The 30 Most Shocking and Surreal TV Moments Ever

In 1984, a man named Michael Larson who was a contestant on “Press Your Luck” won 45 consecutive spins and earned a total of $110,237 in cash and prizes. It was at that time the largest one-day total ever won on a game show. He was able to do so by using the stop-motion feature on his VCR and memorize the patterns used in the game board.

On November 22, 1987, two Chicago TV station broadcasts were hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom. The video ended with the hacker’s exposed buttocks being spanked with a flyswatter by an accomplice. FBI investigation never solved the case and the perpetrators were never caught.

Between 2007 and 2009, a children’s program named Tomorrow's Pioneers was produced and broadcasted by Hamas. It was co-hosted by various costumed characters, including one resembling Mickey Mouse. Most of the said costumed characters were shown to be killed by Jews in some violent manner on the show.

Turn-On, a sketch comedy show from 1969 was considered to be so bad that one station refused to continue airing it after the first commercial break and several other stations that were scheduled to air it later that evening refused to air it all together.

In 2007, UK broadcaster Channel 4 announced to broadcast a season of programming called “Wank Week.” It was expected to consist of a series of three documentary programs about masturbation. The decision came under public attack and it was canceled.

St. Elsewhere was American medical drama which was aired on NBC between 1982 and 1988. Over its six-season, it had a 137-episode run. Tommy Westphall who was an autistic was a minor character in the series. The common interpretation of the show’s final episode, “The Last One”, is that the entire St. Elsewhere storyline exists only within Westphall's imagination.

On January 3, 2005, FOX aired a reality show named “Who's Your Daddy?” It started with an adoptee who was introduced to eight men and had to figure out which one really was her father. If she got it right, she would win the cash prize of $100,000. If she got it wrong, the “dad” who had conned her took the money. Only one episode aired and it was canceled due to low ratings and strong controversy.

The Intercept (Perehvat in Russia) was a popular 1997 Russian TV show. The contestant had to “steal” (actually, be given the keys to) a car and avoid the police for 35 minutes. If the contestant successfully avoided the police, he won the car. The car chase was done in the real Moscow streets and had to obey traffic laws. At its peak, the show had 60 million viewers per episode.

Turkey was planning a TV show in 2009 named Penitents Compete, in which a rabbi, a Buddhist monk, an Orthodox priest, and an imam attempt to convert 10 atheists each week, with any converts offered a free pilgrimage to one of the four holy sites. The country’s religious board denied permission for an imam to appear and the program was canceled.

In 2005, there was a TV show named Sperm Race which piloted in Germany. Twelve contestants donated their sperm to a lab where doctors observed their seed race towards an egg. The winner of the race was given the title of Germany's most fertile man and also a red Porsche.