But what the first hour of the memorial lacked was humor. Magic Johnson came onstage later with Kobe Bryant, and tried to fill that void with talk about him and Michael eating "a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken." The audience seemed to appreciate the chance to smile at a fond and bittersweet recollection by one of its heroes.
And they showed him for the sensitive artist and global pop phenomenon he had become. TV was the perfect medium here, as the producers cut to show tearful viewers watching in Berlin, South Africa, Atlanta, Times Square and Delhi.
The images said gave the measure of Jackson's global appeal as no words ever could.
The event closed with family members talking about Michael Jackson, and in the end, no one was more eloquent than Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris.
"Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could imagine," she said breaking into tears. "And I just want to say I love him so much."
None of the many great entertainers who took the stage at the Staples Center Tuesday afternoon did better than Paris in honoring Michael Jackson.
With those few wrenching words, she helped us see Michael Jackson and those he loved and left behind as people rather than celebrities.
And so, the TV mourning finally ended Tuesday. But brace yourself for some major blowback as the news media start feeling self-conscious about all the coverage and start complaining that today's events were somehow anti-climactic.
