OK, this is a weird one.Shaquille O'Neal turned 45 on Monday and his TNT teammate Charles Barkley had a birthday surprise for him.The superstars are pretty good on-camera foils on "Inside the NBA," often putting on a good show with their arguments.On Thursday's show, however, it was all love.Maybe even too much love.During the show, Ernie Johnson threw it to tape from a Wednesday plane ride back from New York City. In it, Charles gave Shaq a birthday peck on the forehead.

"It was very special I thought, how Charles wanted to give Shaq a birthday kiss," Ernie said as the video ran.

Shaq was sleeping on the plane when Charles snuck in with the birthday peck on the forehead. The legendary big man then work up and seemed to be amused by his surroundings.

Barkley also made noise on the show about how the Boston Celtics have a big weakness in not being able to get big buckets out of anyone but Isaiah Thomas.

But most of the highlights from the venerable TNT studio crew has been of the bizarre variety lately.

Barkley criticized LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers recently because of the star's whining. LeBron snapped back, pretty effectively and correctly pointing out Charles wasn't exactly a saint during his playing days.

As for Shaq, the criticism has come from the Golden State Warriors, including from star Kevin Durant.

That feud began with the Shaqtin' A Fool segments on the TNT show, which routinely have focused on Durant's teammate JaVale McGee.

Even Ernie ruffled feathers when he addressed the U.S. presidential election after the fact, detailing why President Donald Trump should be given a fair chance, giving a religious testimony at a time when many NBA fans didn't want to hear anything about politics.

"We have to give him a chance," Johnson said. "I just hope that he's all in with fixing the wounds of this country, and fixing the divides of this country."

The show is in danger of becoming a parody of itself and should probably stick to analysis of the games and the teams. "Inside the NBA" really seems to hit it stride come playoff time, as Kenny, Charles, Ernie and Shaq can help us digest "what it really means" as the playoff results come fast and furious in April, May and June.

Some of this other stuff? We could probably do without it.