Every now and then there are singular great moments of television. Some are dramatic and exactly where you expect to find them (Hill Street Blues, West Wing, NYPD Blue, The Newsroom. Family Ties [At this Moment]), some are comedic and seem to be a little more fleeting (Uncle Arthur/Darrin – Bewitched, The Rock singing “Shake it Off” on a lipsync show, Kramer returning after 10 seconds in “Master of My Domain”, Turkeys on WKRP), or great pairings like Neil Young and Eddie Vedder at one of the VMAs.
I look at most of those and think “great actors, the script turned out great that week, thanks TV!”.
And then about two years ago, some pre-planning genius got me happy for the season. I’ve been enjoying James corden and his Carpool Karaoke. It’s fun to see the icons singing to their own magic. A year ago (it just popped up again on my Youtube page) it was Mariah Carey. I love voice more than her character, but you can’t deny the throw weight of her “All I want for Christmas”. This is maybe the 10th or 15th carpool, so they’ve got the format down…you wonder a little bit if there’s going to be a backseat cameo (like when Lin Manuel was joined by Audra McDonald, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jane Krakowski) or something surreal like the Chili Peppers packed in. And yet I digress…
Mariah kicks into verse one of “All I Want”, and then, they start cutting back through all of the past episodes where they have the guests singing “All I Want for Christmas”….aaaaaahhhhhh! Yasssssss! Kelly Clarkson, Gaga, Elton John, Flea (saying Ho! Ho! Ho!), Adele, Chris Martin, Gwen Stefani.
I need to keep this in my annual tradition.