Top 10 Craziest Events Caught Live on TV in the 80s

Live TV was crazy in the 80s! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the most gripping, inspiring, tragic and dramatic events broadcast live on TV during the 1980s. Our countdown of the craziest events caught on live TV in the 80s includes Mount St. Helens Eruption (1980), Assassination Attempt on President Ronald Reagan (1981), Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster (1986), and more! What other event could have made this list? Let us know in the comments!

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#LiveTV
#80s
#TV
#Craziest
#Crazy
#1980s
#Challenger
#RonaldReagan
#UnitedStates
#LiveAid

[WatchMojo]

What other event could have made this list? Let us know in the comments!

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[SirAsdf]

No mention of the time Pennsylvania State Treasurer and Convicted Felon Budd Dwyer, rather than go to prison, pulled out a gun during a press conference and shot himself on live TV?

[Margann]

Please make this a series! I would love to see ones for other decades.

[TornSparrow]

Princess Diana's wedding definitely still stands out to me as a youngster. She was stunning throughout her entire life.

[oliverklosov]

What about Geraldo Rivera failing to find Capone's vault? lol

[jalabi]

8:12 Still amazed that Phil Collins started his set at Wembley, drove to Heathrow, flew on Concorde to the US, and finished his set in RFK Stadium!

[mazman]

If it was a scheduled broadcast event, like the royal wedding and Live Aid, is it really "caught" on live video?

[TurnStyle]

"Live Aid" was a concert held... in concert... with another concert...
That's some serious infinity mirror stuff. I need to lie down. 🤪

[chynne]

Saw the Challenger explosion (3rd grade), Fall of the Berlin wall (7th grade) and Baby Jessica ( 5th grade ) all in school. The San Francisco eathquake was the only one I saw at home.

[BigFrogg]

10:09 “watched the movie taxi driver 15 times!”
Those are rookie numbers 👎

[lizardtattoo]

As a Brit, I gotta laugh at the Charles & Di thing- that worked out well didn't it? What a sham.

[Cristinact]

I was so lucky to have been part of the generation who watched "Live Aid". I can't believe how many great artists were around at that time, I think we even took it for granted! Compared to now...

[nanasewdear]

Saw the eruption of Mt St Helens live. I still have a fruit jar full of ash.

[daviddavies]

And for non-Americans, there was the Hillsborough disaster, the Bradford City fire and the Heysel disaster.

[Fopeano]

They had us all watching the Challenger launch in school on those AV room TV carts that they didn't have enough of so they were combining classes. I was in Kindergarten, and still remember understanding very little about it other than that it was a big deal even before it blew up.

[dennisdavis]

I saw all of this from 80 to 89 it’s so wild how things changed over that decade!

[tlmarshall]

Never forget the Challenger Disaster. We were all watching in Homeroom...they actually sent everyone home from school that day! Very Sad Day! 😢😢😢

[HeatherQuinlan]

I understand why this wouldn't make the list, but Joe Theismann's leg was the most horrifying thing I'd ever seen on live TV.

[cijmo]

How is a royal wedding "crazy"?

[Jeremiah_Rivers]

I’d have loved to see the Live Aid live, but my parents were still kids back then.