From the second of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy scooping up lots of box office booty, to year two of Brangelina and TomKat, to two high-profile TV hits in a Thursday night showdown, to Justin Timberlake bringing the "SexyBack" to the charts, to two networks becoming one, to Mel Gibson and Michael Richards literally spewing their guts out, the theme of 2006 in the world of entertainment should be "Hollywood Gone Wild."

At the 78th Annual Academy Awards, "Brokeback Mountain" was the film to beat; in the end, "Crash" walked away with Best Picture. But the night ultimately belonged to George Clooney and the soon-to-be-single Reese Witherspoon, as they copped Supporting Actor and Best Actress for "Syriana" and ""Walk The Line" respectively. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel Weisz got the other acting honors (Best Actor and Supporting Actress), but nobody cared about them.

Not even a new (and controversial) voting process couldn't stop "24" from taking Best Drama and acting honors for Kiefer Sutherland at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Julia Louis-Dreyfus officially ended the so-called "Seinfeld Curse" by taking Best Comedy Actress, while "The Office" took Comedy Series. And in their respective categories, "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" despite heavy competition from "The Colbert Report" and "American Idol" both remained undisputed at 4-0. "Grey's Anatomy" on the other hand, received zero awards.

Speaking of "Grey's", it really gave "CSI" (and later "TNA Impact!" on Spike TV) a run for the ratings the moment they moved to Thursdays. With the adventures of McDreamy and McSteamy drawing them in, as well as other hits "Dancing with the Stars", "Ugly Betty", and a resurged "Desperate Housewives", ABC proved they are the real "Must-See TV". Well, at least they didn't run promos telling viewers to "Watch Grey's, tape/Tivo CSI" unlike back then. CBS meanwhile remained the top network despite a controversial "Survivor", while "Deal or No Deal", "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "To Catch a Predator", and "Heroes" provided glimmers of hope for STILL fourth-place NBC. And then there's Fox, with powerhouses "American Idol" and "House" in the Top 10 almost every week.

After 11 years of living seperate lives as The WB and UPN, the two networks became one as The CW, with many shows like "Veronica Mars", "Gilmore Girls", "Friday Night Smackdown", and yes "7th Heaven" continuing the legacies left behind. MyNetworkTV on the other end of the dial were just two telenovelas...but was anyone watching?

Well, pretty not, because whenever there's something boring on, we have been watching something on our computers: YouTube! Throughout 2006, and since Google took over in the fall, that site has become the one-stop place for original videos (rants and raves done on a webcam, short movies, cartoons, music) as well as lots and lots of nostalgia (TV opens and promos, clips, episodes, music videos, and commercials from decades gone by). I during Election Night have contributed to the craze, and as a result "Time" magazine named You -- and me and everybody else -- as "Person of the Year".

2006 was also quite a memorable year as Hollywood came to Interior Alaska twice. In March, John Leguizamo and soon-to-be-outgoing governor Frank Murkowski helped open the "Ice Age: The Meltdown" ice park as part of the film's promotion. And in July, Ty Pennington and the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" team brought Christmas to the Rogers family in North Pole, as their tiny home was transformed into an instant palace in a week's time.

At the box office, the year's biggest draw was "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". In its opening weekend, it grossed $135 million...which is way enough to top 2002's "Spider-Man" for the all-time record. "Cars", "Casino Royale" (with Daniel Craig inheriting the James Bond role), "Little Miss Sunshine", "The Da Vinci Code", "Borat", and "Superman Returns" all had memorable moments worth reliving on DVD, while "Basic Instinct 2" and "Snakes On A Plane" had not-so-memorable moments we'd wish to forget. But Sharon Stone did rebound from her mess with "Bobby" later in the year, and the forecast for another Oscar nomination looks to be good.

In music, it was yet another banner year for "American Idol", both on and away from the show. Taylor Hicks and his "Soul Patrol" may have triumphed over Katherine McPhee for the title; Carrie Underwood may have gotten lots of praise and honors (including a Grammy nomination for New Artist) a year after she won; Kelly Clarkson may be globetrotting in her first world tour; Kellie Pickler, Chris Daughtry, and Bo Bice may have breakout hits even though none of them won...but in the end, it was Jennifer Hudson's performance in "Dreamgirls" that had the last laugh. With a Golden Globe nomination, it probably won't be long until she goes from "American Idol" to Oscar Idol.

After two years of exile over that infamous Super Bowl incident, Justin Timberlake was back with a vengenace with "SexyBack". And back to YouTube for a bit: A music video by an unknown group called OK Go which they performed on treadmills would later lead to a major record deal. Rihanna steamed up the charts, while Beyonce literally "Sounded The Alarm." And after declaring independence from each other, Nick Lachey had a hit and Vanessa Minnillo in his hands while Jessica Simpson's "Public Affair" wasn't anything but public.

But like in every other year, 2006 was indeed a year of makeups, break-ups, and scandals.

We start with the weddings: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may have tied the knot in Italy with a who's who including Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Brooke Shields, and Jim Carrey among them on the guest list (thankfully, no Oprah), but it was Cruise's ex Nicole Kidman who beat them to the altar months earlier by marrying country singer Keith Urban in June in their native Australia. Other " I Dos" of the year included Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, Marcia Cross and Tom Mahoney, and Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie though not married gave birth to Shiloh, while months after they starred in "The Break-Up", Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn would later break up themselves.

Then there are the couples who said "I Don't", and in surprising ways: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe, Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora (though the latter would shack it up with Richards), Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown (must've been Brown still going over the "KISS MY ASS!!!!!" remark by Whitney on "Being Bobby Brown"), and the ultimate surprise of them all...Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, which I'll get to in a bit!

There were of course scandals galore this year; the biggest of them involved Mel Gibson and Michael Richards. In late July, Gibson after being arrested for DUI made anti-Semitic tirades, including the "Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" quote. However, the apologies were indeed enough, and Gibson's latest project "Apocalypto" opened as the #1 movie in December.

And then there was Richards. In November, while performing at Los Angeles' Laugh Factory, a couple of hecklers interrupted Richards while performing, and he went through a stream of racial tirades including uttering the "N" word. The cell phone video from TMZ.com would be later broadcast around the world, and Richards' reputation despite apology after apology would be tarnished forever.

Other celebrity scandals of 2006 included: Sara Evans leaving "Dancing with the Stars" before divorcing her husband over accusations of an affair between him and a former nanny; Anna Nicole Smith's son Daniel's mysterious death just days after Anna Nicole gave birth to a baby boy, leading to a huge paternity battle; and though not covered in the "Year in News", embattled Florida Congressman Mark Foley's sexually explicit instant messages to a male page.

And just recently, reigning Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner was in danger of losing her crown after spending nights of hard partying and lesbian trysts with Miss Teen USA 2006. But in the end, pageant owner Donald Trump gave Conner another chance to clean it all up.

However, not everybody was supporting The Donald's decision. Rosie O'Donnell verbally lashed out against him on "The View", but it wouldn't take long for Trump to fire back. In the meantime, Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees was stripped of her title after photos of her really letting her hair down were all over the Internet.

But perhaps the biggest celebrity newsmaker of 2006 has to be an old favorite of mine: Britney Spears. Her year began with the paparazzi taking snaps of Britney's improper holding of Sean Preston, followed by that cringe-inducing "Dateline" interview with Matt Lauer, and giving birth to Jayden James. Oh yeah, not to mention that unkempt freak named Kevin Federline...and that infamous video that was all over the Internet which included Britney burping.

However, it all came to ahead in November, when just moments after popping up on David Letterman, Britney filed the divorce papers. In Toronto, Federline way trying to push his rap album (which sold what, seven copies?) until he learned of the news...via his Blackberry.

It didn't take long for Britney to become Britney once again, and she called on Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton to help. However, her partying ways got to the best of them, when on some occasions, there were shots of Britney without any underwear! She did admit on her website that she took her newfound freedom a little too far, and 2007 is hoping to be a comeback year.

What kind of happenings could 2007 bring in the world of entertainment? Could either "Spider-Man 3" or "The Simpsons Movie" surpass "Dead Man's Chest" as the all-time opening weekend record holder? Who will be fitting into Bob Barker's shoes on "The Price is Right" after he says "Come on Down!" for the final time? And which celebrity couples will be no more? We'll have to find out for ourselves in the new year.

Tomorrow...the "Top 20 Things That Had the Whole World Talking in 2006" as my Year in Review continues.