Life's Most Embarrassing Moments

Life's Most Embarrassing Moments is a series of television comedy specials primarily featuring "blooper" outtakes, and appeared on the ABC network in the United States from 1983 to 1986.

Life's Most Embarrassing Moments
Title screen of first special
Directed byWoody Fraser (first special)
Jerry Kupcinet (subsequent specials)
Presented byJohn Ritter (first special)
Steve Allen (subsequent specials)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersAlan Landsburg, Woody Fraser
Production companyAlan Landsburg Productions
Release
Original networkABC
Original release1983 (1983) –
1986 (1986)

Created by Alan Landsburg Productions[1] the first special aired on April 27, 1983, hosted by John Ritter, and was the most-watched prime time television show of the week. Steve Allen hosted approximately nine subsequent installments, which started in September 1983, with the last special airing in May 1986.[2] The content of the show was primarily outtakes of celebrity mishaps. A number of the specials were also rerun as a "weekly series" in August to early September 1985.[3] Each installment was numbered, e.g., Life's Most Embarrassing Moments III.

The first special was highly watched, but reviewer Tom Shales at The Washington Post was not impressed. Noting the show was plainly a response to NBC's Bloopers specials, Shales called it a "grossly irritating hour" where after every clip "the director cut to the studio audience for a hefty round of artificially augmented applause."[4] The comparison to Bloopers was noted by many, and that show's creator Dick Clark Productions sued Alan Landsburg Productions over it in federal court.[5] The case was eventually dismissed, and the dismissal was affirmed on appeal.[6][7] The trial court concluded that copyright protections do not protect the format of a show: "The format of the two shows look similar, but so do the formats of virtually every television news show. The 'look' of a show is not the proper subject of copyright protection."[8]

In 1988-89, a syndicated version of the show was created with Roy Firestone as the host.[3]

Episodes
  1. April 27, 1983 (hosted by John Ritter) (Most viewed prime time show of the week per Nielsen ratings, with 28.0 rating and 44 share[9])
  2. September 18, 1983 (hosted by Steve Allen, as were all subsequent specials)(21.7 Nielsen rating, or 18.1 million homes, tied for 2nd place for week[10])
  3. November 10, 1983 (Nielsen rating 19.8, 16.5 million homes, #16 for week)[11]
  4. February 23, 1984
  5. May 1984 (rerun?) (#3 rated show of the week[12])
  6. November 11, 1984
  7. February 17, 1985
  8. May 5, 1985
  9. August ?, 1985
  10. February 1, 1986 (lowest Nielsen rating of week, 6.9 rating, 68 out of 68 shows[13])
  11. May 24, 1986[2]

References
  1. Shales, Tom (18 November 1983). Camelot Recaptured, The Washington Post
  2. Terrace, Vincent. Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936–2012, 2d ed., p. 1500 (2013)
  3. Brooks, Tim & Earle F. Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, p. 793 (2007)
  4. Shales, Tom (19 May 1983). ABC's Sampling of Bargain-Basement Hype, The Washington Post
  5. (21 August 1983). Personal and Confidential is lousy TV, San Bernardino County Sun' ("Messrs. Landsburg and Fraser. These two schlockmeisters saw "Real People" and came up with "That's Incredible!"; they're being sued for plagiarism. They saw "TV's Censored Bloopers" and developed "Life's Most Embarrassing Moments," for which they're also being sued.")
  6. Who's the Star: Its Danza, Greenville News ("Dick Clark's plagiarism lawsuit against Alan Landsburg Productions has been dismissed in a federal court.")
  7. (October 1986). [elr.carolon.net/BI/V08N05.PDF Recent Cases], Entertainment Law Reporter pp. 38-39 (Vol. 8, No. 5)
  8. Dick Clark Co. v. Alan Landsburg Prods. Inc. (C.D. Cal. June 13, 1985)
  9. (4 May 1983). TV Ratings, Daily Chronicle
  10. (22 September 1983). ABC winner second week in row, The Pantagraph
  11. (17 November 19830. CBS Leaves Its Rivials In the Dust, The Tennessean (ratings for part "III")
  12. (30 May 1984). ABC was the No. 1 prime time network last..., United Press International
  13. (4 February 1986). 'Sins' wins, United Press International
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