Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood was uninspiring but did well doing what must have been the biggest media appearance of her career so far.
But perhaps the biggest guest appearance of the evening will be former President Clinton, who has recently stepped up his campaign appearances for the current chief executive.
The rise of the internet and tablets, YouTube-only children's programmes, more tightly regulated advertising to kids and the big-budget appearance of shows such as Strictly Come Dancing or Doctor Who, aimed at the whole family rather than just children, must also have had an effect.
Her first big-screen appearance of the new decade was Shelter (2010), a film described as "heinous" by Tim Robey of The Telegraph.
He then got called up to the Angels, where he remained through his last big league appearance of the stint on July 17.
But some of the biggest appearances will be singers whose ages are multiples higher.
This includes the atmosphere and emotions associated with a big sporting event, the appearance of "big name" stars and athletes from other sports, and pressure from direct competitors, media, agents, sponsors, coaches, family, and friends.
Through July 28 Groovy is the word for the first big New York solo appearance of Hiro Yamagata, once of Tokyo, now of Los Angeles, who has filled all 25,000 feet of Ace's mall-like interior with a total-immersion, eye-zapping light show.
As such, Thursday's appearance of "Big Ben" sailing past the landmark Big Ben was also aimed at drawing attention to a sponsorship deal between the Ben Ainslie Racing team and JP Morgan for the series.
Perhaps the biggest factor was the appearance of Fox, a fourth player on the network bidding scene, which wants sports properties and is willing to pay substantial money for a sport that networks have continually shied away from.
