On "The Kelly Clarkson Show," our favorite "American Idol" winner and Grammy winner turned talk show host Kelly Clarkson has performed glorious renditions of songs by Kenny Rogers, The Cranberries, the Chicks, Whitney Houston and many others in her recurring "Kellyoke" segment.
But on Monday, for her back-in-studio season two premiere, she took a little bit of a left turn ... and covered TV themes!
The new season kicked off with Kelly sitting on her sofa, miserably channel surfing and nearly breaking into tears ... when she find something to smile about: the opening piano notes to the "Cheers" theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name."
Now in her happy place, Clarkson begins singing the tune while wandering through a bar reminiscent of the "Cheers" watering hole. There's a TV on the bar and it's playing "The Golden Girls," a cue for her to switch to "Thank You for Being a Friend." Now she's wandering through a Florida apartment set that takes us right back to where the ladies lived, complete with cheesecake. She comes upon another TV set showing another classic show, and ... it's "Full House"!
Time for a few lines from "Everywhere You Look," the theme from that classic sitcom before Bob Saget materializes, dressed all in white like a TV angel.
"Danny Tanner, I miss my friends," she sighs, addressing him by his "Full House" character's name.
"Oh, let me tell you something, Kelly," he soothes. "It might feel like your friends are hundreds of miles away. It might feel like the world has gone crazy. It might feel like murder hornets and zombie cicadas and mummy sloths are trying to kill us."
"Mummy sloths?" she asks, dazed.
"Oh, they're coming," he says. "But one thing you should always remember in your heart is you are never alone. You have so many people who love and care about you, including me. Let me show you what I mean."
They head through a pair of doors onto her set, singing "Love Is All Around," the theme song from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Clarkson delights in being in a different kind of safe space — her TV show home. For the first time, we get to see how she's going to run a talk show without an audience ... because the set has been outfitted with giant screens with fans (including footage of Ed Asner, who co-starred on "Moore") sitting in virtually! Other virtual audience members included "Cheers" actors George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, and Jodie Sweetin and Dave Coulier from "Full House."
This isn't the first time Clarkson has done a Kellyoke with a member of the "Full House" cast — John Stamos joined her for a rendition of 1988's "Kokomo," a song he performed originally with the Beach Boys, back in May. But back to the big finale, which features Clarkson taking over the "Mary Tyler Moore" song and tossing yellow confetti in the air, singing, "We're gonna make it after all!"
That's quite an introduction to the new season, which is coming amid worldwide unrest ... but is also a happy glow in the middle of the day. It makes us want to get up off our couches!