Pop Culture Passionistas: A Night of a Thousand Goosebumps at the TV Hall of Fame

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

See that guy up there, yup. That’s George Lucas alright. The man who changed our lives all those decades ago when we sat in a dark movie theater with our brother and were transported to a galaxy far, far away. While we didn’t get to interview him last week, it was still mind blowing to stand just a few feet away from the guy who created Star Wars at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame ceremony.

He was there because his pal, Ron Howard was among the inductees. Although Howard has become an Oscar-winning film producer-director, he obviously started his career in TV. By the time he was 20, he had two hit series under his belt — The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.

As Will Arnett, who presented Howard with his honor the other night, pointed out, “He was a legend by the time he was a teenager… We could have inducted him into the Hall of Fame 30 years ago.”

The other members of the 22nd inductee class are sportscaster Al Michaels, CBS chief Leslie Moonves, legendary journalist Bob Schieffer, writer-producer Dick Wolf and the man that created the whole shebang — Philo T. Farnsworth, who invented electronic television transmission, into the 22nd Hall of Fame.

We spoke with Ron, Al, Les, Bob and Philo T.’s great-granddaughter, Jessica, as they walked the red carpet. Ted Danson, Mary Steenbergen and Chris O’Donnell also dropped by. But the highlight of the night was, without a doubt, when TV mom worlds collide and Mrs. C. (Marion Ross) stopped to have a little girl talk with Mrs. Carol Brady (aka Florence Henderson) right before our very eyes. It was a real life crossover episode that we’ll never forget.

Here are some of our favorite moments from the evening:

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Florence Henderson and Marion Ross