The Heidi Game (track #29 on Stay Tuned: Television's Unforgettable Moments DVD (Garner Creative Concepts, 2002)). [Category: News]

This segment of Stay Tuned documents one of the biggest flubs in the history of sports television, when the telecast of a 1968 football game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders was stopped prematurely so that a tv-movie version of Heidi would start on time. This turned out to be a really exciting game in which the Oakland Raiders made two touchdowns during the last minute of the game, after Heidi had started. Unfortunately, they don't actually show the moment of Heidi breaking in on the game. They do show the last minute of the game that didn't get broadcast, as well as David Brinkley's comments about the whole affair, and they interview the actual NBC employee that made the decision to pull the game. He not only didn't get fired, but got promoted to the position of David Brinkley's director soon afterwards. Such is life in the corporate world of broadcasting. Of course, I'm not a sports fan, so I don't really care. But this is one of the more interesting chapters in the history of sports broadcasting.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

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