TV's most memorable moments: 9/11 tops the list

Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by two hijacked airliners in a terrorist attack Sept. 11, 2001, in New York.

/ Robert Giroux/Getty Images

(CBS/AP) The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center is the most memorable moment shared by television viewers during the last 50 years, according to a study released Wednesday.

Sony Electronics and Nielsen television research company collaborated on the study that ranked TV moments for their impact, not just by asking people whether they remembered watching them, but whether they can remember where they watched it and whether they talked about it with others.

Pictures: TV's most memorable moments

The Sept. 11 attack, according to the study's measurement, was nearly twice as impactful as the second top-ranked moment - Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The other biggest TV events, in order, were the 1995 verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986 and the death of Osama bin Laden last year, the survey found.

Television coverage of news events made the biggest difference in viewer's lives as opposed to entertainment events on television.

The Super Bowl is annually the most-watched TV event, with this year's game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots setting an all-time record with 111 million viewers, but the memories don't seem to linger.

The passage of time also had an effect on moments that were once thought to be unforgettable, including man's first moon landing in 1969.

Age also made a big difference in the survey. JFK's assassination was the second-most impactful TV event among people 55 and over, while for those between 18 and 34, it was the death of Osama bin Laden.

The study was based on an online questionnaire of 1,077 adults selected as a scientific sample among Nielsen's panel of people measured for television ratings. It was conducted between Feb. 15-17 of this year.

List of TV's top 20 most memorable moments

20 Photos

TV's most memorable moments

[raidercows]

How can you possibly leave the Apollo 11 or Apollo 8 flights to the moon off the list?! Look at the list again and see how rediculous it is!

[zahmeir]

The assasination of Robert F. Kennedy is not listed. That's a definite in the top 20! Who made the decision about some of the lame brain "top 20" choices? There are many many more far deserving top 20 stories than what was chosen.

[howbizarre]

Neil Armstrong walk on the moon; terrorist attack on the Israeli team during the 1972 Olympics; Vietnam POWs coming home; too young for the Kennedy assassination to make an impact.

[TimeToEvolve]

It's because on 911 they saw something that has never happened before in human history: the collapse of a massively strong high rise office building collapse from fire. And not just once but twice.

[john92021]

actually it was 3 towers (the one that collapsed the next day wasn't even hit by a plane). Never happened before or since, they only come down like that in a controlled demo.

[SHAWNP68]

Whitney Houston's death made the list???? Ahead of Johnny Carson's last show, Michael Jackson's death, the moon landing, the Miracle On Ice??? WOW!!!

[TP8359]

July 1969.....Neil Armstrong on the moon???

[justme-123]

TP: No kidding!!! It only had a global audience of hundreds of millions! But celebrity trial verdicts outrank it and a presidential assassination? Seriously? People being surveyed on things they didn't see and don't know about is rather silly.