The 10 Best Philly News Bloopers of the Last Decade
Before YouTube, TV news bloopers were passed down through newsroom generations via word of mouth. I was working at NBC 10 for less than a month when I was told the story of a TV reporter, covering the manhunt for murderer Ira Einhorn, who said, “He will be tried in absentia.” The anchor asked, “Where exactly is absentia?” She must have thought it was a little country in Eastern Europe that had splintered off the Soviet Union.
That almost topped the story of the young anchor in Pittsburgh who filled in one night for the main anchor team in Pittsburgh and said, “Good Evening. Bill is on vacation and Jack’s off.” The studio crew lost it. Luckily the anchor didn’t realize what she said.
But now, thanks to You Tube, I can show you Philadelphia’s Top Ten TV news bloopers from the past decade.
I’ll start with me. I was field-anchoring from the floodwaters in Lumberton, New Jersey, for CBS 3, when I fully immersed myself in the story
Jimmy Kimmel showed the clip the next night and remarked that the only injuries were three young men who ruptured their spleens laughing at me.
Next, Jim Gardner gives the porn version of continuous coverage. Then, as an added bonus, Hurricane Sandy – Gangman Style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqQBLs7y94c
Fox 29 reporter Omari Fleming’s live shot on a night that featured a full moon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV-9XcT_kTE
NBC 10 reporter Claudia Rivera says it herself, “They want people to come out here and have a good time.” The guy behind her is.
Apparently NBC 10 covers humping better than anyone else in the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZkRIy6MAB8
And what do you call someone who makes a blooper during a live report? I think WPHL 17 reporter Sigourney McLeaf may have coined the perfect moniker, “Tongue _____ “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7udNcv_jsQ
An open microphone allowed us all to hear what Action News meteorologist Cecily Tynan thought of colleague Adam Joseph. It also allowed us to once again see how good Jim Gardner is in these situations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu2C9mq1ADo
When something funny happens on the set, it is not uncommon to see an anchor have difficulty controlling his or her laughter. But normally, they don’t laugh at an Olympic star they just interviewed like Fox 29’s Sheinelle Jones did. This YouTube clip has more than 2 million hits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Y5APL5-G8
It’s not really a blooper, but with more than three million hits on YouTube, I can’t ignore the CBS 3 “catfight” between anchor Nicole Brewer and Meteorologist Carol Erickson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya1lfbo6oPA
For the record, I know these women and they are both as sweet as can be. I truly believe this is a case of them trying to be funny and it not coming off the way they thought it would. I also think that two men saying the same things and acting the same way would not get the same attention or criticism.
And finally, the all-time great Philadelphia TV blooper of the last decade, with well over 3 million YouTube hits, Lori Wilson knows how to woo a man with a love song.
So that’s the top 10, but as they say in the TV ads, “Wait, there’s more.” In my search, I came across a TV gem from 1980: Former Mayor Frank Rizzo showing why no politician ever handled the media the way he did. Man, do I miss him.
