Entertainment> Television

The top 10 biggest TV blunders of the decade

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-30 09:15

5. ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE IN 2000

The evening not only went down as TV news divisions' biggest blunder in recent memory, it also led to sweeping changes in how networks announce election results. At 8 p.m. ET on November 7, all major networks called Florida for Al Gore, then moved the state back to the undecided column at 10 p.m. At 2 a.m., Fox News Channel, with George W. Bush's first cousin John Ellis running its election desk, was the first to project Florida -- and the presidency -- for the Texas governor. All networks followed suit until that call, too, was retracted and the state was pronounced again "too close to call" at 4 a.m. "We don't just have egg on our face," NBC's lead anchor Tom Brokaw said that morning. "We have an omelet on our suits."

4. MYNETWORKTV

It was bad enough combining UPN and the WB into one new network -- the CW. But the biggest misstep was what happened to stations that did not join the CW. Regrouped by Fox Entertainment Group into a sixth broadcast network called MyNetworkTV, the company launched a bizarre plan to stock the network exclusively with original low-cost English-language telenovelas. The programing flopped out of the gate, and today MyNetworkTV largely airs syndicated programing and repeats.

3. JANET JACKSON'S SUPER BOWL NIPPLE SLIP

The biggest problem was that it looked intentional. When Justin Timberlake ripped off fabric covering Janet Jackson's right breast for a half-second on live TV during CBS' Super Bowl halftime show, the resulting firestorm saw CBS get slapped with a record $550,000 fine from the FCC -- about a dollar for every complaint the commission received from viewers. The "wardrobe malfunction" led to increased worry about FCC fines and pre-emptive editing of risque content on scripted shows, as well as more vigilance on live telecasts.

2. ABC PASSING ON "CSI"

In the fall of 1999, ABC was pitched a new forensic drama from writer Anthony Zuiker, Disney corporate sibling Touchstone Television and studio-based producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The network passed. Then, in the summer of 2000, when "CSI" went into production as a new series for CBS, Touchstone, which was a 50/50 producing partner on the show, dramatically pulled out, not wanting to finance a show for a rival network. So far, the "CSI" franchise has generated $6 billion for CBS. What's more, the "CSI" snafu prompted Bruckheimer to leave Disney's TV divisions for CBS and its sister studio, generating billions more for them with a string of long-running procedurals such as "Without a Trace" and "Cold Case" and the Emmy-dominant reality veteran "The Amazing Race."

1. WRITERS STRIKE

Has there ever been a longer 14 weeks? The 2007-08 walkout was a largely avoidable mutually destructive act that occurred at exactly the wrong time. In addition to almost wiping out an entire pilot season, the strike sent shows into repeats, driving a ratings crash that broadcasters have not been able to recover from thanks to increased DVR use and viewers fleeing to cable. In the end, writers outmaneuvered the studios, but few felt as if they actually won.