I’m way behind on Boardwalk Empire, having only seen four of the second season’s twelve episodes, which means I’ve been dodging spoilers like crazy since Sunday’s finale … and often not dodging them very well. I’ve already learned a couple of things I wish I hadn’t.

But one thing I didn’t mind knowing in advance was that I’d eventually see my high school pal Bill Forsythe—with whom I’d acted in Fiorello—in half a dozen episodes as a character named Manny Horvitz.

I haven’t spoken to Bill since he was costarring in the TV series John Doe a decade ago, which I told you about back in 2008. I wrote a sidebar to SCI FI magazine‘s piece on the show, though what tickled me most wasn’t the sidebar but the sidebar to the sidebar which used our high school yearbook photos.

In any case, while on the treadmill the other night, I saw Bill’s Boardwalk Empire debut in the second season’s fourth episode. Here’s a clip showing his total screen time in that episode.

It still gives me as much of a kick to see him on the screen as I got when I first spotted him in an episode of Hill Street Blues in 1983, and thought … hey, maybe the guy’s got a shot a making it!

I have no idea whether Bill survived until the end of the season—I’m only four episodes in, remember?—so please try not to spoil it for me. I’d like to think my pal gets to hang in there for the third season.

I guess you could say I’m feeling the opposite of schadenfreude, which is called … what?

I have no idea. All I know is, it’s a joyful emotion to have, whatever the heck you call it.