TV’s Moments of Joy – The Summer Honor Roll
Yeah, TV gave us a pretty great summer. And now that the season is wrapping up, we wanted to take a look at the things we loved this season and name our favorite people, characters, creators, and shows to the Moments of Joy Honor Roll.
So, what kept us indoors this summer (besides allergies)? Let’s find out!
Shaquille O’Neal — We aren’t the biggest sports fans the world here, but we absolutely adored the second season of Shaq Vs. While the first season had Shaq competing against top athletes at their own sports (and consistently losing), there weren’t many to choose from this year. So in the midst of NASCAR racing vs. Dale Earnhardt Jr. or boxing with Shane Mosley, Shaq also competed against spelling bee champs, competitive eaters, Charles Barkley, Justin Bieber, Penn Jillette, and Jimmy Kimmel.
The fun comes from the fact that Shaq is such an endearing goofball. He’s a weird guy, but it’s the fun kind of weird. He’ll tackle a lawn ornament or talk at length about how the best kind of cheese is “yellow”. The actual competitions are good-natured fun, and it’s clear that all involved are just having a blast. Shaq is a good loser, and he’s keenly aware of his limitations – dude knows he’s not going to win the spelling bee. This season actually saw him rack up a couple of wins, outgolfing Charles Barkley and outeating Joey Chestnut. Though on that first one, they each had a pro partner, and on the second, Shaq had a team of six people eating hot dogs.
The finale was a special treat, as Shaq tried to out-monologue Jimmy Kimmel. And while he’s not taking over the Tonight Show anytime soon, he did have at least one killer joke — “If talk shows were Kardashians, this show would be Khloe”. Also in the finale, he did a duet with Justin Bieber. Turns out, Justin’s fans have no idea who Shaq is, which Shaq found almost as funny as we did. It was a weird season, but darned if it didn’t make for some of the most fun programming around.
Betty White – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, when does this woman sleep?! She gave 
TVLand a hit sitcom in Hot in Cleveland, which was a feel good throwback reminiscent of her own classic Golden Girls. We could hardly believe she didn’t gather Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli and Jane Leeves around the kitchen table for cheesecake. There is something to be said for TV comfort food, though. On top of that program, we also got to see Betty at the Teen Choice Awards, of all places, hangin’ with her pal Sandra Bullock and, most recently, we enjoyed her as Jon Hamm’s randy dance coach in the Emmy opening sketch. Speaking of which…
TVLand a hit sitcom in Hot in Cleveland, which was a feel good throwback reminiscent of her own classic Golden Girls. We could hardly believe she didn’t gather Wendie Malick, Valerie Bertinelli and Jane Leeves around the kitchen table for cheesecake. There is something to be said for TV comfort food, though. On top of that program, we also got to see Betty at the Teen Choice Awards, of all places, hangin’ with her pal Sandra Bullock and, most recently, we enjoyed her as Jon Hamm’s randy dance coach in the Emmy opening sketch. Speaking of which…Bradley Whitford – He’s always been good, but you don’t usually think of Bradley Whitford as being hilarious. But then FOX premiered The Good Guys, and everything changed. An action-comedy about a couple of misfit cops assigned to Property Crimes, it pairs Colin Hanks and Whitford as mismatched partners. We’ve seen the basic premise before, but the actual execution has been so much fun. With twisty plots and ridiculous action sequences, it was a real high point of the summer schedule.
