From very brief jailtimes for Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, to the misadventures of Paris and Britney, to the end of a hit show leaving us in blackout, to the "High School Musical"/"Hannah Montana" craze (the former nearly tarnished by scandal), to "Spider-Man 3" and "The Simpsons Movie" raking in the "d'oh", and to the latest writers' strike that had us cracking our own jokes on the news during late night; 2007 in the world of entertainment made us want to go to rehab following all these but we said "no, no, no!"

After six straight losses, the 79th Annual Academy Awards was culminated with Martin Scorsese finally bagging the Best Director prize for "The Departed"; the film picked up three more awards including Best Picture of 2006 while lead and supporting acting honors went to Forrest Whitaker/Helen Mirren and Alan Arkin/Jennifer Hudson.

The much-anticipated series finale of "The Sopranos" may have left us in the dark, but its light was shone when it took Best Drama at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards; Tina Fey's "30 Rock" was honored with Best Comedy while "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" both extended their streak to 5-0. But it was the Fox censors blacking out Katherine Heigl and Sally Field that had all of us heading to YouTube to see and hear what they really mouthed off.

"Heroes" may have left the Emmys empty-handed, but its second season with the addition of Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars" herself) attracted millions of us to the show...for at least eleven episodes during its second season; it would end prematurely due to the writers' strike, which I'll get to later. Now the show's tagline may be "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World"; but in the case of star Hayden Panettiere, she tried to replace "Cheerleader" with "Dolphins" by attempting to stop the annual dolphin hunt in Japan with a group of surfers. It failed, and the sight of Hayden back on the shore bawling would be seen around the world.

But "American Idol" remained the top remote-stopper, with Sanjaya Malakar's reign of terror and a "What if?" duet between Celine Dion and Elvis Presley as the top highlights and Jordin Sparks out-singing them all in the end; Fox also had another runaway hit with "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?". ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" had its own share of drama, brought to us by Marie Osmond with her collapse and the death of her father. And still number-one CBS had another controversial reality hit on their hands with "Kid Nation", while the still unwatchable My Network TV relied on cheaply produced shows to save themselves from extinction.

The biggest TV stories of the year belonged to the Disney Channel, as "High School Musical 2" was the all-time cable ratings grabber with 17.2 million viewers...until it was recently eclipsed by the 17.5 million that tuned in for the New England Patriots-Baltimore Ravens on ESPN's "Monday Night Football" (go figure; they're both owned by the same company). But the franchise was briefly marred by scandal as nude photos of star Vanessa Hudgens taken a few years ago were the hit of the Internet, and Hudgens would take the brunt of scrutiny as she had to regret all that.

"Hannah Montana" was also another hit for Disney, with Miley Cyrus picking up where her once-famous dad Billy Ray left off. And when news of her first tour broke, fans' parents were doing anything they can -- and I mean anything -- to get ahold of any good tickets left. Maybe it's because it the reunion tours of The Police and the Spice Girls were sold out within minutes. And speaking of the Spice Girls, it was Victoria Beckham who got all the attention with a reality TV special and a steamy photo shoot with David in "W" magazine.

And oh yeah...Bob Barker called it a career after 50 years; 35 of them were spent on "The Price Is Right." The extensive search for his successor ended when Drew Carey signed on the dotted line. And being a longtime viewer for years and years and years, I think he literally feels right at home there.

Since I didn't cover this in the news section, Al Gore had a pretty good year himself with his "An Inconvenient Truth" claiming the Documentary Feature and Best Song Oscars, his series of Live Earth concerts around the world, and to cap it all off...the Nobel Peace Prize.

In movies, "Spider-Man 3" was the new opening weekend record holder, while "The Simpsons Movie" proved that fans still love the franchise after 20 years. "The Bourne Ultimatum", "Transformers", "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Hairspray", "300", "Wild Hogs", "Shrek the Third", "Ratatouille", and "American Gangster" were all supergood, while "I Know Who Killed Me", "Good Luck Chuck", and "Norbit" were, well...superbad!

Music wise, Sparks winning "Idol" didn't translate to success as her debut album tanked; we were better off watching Carrie Underwood continue to fill up her mantle with award (Best New Artist plus two more at the Grammys) after award (three Academy of Country Music awards) after award (two CMA awards) after award (three American Music Awards)! Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, and Rihanna continued to scorch up the charts; Amy Winehouse did an anthem about rehab; and it was Kanye West vs. 50 Cent round two, in which Kanye won.

Scandals, nuptials, and splits were of course the talk of 2007. Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck really heated up "The View" when the two exchanged verbal blows about the war in Iraq; immediately thereafter, Rosie quit and Whoopi Goldberg took her spot. Videos of a drunken, shirtless David Hasselhoff struggling to eat a cheeseburger and Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton's bone-headed answer about why a fifth of us can't find the U.S. on a world map literally burned up YouTube. Though not also covered in the news part, there was Idaho Senator Larry Craig's adventures at a Minneapolis airport restroom with another man. And just recently, "Boy Meets World" hottie Danielle Fishel was arrested for DUI. Imagine what her mugshot is going to be!

In couples, the year's "I Do's" included Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell, Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley (who'll be married by the time this blog gets published), Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar, Usher and Tameka Foster, Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon (the two would be divorced sixty-odd days later, but they had second thoughts), and Kate Walsh and Alex Young. As for hook-ups, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal were the hottest couple; the Oscar winner and the "Brokeback Mountain" hunk found love while filming "Rendition." The film may have flopped, but there were lots of sparks flying between the two after the director said "That's a wrap!"

Meanwhile, it was over for Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake, Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, and Drew Barrymore and Fabrizio Moretti.

And then, there are Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Nicole Richie. We start with Hilton, as the image of her in tears after being hauled to a police car bound for jail would be front page news for the papers...and a gold mine for the late night jokesters. Her ordeal ended after only a few weeks. Lohan's 2007 started with a visit to rehab in January, then two DUI arrests later in the year with two more stints in rehab. In mid-November, she did go to jail...but for only over an hour. And Richie too spent time in jail, but only for 82 minutes in July for her 2006 DUI arrest. At the same time, she announced she's expecting a little bundle of joy with boyfriend Joel Madden.

Richie's not alone; others who have buns in the oven include Halle Berry, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Alba.

Of course, the year's drama queen was still Britney Spears. From shaving her head bald after a day-long stay in rehab (followed by going gung ho on the paparazzi with an umbrella as a weapon), to a nasty custody battle, all the way down to flaunting her portly figure during her disastrous performance at the MTV Video Music Awards (though her album "Blackout" did get favorable reviews and sales), we tried so hard not to follow her move every step of the way. And to rub salt in the would even further...little sister Jamie Lynn is now pregnant!!!

In the end, the year's biggest entertainment story that'll continue through 2008 is the ongoing writer's strike, as compensation over new media as well as an increase in residuals from DVD sales are the main focus. So far, two series of talks fell through and many of our favorite shows have shut down production. Even the late night shows felt the pinch, and we had to crack our own jokes on current event without their help. But recently, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien said they will be back on in January minus the writers, while David Letterman's show will return to full strength (i.e., with his writers) also in the new year. As for the major awards shows like the Golden Globes and Academy Awards: Jon Stewart may have been tapped to host the latter, but the stars may or may not walk the red carpet at both; the Grammys appear to be strike-free as it is a music awards show.

When we head to 2008, will we see an end to the strike; dunno if it'll last longer than the 1988 one? Will Jamie Lynn Spears not follow in her big sister's footsteps when it comes to caring for her new baby? And will Oprah Winfrey on Barack Obama's side pay off during the presidential campaign. We'll have the answers to those questions and others more then.

The "Year in Review" continues tomorrow with the Top 20 Things That Were Abuzz in 2007!