A year of finales, big-name firings in TV, radio
It says something about the state of the mainstream electronic media that 2008 was a year marked by closure. Two of the top dramas in TV history ended their runs, and industrywide cost-cutting prompted CBS to sack some of its top Chicago personalities, on TV and radio.
Yet the end of the presidential campaign also led inevitably to the beginning of the Barack Obama administration, and any list of the top moments of the year in TV and radio has to start there. Even in hard times, optimism prevails, so that in rewinding 2008 we start with something that hearkens to what everyone hopes is a brighter future.
1) Barack Obama is declared the 44th president. The Fox News Channel, looking ahead to eight years as the mouthpiece for the opposition, was first to pronounce Obama the winner, but permit me to share a moment off-camera at the Obama rally in Grant Park on election night. Knowing what was coming, the crowd counted down the seconds to 10 p.m., when the polls closed in California, and at that very moment burst into a roar when CNN went on to promptly call the race for Obama on the giant-screen TVs. Obama's subsequent appearance on "60 Minutes" drew 25 million viewers, the largest audience in almost 10 years for the CBS newsmagazine.
2) Tina Fey does (in) Sarah Palin on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." From the moment Fey did her spot-on take on Palin, any momentum the Alaska governor had produced for the Republican ticket fizzled. Yet it wasn't a political hatchet job, because in many instances Fey was only repeating Palin's actual words, as in her disastrous interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.
3) A child shoots and kills Omar in "The Wire." I think the next show, see No. 4 below, was actually better overall this year and the top series on TV, but there was no moment to match this one, which captured the brutal, offhand violence of the drug trade better than any other moment in this excellent HBO series. Almost equally powerful: Michael executing Snoop as she accepted it by asking if her hair looked all right.
4) Shane Vendrell shoots himself after killing his family in "The Shield." What made this moment all the more chilling is the way it was precipitated by Vic Mackey's promise that he would pat Shane's child on the head while he was serving time in jail. Rather than see his family corrupted, Shane took them all out - a powerful indictment of Mackey's methods. In the end, Michael Chiklis' Mackey went out gun in hand.
5) U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald does a hatchet job on Gov. Rod Blagojevich. I think this is still too fresh for us to gain full perspective on it, but the ruthlessly emotional way Fitzgerald laid out the charges was and is gripping.
6) CBS Radio sacks Mike North, Steve Dahl and Ed Volkman & Joe Bohannon. It was the end of the line for million-dollar-a-year radio personalities, although Dahl will continue to get paid into 2011. Nice work if you can get it.
7) Diann Burns and Joe Ahern get the ax at CBS' WBBM Channel 2. Burns was Ahern's most high-profile hire, but when she couldn't move the ratings she went with the end of her contract - and Ahern soon followed, after overseeing the opening of the station's state-of-the-art new street-level studios at Daley Plaza downtown. On the other hand, Mark Suppelsa joined WGN Channel 9 and solidified its place in the ratings at 9 p.m.
8) Jay Leno goes to prime time. Nothing expressed the diminished expectations and desperation at NBC better than the announcement this month that Leno would do a 9 p.m. weekday talk show starting next fall. In the process, NBC surrendered its place among the traditional Big Three TV networks and greased the way for its continued decline.
9) Arbitron rams through People Meters. Although Sens. Obama and Dick Durbin fought it, and minority radio stations protested, Arbitron went to a new system that immediately, as predicted, led to lowered ratings for black and Hispanic stations. The battle goes on, and the combat may well make it to the Obama administration's reconstituted Federal Communications Commission.
10) Steve Stone and Pat Foley return. Stone replacing Chris Singleton on WSCR 670-AM radio broadcasts was the best deal the White Sox made all year. He'll now move to TV alongside Ken "Hawk" Harrelson by switching places with Darrin Jackson. Foley's TV comeback was yet another overdue public-relations coup by the Blackhawks.
Honorable mentions: I want to make quick citations of the shocking death of Blair Underwood's fighter pilot in HBO's "In Treatment" and, on the other side of the drama-comedy fence, the invention of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock on "The Big Bang Theory," which against all odds turned itself into the best-written sitcom on TV. And don't forget Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog," the best Web production of the year.
My quote of the year, however, belongs to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: "Sometimes, when we focus too much on who will lead our country, we lose sight of the important things, like celebrity babies."
<p class="breakhead">Holiday cheer here</p> <p class="News">Mark Suppelsa plays host to the new local special "Chicago's Very Own Holidays" at 8 p.m. Saturday on WGN Channel 9. It will include snapshots of historic Christmases past and the story of the Chicago origins of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Channel 9 is also making available a do-it-yourself Christmas special on its Web site at wgntv.com/holiday, where you'll find the classic Christmas shorts "Frosty the Snowman," "Suzy Snowflake" and, of course, "Hardrock, Coco & Joe." </p> <p class="breakhead">That other holiday</p> <p class="News">WTTW Channel 11 answers with "Chicago Stories: Jewish Chicago," a two-part special covering 1833 to 1948 and the postwar era to the present, to celebrate Hanukkah at 2 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. That's after the new musical special "Lights: Celebrate Hanukkah Live in Concert" gets the dreidel spinning at 11 a.m. Sunday. </p> <p class="breakhead">Roll over, Bob Hope</p> <p class="News">In yet more proof of how low NBC will stoop, the once-proud peacock network airs this year's "WWE Tribute to the Troops" special at 8 p.m. Saturday on WMAQ Channel 5. Yes, wrestling's superstars pick up the franchise left behind by Bob Hope to shoot a holiday special in Iraq. Allow me to suggest, our troops deserve much better. </p> <p class="breakhead">Good show, everyone</p> <p class="News">Even Waste Watchers are known to have a low tolerance for Will Ferrell, but his "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" is a brutal bit of '70s satire that also pokes fun at the TV news biz. It's at 8 p.m. Friday on TBS. </p>