That's Incredible!

In the fall of 1980,ABC-TV presented a show like no other that brought out the most amazing people ever to be seen and brought out some of the most defying and spectacular acts of faith ever assembled.

And for one back in the early 80's,anything was better than watching those lame variety shows and sugarcoated family sitcoms and most of all those dull crime dramas.

This show set the standard for all other reality based shows you see today,and for good reason,this was the original! Man,do I remember watching this show! It had me in sheer intensity from the moment I saw it!

For one,it only ran for four seasons on ABC-TV(from 1980-1984),and it kept you in constant suspense the whole time and those acts were extremely a cliffhanger cause you'll never know what to expect next! Who wouldn't forget hosts John Davidson,Cathy Lee Crosby,and NFL great Fran Tarkelton as they would come on and bring you stories and stunts of the bizarre and amazing beyond belief and the people who turned out to be the unexpected as well as the impossible(most of the stunts were done on the show where our hosts were put into some dangerous and imaginative situations---remember the episode where Cathy Lee kissed a 400-pound killer bear in cage? And the one where this guy put a sharp sword into his mouth,and the one where this Frenchman balanced a table onto a 120 story building with nothing to hold him? And the one were Davidson goes into a pit with a deadly Kimono Dragon?). This show was just that.........

Man,"THAT'S INCREDIBLE!"

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Yes ladies and gentlemen! If you watched this show, you will remember that a 4 year old golf phenomenon was introduced to us for the very first time. He was there with his father/coach showing how well he could strike the ball at such a young age. The hosts, as well as the audience were amazed by the young golfer. Later, he went on to win many accolades and tournaments in college and hit the PGA by storm. He won Major championships and is a role model for the grand old sport. Although recently losing his major influence, mentor, close friend and father, he himself has become a father for the first time. Winning the U S Open this year was bittersweet, but for him not to win on Fathers' Day weekend... well.... that would have been harder to imagine. He may not pick up a club for the rest of the year, but his mastery will still amaze all players of any age when he steps up to the tee. Today, you would be hard pressed to find anyone, even casual observers, who haven't heard of him. Of course he goes by his nickname now.... Tiger.

That's Incredible ! Was a family favorite growing up. It seemed like everyone in our group of friends watched the show. We never knew from week to week what we would see.

In the history of American television, "That's Incredible!" must rank as one of the most tasteless and dubiously educational of all time. Time Magazine called it the "most sadistic show on television". Why? Well, the show didn't exactly start out that way. It began a lot like "Ripley's Believe It or Not", "You Asked For It" and a circus sideshow all put together. I remember seeing acts such as folks walking on coals or glass, a yogi would could scrunch himself into a tiny plexiglass box and the like. However, as the show progressed, in order to keep people watching the stunts became more tasteless and outlandish. In particular, they had stunt people doing progressively more and more dangerous things...and several resulted in people being horribly mangled...it was show shown on the air!! I remember two of them well. One involved an idiot stuntman running through a tunnel of flames and when it was completed, he'd burned his fingers off...and they showed his charred and still smoking stumps!! Another one (and one of the last) was when an idiot was going to jump at the last second as cars plowed at him from opposite directions. He didn't time his jump properly...and his foot was ripped off! By this point, the show had run its course, the network was embarrassed by yet another publicity stunt run amok and the public began turning to other programs. Clearly a low-point in human history...entertaining but also a show that often made your skin crawl or embarrassed you for liking it!

I loved this show as a kid because of the wide variety of stories they handled on it. There was something on it for everyone from the funny to the supernatural. It was always interesting when they talked about hauntings like in one episode where they mentioned that the ghost of Mary Surrat who was hanged for the Lincoln assassination was still haunting the old courthouse where she was sentenced. They had another one about people who claimed that they died and went to hell. There was one line on there that sort of became a joke at the time "Remember this stunt were showing is very dangerous, do not attempt this at home".