned". We can easily imagine that he wore a costume as a disguise.

 

And to do this, we have to imagine a black sailor.

[ethalfrida]

The Chi Chi Rodragweez episode is on...

 

The series started with the pilot yesterday and I'd forgotten how different everyone looked. Even Herb was way understated, comparatively.