WWTBAM Bored

The first post on this version of the Bored was on October 8, 2007, 7 years and 320 days ago.

The first post on the original Bored (by gusgerbils, of course) was on November 23, 1999, 15 years and 274 days ago.

So the current Bored has lasted longer than all the previous ones combined. Few institutions have achieved this milestone. For example, the 50-star U.S. flag won't until July 24, 2143.

jarnon wrote:The first post on this version of the Bored was on October 8, 2007, 7 years and 320 days ago.

The first post on the original Bored (by gusgerbils, of course) was on November 23, 1999, 15 years and 274 days ago.

So the current Bored has lasted longer than all the previous ones combined. Few institutions have achieved this milestone. For example, the 50-star U.S. flag won't until July 24, 2143.

The Bored seemed so old at the time we wound up here. Almost 8 years was a looooong time.

This 8 years on the Raspberry (When's the last time someone even called this Bored that?) hasn't seemed like a very long time...

Interesting note about the first several hundred posts on the original ABC Bored... they were leftovers from before some kind of crash that version of the Bored experienced, and all got timestamped within two minutes of each other when the Bored was brought back up 11/23/99. There's no telling when that gusgerbils post had originally been made, but there were no Bored historians around at the time to make notes... nor were there many of the posters who would go on to become the first batch of regulars. Jeemie has mentioned before that the Bored existed during the inaugural August run of WWTBAM, and it would seem logical that in fact did... but Bored archaeology doesn't tell us much about that pre-history...

lb13

Today is the 16th anniversary of the taping of MIchael Schutterley's $500K(aired 8/25), and J! contestants Mark Dixon's making it in the Hot Seat and Erik Larsen's appearances and J! associate producer Harry Eisenberg's appearances in the Fastest Finger round. Also a cameo by a leg end who never dies.

zachhoran1 wrote:Today is the 16th anniversary of the taping of MIchael Schutterley's $500K(aired 8/25), and J! contestants Mark Dixon's making it in the Hot Seat and Erik Larsen's appearances and J! associate producer Harry Eisenberg's appearances in the Fastest Finger round. Also a cameo by a leg end who never dies.

It's Shutterly. Not Schutterley.

zachhoran1 wrote: Also a cameo by a leg end who never dies.

I always thought the leg end died when the rest of the leg did. If not before.

The first time I posted on the bored I had to carve my message on a rock and mail it in.

Or it may had been via AOL - same thing.

Congrats also to Queen Elizabeth II, who became the longest reigning British monarch today. This milestone, while not as impressive as the Bored's, is still amazing. Here's a tribute to the Queen from the British Ambassador to the Holy See:

Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning sovereign - Business as usual

jarnon wrote:Congrats also to Queen Elizabeth II, who became the longest reigning British monarch today. This milestone, while not as impressive as the Bored's, is still amazing. Here's a tribute to the Queen from the British Ambassador to the Holy See:

Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning sovereign - Business as usual

Since the record was given in years/days format, I figured this milestone would be a bit of an illusion since Queen Liz had reigned during two more leap days than Queen Vicki did... but in converting the reigns to just days, the math checks out. Victoria 23,227, Elizabeth 23,228...

lb13

jarnon wrote:Congrats also to Queen Elizabeth II, who became the longest reigning British monarch today. This milestone, while not as impressive as the Bored's, is still amazing. Here's a tribute to the Queen from the British Ambassador to the Holy See:

Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning sovereign - Business as usual

She's my 18th cousin.

littlebeast13 wrote:Jeemie has mentioned before that the Bored existed during the inaugural August run of WWTBAM, and it would seem logical that in fact did... but Bored archaeology doesn't tell us much about that pre-history...

lb13

It did exist, but I do not remember much about it- I mostly read it- I'm not sure I ever posted on it until November (you would know whether my first post was time-stamped Nov 23rd or not).

I wasn't even aware of WWTBAM until it was a couple of days into its August run. Not surprising- as I learned from reading up on the show's history in the book DisneyWar, ABC had so little faith in the show it refused to throw any marketing weight behind it. Indeed ABC wasn't even going to accept the show until Michael Davies lined up McDonald's as a sponsor.

Ironically, WWTBAM's success propelled Robert Iger, who was one of the biggest voices against it, into the Disney presidency, from which position he then succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO...leading to such things as Pixar, Marvel, and the Star Wars franchise all being part of Disney! Eisner would have never done all those deals- indeed never would have been able to.

But anyhow, enough of my James Burke-like digression. Where was I? Oh yes- McDonald's sponsorship. That's where I first learned about WWTBAM- in a McDonald's.

Then by a quirk of geography, I was able to compete in the phone game for free in August, since it was illegal in Connecticut to charge for phone calls for contest purposes.

OH, and BTW, you can partially thank Iger's ambitions for WWTBAM getting programmed for 3-4 nights a week instead of remaining a stunt event staged every so often for two weeks.

Because Davies wanted to leave it as "event programming"...he and his team were pissed when it came down that BAM would be on that often because they didn't think they could program so many episodes.

BAM also stoked a lot of hubris at Disney and was one of the driving forces behind Disney rejecting such hit shows as Survivor and CSI when they had the rights to them. Survivor, of course, went on to crush WWTBAM in head to head competition when it premiered.

jarnon wrote:Congrats also to Queen Elizabeth II, who became the longest reigning British monarch today. This milestone, while not as impressive as the Bored's, is still amazing. Here's a tribute to the Queen from the British Ambassador to the Holy See:

Elizabeth II, Britain's longest reigning sovereign - Business as usual

Still the only monarch of England in my lifetime. --Bob

Just like a Timex, takes a licking............

Jeemie wrote:

littlebeast13 wrote:Jeemie has mentioned before that the Bored existed during the inaugural August run of WWTBAM, and it would seem logical that in fact did... but Bored archaeology doesn't tell us much about that pre-history...

lb13

It did exist, but I do not remember much about it- I mostly read it- I'm not sure I ever posted on it until November (you would know whether my first post was time-stamped Nov 23rd or not).

Although there's no record of it, my first visit to the Bored was in February 2000. I don't think I posted anything (lb says my "official" arrival was in May) but I did peruse the posts.

Were it not for the Millionaire board in it's many incarnations, I doubt that I would belong to anywhere close to the number of internet forums that I belong to now. Thank goodness for that warm, welcoming sense of family that we had in the early days.

lilclyde54 wrote:Were it not for the Millionaire board in it's many incarnations, I doubt that I would belong to anywhere close to the number of internet forums that I belong to now. Thank goodness for that warm, welcoming sense of family that we had in the early days.

we just couldn't figure out a way to keep you off