Video: TVLine Turns 5, and Jim Parsons, Lauren Graham, Connie Britton and 51 Others Help Us Celebrate

They say it’s our birthday, and… well, they’re right.

I wish I could say that five years ago, I had a dream, but that’d be a boldfaced lie. It was PMC Chairman and CEO Jay Penske‘s dream to expand his burgeoning media empire to include a consumer television site geared toward obsessive, discriminating viewers like myself. And he asked — patiently, persistently and over a fair number of sushi dinners — if I’d help him make it a reality. I eventually said yes, immediately recruited industry MVPs Matt Mitovich and Michael Slezak to join me on the adventure, and on Jan. 4, 2011, TVLine was born.

PHOTOS TVLine Launch Party Pics! (Yes, Exclusive)

And look at us now, celebrating our fifth birthday. No, seriously — look. I’ll wait.

On this momentous occasion, I could blather on about how TVLine wouldn’t have made it to five hours, never mind five years, were it not for the passion, dedication and support of my editorial team (the aforementioned pair of Ms as well as Kimberly Roots, Andy Swift, Vlada Gelman, Rebecca Iannucci and the one who got away, Meg Masters).

Or I could rattle off statistics about our enormous traffic growth and impressive reader engagement (from 2 million unique visitors in Y1 to the 9+ million UVs we average now).

Or I could prattle on about how proud I am that we stuck by our original mission statement to be the ultimate one-stop destination for the TV super-fan (and without krappy Kardashian-esque klutter, either).

Or I could tell you about all the cool coverage that we have planned to mark our milestone this week (flashback galleries, self-aggrandizing videos, double-the-scoop output).

Or I could just say thank you to you, our awesome readers, for being every bit as enthusiastic as you are discerning.

But instead, I’m going to point you to the video player above and suggest that you watch as a bunch of TV big-timers wish us a happy birthday — some earnestly, some goofily, all wonderfully.

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