Kelly Ripa returns as TV Land Awards hos...

Kelly Ripa returns as TV Land Awards hos...

Fernando Leon/PictureGroup

Katie Couric (l.) honors the cast of 'Laverne & Shirley'  -- Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams and Michael McKean -- at the 2012 TV Land Awards, airing Sunday night.

A lot of people dont know this, but we almost lost Kelly Ripa a few years back.

All because of Charo.

Ripa was hosting the annual TV Land Awards in 2007, just as shell be doing this Sunday night (TV Land, 9 p.m.) and well, let her take up the harrowing tale from there.

One of the shows being honored was The Flying Nun, explains Ripa. So they decided thats how I should make my entrance, as the Flying Nun. They rigged up me in a harness so I could fly in.

While they were getting everything in place, they kept telling me not to look down, because if I did, the harness could slip.

So I was making my entrance and, like an idiot, I looked down anyway and I saw Charo.

And I was so excited to see Charo that I almost did fall out of the harness.

Imagine having to explain that one to her survivors.

I cant help it, Ripa says. I always get that way around these TV stars. Theyre people I grew up with, but never dreamed Id ever get the chance to meet. Being on TV was not part of my world.

Shes meeting another batch this year, and while the opening scene wont be quite so perilous, the stars are just as bright.

The 2012 honorees include Laverne & Shirley, In Living Color, One Day at a Time, Aretha Franklin and Paul Reubens of Pee-wees Playhouse.

It was exactly the same feeling this time as in 2007, Ripa says. I was on the stage and thinking, Wow, Laverne and Shirley are looking at me.

Ripa is hardly alone in either her admiration or enthusiasm for TV sitcom characters of the past.

Those warm memories are the foundation on which TV Land has built a network. It not only reruns dozens of classic sitcoms, it has been creating what it hopes will be new sitcom memories of its own with original shows like Hot in Cleveland and Happily Divorced that feature stars of the past.

Nostalgia is also the premise on which executive producer Michael Levitt says he conceives and directs the annual awards show, which he says is a little different from the other several hundred awards shows on TV.

Theres a TV Land sensibility and we try to capture it, says Levitt. Its loose, fun and irreverent, but also reverential.

I think were the only awards show that doesnt limit the acceptance speeches. We let everyone say as much as they want, because thats what the viewers want: to see these people enjoy each others company.

Larry Jones, president of TV Land, says the show can answer a lot of fans unspoken questions.

A great show ended and you know all the actors moved on, Jones says. But you still wonder. What do they look like now? Do they hang out together? Do they get along?