Heidi VS Football

Many people love the movie, Heidi, but even Heidi fans have their limit…at least those who are in the middle of a football game. On November 17, 1968, the Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns in just nine seconds to defeat the New York Jets. Now that would have been a great game, but no one saw it because they were watching the movie Heidi instead. In one of the biggest blunders in history within the television network community, up to that date anyway, with only 65 seconds left in the game, NBC cut away to its scheduled program, a made-for-TV adaptation of the children’s story about a young girl and her grandfather in the Alps. Outraged viewers flooded the network with complaints, teaching executives a lesson they’d never forget…”Whatever you do, never cut away from an NFL game,” one viewer said.

The Jets and Raiders game was turning into an instant classic, showcasing two of the league’s top teams and boasting 10 future Hall of Famers. By the final minute, the lead had changed hands eight times. The high intensity led to a flurry of penalties and timeouts, stretching the game longer than usual, which was the whole reason that the network cut away became a problem. With just over a minute to go, the Jets nailed a 26-yard field goal to pull ahead 32-29. After the kickoff, the Raiders started from their own 23-yard line. What followed became legendary…quarterback Daryle Lamonica hit halfback Charlie Smith with a 20-yard pass, and a facemask penalty put the ball on the Jets’ 43-yard-line. On the very next play, Lamonica connected with Smith again, who took it all the way for a touchdown, putting Oakland up 36-32. Then, on the ensuing kickoff, the Jets fumbled, and Preston Ridlehuber scooped it up and ran it in from two yards out. In just nine seconds, the Raiders scored twice and sealed a 43-32 victory.

Unfortunately, nobody outside the Oakland Coliseum saw any of that spectacular ending, because NBC cut to a commercial right after the Jet’ kickoff and never returned. Instead, they stuck to their long-standing plan…at 7 PM, they aired a new version of Heidi, because they were confident it would score big ratings during November sweeps. Before kickoff, network executives had already discussed the possibility of the game running late and decided they’d air the movie no matter what. So, that’s what NBC programmer Dick Cline did. “I waited and waited,” he said later, “and I heard nothing. We came up to that magic hour and I thought, ‘Well, I haven’t been given any counter order, so I’ve got to do what we agreed to do.'”

The reality was that NBC executives had a last-minute change of heart and tried to reach Cline to tell him to keep the game on until it ended. But the phone lines were jammed with thousands of people calling to push for Heidi to air on time, while thousands more demanded the football game stay on. Fans got even angrier when NBC flashed the game’s final score at the bottom of the screen 20 minutes after it was over. The flood of furious calls overwhelmed NBC’s switchboard, prompting people to start phoning the telephone company, the New York Times, and even the NYPD, whose emergency lines were tied up for hours. I guess I can understand the telephone company calls…to see if phone lines are down, but the New York Times and the NYPD!!! What are they going to do about it? The New York Times and the NYPD have no say in the matter.

Not long after the infamous Heidi incident, the NFL added a clause to its TV contracts ensuring that all games would be shown in full in their home markets. They didn’t ever want to deal with another fiasco like the one they called the “Heidi Game” again!! So, NBC set up a special phone, dubbed the “Heidi Phone” in the control room with its own exchange and switchboard. The network promised viewers that such a fiasco would never happen again. I wonder how long it took for their ratings to come back!!