It would have been so easy for Tom Hanks to skip the 'Bosom Buddies' reunion yesterday during the taping of the TV Land Awards, which will air next Sunday night at 9PM. He's one of the biggest movie stars in the world, appearing in more popular and/or critically-acclaimed and/or biggest-grossing modern movies than most other actors, so why in hell would he even bother to go to the reunion of some low-rated show he was on 30 years ago for only 37 episodes?

Because he's Tom Hanks, that's why.

Now, I'm sure a lot of people are saying, "So what? He appeared at an awards show. He's made so much money and probably has the time, these celebs have all the time in the world, it's the least he could do!" Or they're saying something equally clueless.

I'm not trying to say that Hanks is "too big" to bother going to such a show, but he could have skipped the show altogether and a lot of people wouldn't have given it a second thought. A lot of people, that is, except co-stars Peter Scolari, Holland Taylor, Telma Hopkins, and Donna Dixon (Wendie Jo Sperber passed away in 2005). But you know what? I bet not showing up didn't even cross Hanks' mind.

Let's face it, there are several celebrities who are nice only in public. I've met a couple myself. But time and time again Hanks proves he's the real deal. Sure, he's done a ton for charity and he's done a lot for The Greatest Generation, the big things, but I'm talking about the little things too.

Take talk show interviews. Hanks doesn't just show up to drone on about the latest movie he has coming out, he's one of the few that brings his A-game to an interview. He's always prepared, always energized by whoever is interviewing him (especially on 'The Late Show'), and seems to actually prefer entertaining people over tedious PR. That's pretty cool.

I remember an interview that Hanks did with a local TV station here in Boston when he was in town for the premiere of 'The Pacific.' He did a live interview with a local reporter who was asking questions he had probably been asked four million times and he still did it with humor and patience, and actually answered the questions with more than a "yes," a "no," or a robotic "I'm really excited about this film because...." He even took the time to joke with the anchor back at the studio, who he couldn't even hear or see, and actually had me laughing at loud at the stuff he was saying. That's probably the only time I laughed at a celebrity interview that week.

And after all these years, he and Scolari are still great friends, not just "let's just see each other at the reunion" friends. Everyone say it together: awwwwwwwwwwww.

Here's the pic from the event Hanks posted on Twitter. Yup, he's even on Twitter posting goofy pictures and stuff, not just plugging his latest movie. But of course he is.