"TV is the thing this year," Dinah Washington sang beautifully and without a trace of irony back in 1953. "Radio was great/Now, it's out of date/TV is the thing this year." More than a half century later, the splendid jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves sang "TV Is The Thing This Year" in the film Good Night, And Good Luck directed by George Clooney who will be honored with the Television Academy's prestigious Bob Hope Humanitarian Award on Sunday night at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Seeing George Clooney come home to TV is only one of many reasons to watch the Emmys this Sunday night. Other good reasons include our funny and charming host Jimmy Fallon, the chance to see if Conan O'Brien gets to accept an Emmy live on NBC or finding out if "Lost" has a big Emmy afterlife. And, of course, you'll all want to stay right to the very end to see my credit as a writer for the show.
The truth is that even with everything else happening in our brave new media world, TV remains a singularly powerful driving force in our culture, especially in this rather golden era when there's so much excellent TV series worth celebrating. For me that includes favorites from Mad Men to 30 Rock, from Modern Family to The Good Wife, from The Big Bang to Men Of A Certain Age, to name just a very few of selections worthy a Season Pass. Far be it for me to ever correct the Boss, but as it turns out Bruce Springsteen was not a true televisionary; there are not "57 Channels And Nothing On" these days. Please tune in Sunday night, and see for yourself.
TV IS THE THING THIS YEAR - Dianne Reeves
I SAW IT ON T.V. - John Fogerty
I WANT TO BE ON TV - Green Day
PRIME TIME - The Tubes
GOLDEN AGE - TV On The Radio
T.V. EYE - The Stooges
THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON T.V. - a-ha
TELEVISION - Dr. John
TO BE ON TV - Loudon Wainwright III
TELEVISION MAN - Talking Heads
STAR ON A TV SHOW - The Stylistics
KICKING TELEVISION - Wilco
TELEVISION, TELEVISION, TELEVISION - Randy Newman
SEE NO EVIL - Television
AMERICAN TELEVISION - Ben Lee
TV MAMA - Taj Mahal
MONEY FOR NOTHING - Dire Straits
ANTI-CHRIST TELEVISION BLUES - Arcade Fire
TV TALKIN' SONG - Bob Dylan
SLEEPING WITH THE TELEVISION ON - Billy Joel
BAR WITH A TV ON - Tift Merrit
TV DINNER - ZZ Top
THE BALLAD OF TV VIOLENCE (I'M NOT THE ONLY BOY) - Cheap Trick
TV AGE - Joe Jackson
JAMMIN' ME - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
TELEVISION LIGHT - Marshall Crenshaw
TALENTO DE TELEVISION - Willie Colon
THE TELEVISION SET WALTZ - Michael Penn
TELEVISION EYE - John Mayal & The Bluesbreakers
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR - Ben Folds Five
Put down that remote control, and please add your own favorite TV-adjacent songs -- or even your favorite TV shows -- right here. I'll be watching.