Ron Hart: People are getting a lot of seating upgrades. There are a lot of no shows.
Ron Hart: Is it over?
Smokey Robinson starts the proceedings reading a message from Jackson's friend and fellow Motown legend Diana Ross, whom Jackson singled out in his will.
Ron Hart: Greta Van Susteren is so close I could spit on her. But they'd throw me out, right?
TV funeral commenting is a difficult task to begin with, let alone when trying to fill what is now 15 minutes of nothing, with only one camera angle to look at.
Music at last: a gospel choir sings "We Are Going to See the King" as pallbearers, including Jackson's brothers, carry Michael's flowered casket to the proscenium.
Motown records founder Berry Gordy gets the laugh of the day, remembering how young Michael smoked Smokey Robinson on his own song in a 1968 audition.