I apologize for the slight delay with this post. I’ve been enjoying the holiday weekend, and I hope all of you who are celebrating this unofficial end of summer have been enjoying yourselves, too!
An entertaining—if very unimaginative—Emmy telecast began this week in television. The week continued with a “dramatic” two-part episode of Bachelor in Paradise that featured way too many people falling in love way too fast, an emotional breakdown in the middle of the jungle, and even a trip to the hospital. Wednesday’s So You Think You Can Dance performance finale was quite possibly the most entertaining episode of the season. And the Labor Day holiday weekend featured plenty of marathons of both TV shows and movies to keep viewers thoroughly entertained as they enjoyed their days off.
While part me thinks I should choose Billy Crystal’s incredibly personal and moving tribute to Robin Williams at the Emmys as the best thing I saw on television this week, I decided to go in a bit lighter direction. August has been a heavy and often sad month on a lot of levels, so it was nice to leave this month with a smile brought to me via the SYTYCD stage. I’ve said probably too much already about the brilliance of Zack and Aaron’s “Piano Man” tap duet, but I could talk about it for days and never be able to fully express how happy it made me to watch (and re-watch…and re-watch…). Dance has always been my greatest source of happiness when other areas of my life have been stressful or sad. So it was a beautiful thing to see that happiness brought to such a large audience with the pure, easy joy of this tap routine.
Thanks, Aaron, Zack, and Anthony Morigerato, for this lovely dose of instant happiness that we can all turn to whenever we need to smile.
What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?
Nerdy Girl Notes 
Doctor who!
I’m so happy for all of my friends who are Doctor Who fans!
I of course agree with you. It was the happiest thing I saw on television last week bar none.
But I will say, that Billy Crystal’s deeply personal and wonderfully toned eulogy to his friend puts tears in my eyes just thinking about it. Not because of how sad it is that Robin Williams is gone. And not because of the deep and vast impact his death seems to have had. But in what made it a keen moment for me was how it brought people together. I laughed through my tears at the clip reel that followed Billy’s words and I sighed as I sat on those words. His comparison of Robin to a star in the galaxy was perfect. But for me when Billy said the following it summed up why I was so moved by his passing.
“He was the greatest friend you could ever imagine. Supportive, protective, loving. It’s very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives.”
There hasn’t been a moment of my life when Robin Williams comedy, brilliance and laughter hasn’t been a part of the background. I grew up watching Happy Days and Mork and Mindy. I remember the sleep over at my friend’s house to watch his Live from the Met one man show. I vividly remember sitting in the theater to watch Good Morning Vietnam and thinking how did the court jester have such a broad amount of talent to give me a headache from laughter and fill me with such a sense of humanity. I remember ever Comic Relief special. They were an event and my generations Jerry Lewis Telethon. And all of that was before the likes of Dead Poets Society, Awakenings and Bengal Tiger on Broadway. None of us will never know Robin Williams like Billy Crystal did. However for a moment, Crystal’s words and that montage allowed us to feel as though we did.
Robin Williams, what a concept indeed.
This was absolutely beautifully said. Your words are another touching tribute to a legend who had such an impact on so many generations of people.