It was the end of an era Sunday night as the first Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon was held without comedy legend Jerry Lewis at the helm. The good news is that this year's show raised almost $61.5 million for the MDA, up about $2.6 million from 2010.

However, the absent Lewis was on the minds of many, and Nigel Lythgoe, who co-hosted this year's telethon with Jann Carl said he was sad that his predecessor didn't participate, but that the MDA needs to move on to ensure the fundraiser continues.

Lythgoe also told the Associated Press that he'd been expecting Lewis to show up, either during the telecast, or to pre-tape his signature song 'You'll Never Walk Alone.'

"I was fully expecting him to turn up at any point and join that six hours -- and I'm sorry he didn't," Lythgoe said. "And hopefully another year he might. I mean, he knows that he is always welcome on the telethon. It's his baby."

It truly is the end of an era.

Comedian and overall TV legend Jerry Lewis announced today that he'll retire from hosting his annual Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon, with this Labor Day's event being his last.

"As a labor of love, I've hosted the annual Telethon since 1966, and I'll be making my final appearance on the show this year by performing my signature song, 'You'll Never Walk Alone,'" he said in a statement. "I'll continue to serve MDA as its National Chairman -- as I've done since the early 1950s. I'll never desert MDA and my kids."

Ah, September. This means the horrible, horrible month of August and the summer in general are going away. Thank God.

Labor Day is the unofficial "last hurrah" for summer, and there are a bunch of special shows and marathons on this three day weekend. Here's the day by day breakdown.