Picture this: you’re sitting at home, exhausted after a long day at work. You turn on your favorite show—a mid-tier 90’s sitcom—hoping that the din of laugh tracks and witty banter helps lull you into some kind of relaxation, and it does! At least at first, before it gets suddenly interrupted by an X-rated film. Or aliens. Or just some guy complaining about cable prices.
Before they were the things of Reddit creepypastas and mediocre thrillers, broadcast interruptions like these were an uncommon and jarring part of the nascent Television media landscape. We’ve collected a few of our favorite cases, from unexplained alien broadcasts interrupting the evening news to vigilante Christians hijacking people’s porn.
