Until recently, TV news was the least permanent medium. A broadcast viewed through the rabbit ears one moment was scattered into a gazillion radio frequency bits headed to Pluto the next. Mistake? Hope nobody noticed. Blooper? Preserved, only if some smart aleck happened to be videotaping it and made a copy.
Melissa Sanders’ unfortunate plunge on WAGA more than a decade ago preceded the Youtube age. But the blooper had already had currency as a videotaped outtake. Then, somebody uploaded it to Youtube and it gained a measure of permanence. But immortality comes when a TV news clip somehow becomes part of the culture. Last weekend, the show known as the Family Guy gave this local news clip animation immortality:
(Looks like Fox has pulled the clip from Youtube. Try here instead. If that doesn’t work, and if you can endure a Fox promo first, you can view the Family Guy clip here.)
The original clip has gotten 550,000 plus views on Youtube. Saturday Night Live also did a brief spoof, with Scarlett Johansen playing the part of “the grape stomping lady.” (H/T to Rodney Ho for finding this on Youtube…)
Here’s the original in all its ugly glory, as shot by WAGA photog Gus Valdes. Who knew that this clip would get this kind of immortality?
(Btw, aside from knocking the wind out of her, the fall tore Sanders’ anterior cruciate ligament. She left WAGA a few months later. We don’t know her current whereabouts, except as a permanent presence in cyberspace.)
Posted by scott hedeen on November 17, 2008 at 10:36 pm
sanders was in baltimore when i was… seems everyone was happy when she split. i saw this after moved…. here and smiled.
Posted by John Gunter on November 18, 2008 at 10:44 am
she’s apparently a meterologist at WTEN in Albany NY now.
Posted by extvtog on November 18, 2008 at 11:06 am
I would consider it an honor to have my blooper spoofed by Family Guy! This is too good. Thanks for posting. BTW I remember this happening….I was a tween watching FOX 5 one morning!
Posted by live apt fire on November 18, 2008 at 11:37 am
I don’t see her on WTEN’s website, unless she’s changed her name to “katie virtue,” which is a made-up name if ever one was. But I don’t think that’s her.
Posted by scott hedeen on November 18, 2008 at 12:41 pm
i can’t stop watching this… and laughing… i’m a dick.
Posted by Gray on November 18, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Awesome clip. I feel really sorry for the newsreporter, but I also laughed a bit, so maybe I’m a masochist at heart.
This is why i come to this site.. Great stuff.
Posted by Mrs. LAF on November 18, 2008 at 4:22 pm
No comment from the news photographer who shot this?
[[ No dear, not here. But if you go here you'll see that Rodney Ho squeezed a few words out of the photog, who seems to have forgotten that Ms Sanders busted her knee in this mishap. - LAF]]
Posted by LBJ on November 18, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I hope she at least got Workman’s Comp.
Posted by Photog on November 18, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Photog guy would like to keep some details of that day to remain a mystery. He thinks it adds to the legend of “The grape lady”. Photog guys writes in the third person to follow LAF’s style.
Posted by Jane on November 20, 2008 at 11:34 am
I usually read laf daily, but since the format change have found it visually more difficult to read. The white printing on the black background overwhelems the actual message. Might you consider changing the color palate so that the reading of your blog might be easier ? All that aside, I really enjoy your blog — the Mark Winne ocmments are especially priceless!
Posted by Bad White Trash Memories on December 1, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Maybe Mark Hyman should take a dive…