This week’s announcement that The Tyra Banks Show will wrap for good this spring made me sad. Fiercely, fiercely sad.

Tyra gave me my big break in the dating columnist business, hiring me as a correspondent for the Single & Fierce section of her show and as a blogger for her website, TyraTv.com. As mocked and maligned as Ty Ty has been in the media, I’ve always admired her as a savvy businesswoman with a good head (and great wigs) on her shoulder.

Read Tyra Banks to Cancel Talk Show

The news of her talk show’s departure arrived on a bed of snark. She’s been accused of playing copycat to her idol Oprah (who, in case you’ve been stuck in an airport security line for the past month, also announced plans to end her talk show).

But after two Daytime Emmy Awards and five scandalous seasons, Tyra’s once again making a crafty career move. She says she wants to concentrate on film production while continuing to host America’s Next Top Model and True Beauty. (Why reinvent the career path wheel when Lady O’s built it so perfectly?)

While I can’t fault bankable Banks for following her impeccable instincts, her devoted fans will be devastated by the loss of her rough-and-tumble talk show. From the happy vagina puppet, to her onstage mammogram to prove her “girls” were real, to her big wig reveal, Tyra kept it real. She let slip-ups stay in the show and recorded it as if it were live, stumbles and all.