From "Everybody Loves Raymond" closing out on a huge note, to TomKat, Brangelina, and Bennifer II, to a very weak box office that had many moviegoers beefing up their DVD libraries, to a "Mad"-man helping us beat the street (Wall Street, that is), to Mariah Carey scoring a John Travolta-like comeback, 2005 entertainment-wise had us either on the edge of our seats or jumping out of them.
Chris Rock rocked the 77th Annual Academy Awards with his edgy self; but there had to be some recognition handed out in between them. Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles sang his way to Best Actor, while Cate Blanchett's Supporting Actress helped "The Aviator" pick up the most bounty with five Oscars. But in the end, it was "Million Dollar Baby" that had the TKO with Actress (Hilary Swank), Supporting Actress (Morgan Freeman, who just recently lashed out about Black History Month on "60 Minutes"), Director (Clint Eastwood, who extended usual heavy favorite Martin Scorsese's losing streak to 0-6), and Best Picture of 2004.
Ten seasons were enough for "Everybody Loves Raymond", though the series finale was only a standard half-hour but still managed to get high numbers nonetheless -- as well as a Best Comedy Emmy beating out "Desperate Housewives"...which, by the way, earned Felicity Huffman the Best Comedy Actress prize. "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" were 3-0 in their respective categories, while the Donald Trump/Megan Mullally collaboration of "Green Acres" brought the house down...with laughter!
CBS was of course still the dominant network, while NBC was at the same rut ABC was last year until "Housewives" and Best Drama "Lost" came along: DEAD SOLID FOURTH PLACE!!! But that could change in 2006 thanks to the Winter Olympics and now Sunday Night Football.
On the Fox side of things, they were red-hot thanks to new hit "House" and of course, "American Idol", in which Carrie Underwood was the latest winner. And the first couple of reality TV, "Boston Rob" Mariano and Amber Brkich, helped "Amazing Race" score huge ratings (well, in Canada); but in the end, it would be Uchenna and Joyce Agu at the finish line.
But one of the biggest TV hits of 2005 happened to be "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. Premiered during mid-season following "Housewives", it quickly rose to the top of the Sunday night ratings and putting that other medical drama ("ER") on life support. "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS), "Commander in Chief" (ABC), "My Name is Earl" (NBC), and "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" (CNBC) on the cable side also had viewers tuning in in droves.
2005 would also be the comeback year for both Martha Stewart and Mariah Carey. Stewart with her new daytime show and her own installment of "The Apprentice" (the latter show flopped), and Carey with "The Emancipation of Mimi" after her last two efforts -- "Glitter" and "Charmbracelet" -- did modest to poor success.
At the box office...well, despite a lot of hits and misses like "Wedding Crashers", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", and Peter Jackson's "King Kong", many moviegoers would rather build up their DVD collections instead of spending a day or night at the movies.
Shortly after both the Asian tsunamis and later Hurricane Katrina, the entertainment community once again took time to help those whose lives and/or belongings were lost to the tragedies with a series of telethons. I already brought up Kanye West's comments in the "Year in News", but Chris Rock parodied it on the multi-network "Shelter from the Storm" telethon with "George Bush hates midgets."
Other major stories of the year included: Michael Jackson's acquittal in the child molestation trial, Lindsay Lohan's car crash in front of a stream of paparazzi, Russell Crowe not knowing how to call Australia from the U.S. and throwing a hotel room telephone, Kate Moss' reputation shattered after a British tabloid ran pics of her snorting cocaine, Pat O'Brien's sex 'n drugs 'n booze scandal with X-rated phone messages in between them, and former "American Idol" contestant Corey Clark admitting that there was something really going on between him and Paula Abdul.
So...what was indeed the year's biggest entertainment story? It's all about the makeups and breakups, starting with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and their sudden split which later became a divorce. And then, Angelina Jolie was added to the fray. Whether or not Jolie and Pitt really do have something going on between them will remain a mystery...that is, until they surprisingly wed.
Then, there was Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. When the two got hitched years ago, it was when Nick was the bigger star. But Jessica thanks to the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie has taken much of the spotlight from him, and rumors began to flow about the couple's future. Well, in December, the speculation finally ended when the two split and later divorced.
Renee Zellweger married Kenny Chesney, but that didn't last long. After only four months, Zellweger had that annulled.
But perhaps the one couple that had the whole world abuzz throughout 2005 happened to be Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Cruise just came off from a brief fling with Sofia Vergara; Holmes was single again after she and Chris Klein called off their engagement. But when they first locked lips in Rome in late April and Cruise jumping for joy in front of Oprah Winfrey, they would never let go ever since.
And there were plenty of legit makeups as well: Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (their baby girl Violet would be born months later), Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Heidi Klum and Seal, the aforementioned Rob and Amber, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles; and in a "civil union" at that very same place of Charles and Camilla's nuptials, Elton John and David Furniss. Oh yeah, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline introduced the world to baby boy Sean Preston.
Now, all sights are set on 2006; and with awards season already underway, it'll be quite an Oscar showdown as far as "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Brokeback Mountain" are concerned. Will Brad and Angelina finally end all the speculation that they are a couple, and who will be the first one to be no more? And, who will also score a major comeback after Martha and Mariah? Come the new year, there'll be 365 questions and 365 answers to find out.
Chris Rock rocked the 77th Annual Academy Awards with his edgy self; but there had to be some recognition handed out in between them. Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles sang his way to Best Actor, while Cate Blanchett's Supporting Actress helped "The Aviator" pick up the most bounty with five Oscars. But in the end, it was "Million Dollar Baby" that had the TKO with Actress (Hilary Swank), Supporting Actress (Morgan Freeman, who just recently lashed out about Black History Month on "60 Minutes"), Director (Clint Eastwood, who extended usual heavy favorite Martin Scorsese's losing streak to 0-6), and Best Picture of 2004.
Ten seasons were enough for "Everybody Loves Raymond", though the series finale was only a standard half-hour but still managed to get high numbers nonetheless -- as well as a Best Comedy Emmy beating out "Desperate Housewives"...which, by the way, earned Felicity Huffman the Best Comedy Actress prize. "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" were 3-0 in their respective categories, while the Donald Trump/Megan Mullally collaboration of "Green Acres" brought the house down...with laughter!
CBS was of course still the dominant network, while NBC was at the same rut ABC was last year until "Housewives" and Best Drama "Lost" came along: DEAD SOLID FOURTH PLACE!!! But that could change in 2006 thanks to the Winter Olympics and now Sunday Night Football.
On the Fox side of things, they were red-hot thanks to new hit "House" and of course, "American Idol", in which Carrie Underwood was the latest winner. And the first couple of reality TV, "Boston Rob" Mariano and Amber Brkich, helped "Amazing Race" score huge ratings (well, in Canada); but in the end, it would be Uchenna and Joyce Agu at the finish line.
But one of the biggest TV hits of 2005 happened to be "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. Premiered during mid-season following "Housewives", it quickly rose to the top of the Sunday night ratings and putting that other medical drama ("ER") on life support. "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS), "Commander in Chief" (ABC), "My Name is Earl" (NBC), and "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" (CNBC) on the cable side also had viewers tuning in in droves.
2005 would also be the comeback year for both Martha Stewart and Mariah Carey. Stewart with her new daytime show and her own installment of "The Apprentice" (the latter show flopped), and Carey with "The Emancipation of Mimi" after her last two efforts -- "Glitter" and "Charmbracelet" -- did modest to poor success.
At the box office...well, despite a lot of hits and misses like "Wedding Crashers", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", and Peter Jackson's "King Kong", many moviegoers would rather build up their DVD collections instead of spending a day or night at the movies.
Shortly after both the Asian tsunamis and later Hurricane Katrina, the entertainment community once again took time to help those whose lives and/or belongings were lost to the tragedies with a series of telethons. I already brought up Kanye West's comments in the "Year in News", but Chris Rock parodied it on the multi-network "Shelter from the Storm" telethon with "George Bush hates midgets."
Other major stories of the year included: Michael Jackson's acquittal in the child molestation trial, Lindsay Lohan's car crash in front of a stream of paparazzi, Russell Crowe not knowing how to call Australia from the U.S. and throwing a hotel room telephone, Kate Moss' reputation shattered after a British tabloid ran pics of her snorting cocaine, Pat O'Brien's sex 'n drugs 'n booze scandal with X-rated phone messages in between them, and former "American Idol" contestant Corey Clark admitting that there was something really going on between him and Paula Abdul.
So...what was indeed the year's biggest entertainment story? It's all about the makeups and breakups, starting with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and their sudden split which later became a divorce. And then, Angelina Jolie was added to the fray. Whether or not Jolie and Pitt really do have something going on between them will remain a mystery...that is, until they surprisingly wed.
Then, there was Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. When the two got hitched years ago, it was when Nick was the bigger star. But Jessica thanks to the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie has taken much of the spotlight from him, and rumors began to flow about the couple's future. Well, in December, the speculation finally ended when the two split and later divorced.
Renee Zellweger married Kenny Chesney, but that didn't last long. After only four months, Zellweger had that annulled.
But perhaps the one couple that had the whole world abuzz throughout 2005 happened to be Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Cruise just came off from a brief fling with Sofia Vergara; Holmes was single again after she and Chris Klein called off their engagement. But when they first locked lips in Rome in late April and Cruise jumping for joy in front of Oprah Winfrey, they would never let go ever since.
And there were plenty of legit makeups as well: Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (their baby girl Violet would be born months later), Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Heidi Klum and Seal, the aforementioned Rob and Amber, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles; and in a "civil union" at that very same place of Charles and Camilla's nuptials, Elton John and David Furniss. Oh yeah, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline introduced the world to baby boy Sean Preston.
Now, all sights are set on 2006; and with awards season already underway, it'll be quite an Oscar showdown as far as "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Brokeback Mountain" are concerned. Will Brad and Angelina finally end all the speculation that they are a couple, and who will be the first one to be no more? And, who will also score a major comeback after Martha and Mariah? Come the new year, there'll be 365 questions and 365 answers to find out.
Tomorrow, my "Year in Review" continues with the Top 20 Things That Had the Whole World Talking in 2005.
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