NEW YORK – The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack is by far the most memorable moment shared by TV viewers during the past 50 years, a study released Wednesday concluded.
The only thing that came close was President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and its aftermath in 1963, but that was only for the people 55 and older who experienced those events as they happened instead of replayed as an historical artifact.
Sony Electronics and the Nielsen television research company collaborated on the survey. They ranked TV moments for their impact, not just by asking people whether they remembered watching them, but whether they recalled where they watched it, who they were with and whether they talked to other people about what they had seen.
By that measure, the Sept. 11 tragedy was nearly twice as impactful as the second-ranked moment, which was the coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Minutes after the first airplane struck New York’s World Trade Center on a late-summer morning, TV networks began covering the events continuously and stayed with them for days.
The other biggest TV events, in order, were the 1995 verdict in O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986 and the death of Osama bin Laden last year, the survey found.
Sony executive Brian Siegel said he had anticipated that entertainment events like the final episode of “M*A*S*H” (ranked No. 42), the Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (No. 43) and the “Who shot J.R.?” episode of “Dallas” (No. 44) would rank higher. Instead, TV coverage of news events made the biggest difference in viewers’ lives.
The Super Bowl is annually the most-watched TV event. The memories don’t linger, however: the top-ranked Super Bowl Sunday event in Sony’s study came in 2004 and had nothing to do with football. It was Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction (No. 26).
Men and women agreed on the three most memorable TV events – Sept. 11, Katrina and Simpson. After that, interests diverged.
Women ranked the 1997 funeral of Princess Diana as the fourth most memorable event, while men put that at No. 23. Women ranked last year’s death of Whitney Houston at No. 5, with men judging it No. 21.
Similarly, the 2003 bombing of Baghdad at the start of the Iraq war was seen as the No. 14 most impactful moment by men, and No. 37 among women. Men were also far more struck by boxer Mike Tyson biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear.
The passage of time has also diluted some moments once thought as unforgettable, simply because succeeding generations have no personal memory of them. The first moon landing in 1969 ranked No. 21.
Age also made a big difference. JFK’s assassination was the second-most memorable TV event among people 55 and older, while for those between 18 and 34, it was the death of Osama bin Laden.
Young people also ranked Barack Obama’s Election Night speech in 2008 at No. 3, while that didn’t move older viewers quite as much (No. 24).
Simply because of their age, events like the JFK assassination, President Nixon’s resignation and the moon landing didn’t register at all among viewers 18 to 34. The oldest event in their rankings was the 1980 shooting of John Lennon.
