After singer George Michael died on Sunday, countless fan and celebrity tributes began to pour in to remember the pop icon, who died unexpectedly. A somewhat unexpected tribute came from television producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim.
But, according to TVLine, the connection isn’t that surprising. Guggenheim and Berlanti were executive producers on Eli Stone, a show that aired on ABC from 2008 to 2009, which centered on a lawyer who begins to have hallucinations. Some of his hallucinations are set to Michael’s music and a lot of episode titles are the titles of Michael’s songs.
Berlanti took to Twitter to remember Michael, calling him a “true genius” and Guggenheim said that his daughter was born the same night that Michael made one of his appearances on the show. Michael appeared in a few episodes of the first season, where he played himself, but didn’t appear in any of the episodes in the second season.
I've only witnessed true genius a few times in my life. One of those was watching George Michael lay down Feeling Good for #Elistone 1/2
— Greg Berlanti (@GBerlanti) December 26, 2016
He was an incredible talent and even more a sweet, kind man to all lucky enough to work with or spend time around him. May he Rest In Peace
— Greg Berlanti (@GBerlanti) December 26, 2016
Eli Stone centered on San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) who has an inoperable brain aneurysm, which causes him to have hallucinations. He also begins to take on more cases that are based more on a person’s morals versus taking cases that will get him lots of money.
The show also starred Victor Garber, Sam Jaeger, Loretta Devine and Julie Gonzalo. Katey Sagal, Laura Benanti, Taraji P. Henson and Kerr Smith were recurring stars on the show.
Check out some Michael’s appearances on the show below.