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The Biggest Television Stories of 2005

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 06:00 CST

A review of the year in television must begin with its most significant milestone: the 20th anniversary of the publication of "Amusing Ourselves to Death," Neil Postman's laser beam of a tract about TV.

The professor, who died in 2003, correctly prophesied that viewers one day (that is, now) would have in their households a perfect instrument for entertainment _ one that was tragically and ironically inept at helping us communicate.

"Americans are the best entertained and quite likely the least well-informed people in the Western world," he wrote. And he pinned the blame squarely on TV for, in his words, "transforming our culture into one vast arena for show business."

Postman's son, Andrew, writes in the new 20th-anniversary edition of the book: "(M)y father asked such good questions that they can be asked of non-television things. `What happens to us when we become infatuated with and then seduced by (these gizmos)? Do they free us or imprison us? Do they make our leaders more accountable or less so?'"

And the question we should reflect on every Christmas Day: "Do they make us better citizens or better consumers?"

Postman, I believe, would have been pleased that in 2005 television helped make our leaders more accountable. The meta-story of 2005 was the return of criticism as healthy and even fashionable. Take the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Savvy corporate and government handlers are shrewd about steering TV cameras to the photo ops for their clients. But they could not tell the cameras who or what to shoot after Katrina.

The flooding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was the biggest TV story of 2005, and while it minted a couple of new stars, notably CNN's Anderson Cooper, mostly what it did was give voice to the poor and bewildered ordinary citizens stranded by the storm.

Their voices accumulated, and the din humbled a president, exposed the shoddiness of a government relief agency and performed a public service.

Speaking of CNN, it finally ditched its retro debate show "Crossfire," thanks to critics like Jon Stewart who told its hosts their on-screen bickering was "hurting America." Unfortunately, what took its place was even worse: the schizo "Situation Room," which bombarded viewers with as many as six screens of video at once. As if that weren't disorienting enough, then came questions from the mind of Wolf Blitzer.

Celebrities died in 2005, none bigger than Peter Jennings and Johnny Carson. Neither would have been comfortable with the acclaim that followed their passing. They were throwback stars who comported themselves like VIPs while somehow not losing their common touch.

George Clooney made "political films" hip again, including his "Good Night, and Good Luck," about the iconic CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow. However, let the record show that HBO _ a channel usually averse to political messages _ beat Clooney to the punch earlier in 2005 when it aired "The Girl in the Cafe," a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the G8 summit, and "Dirty War," a startlingly realistic simulation of a terrorist attack on downtown London.

Al Gore also got into the business as the most public face behind the investors in Current TV, a cable channel that succeeded in giving viewers airtime to tell their stories. Many of them were fresh and substantive.

In a first, FX aired a TV drama taking place during the war it was dramatizing. But "Over There" steadily lost viewers and was canceled. Also retiring in 2005 were "Six Feet Under,""NYPD Blue,""Everybody Loves Raymond," UPN's "Enterprise," Dan Rather and his equally tarnished CBS boss, Andy Heyward.

Public television came under fire from Corporation for Pubic Broadcasting chairman Ken Tomlinson, a Bush appointee. Tomlinson quit in November, just before an inspector general's report accused him of improperly paying a right-wing media watchdog to log the political views of PBS talk-show guests.

Emmy voters found "Lost" the best TV drama, while American viewers, according to Nielsen, voted "Desperate Housewives" the top new show . Both shows were then turned into downloads for the new video iPod (only $1.99 per episode, up slightly from the network price of free). That created a feeding frenzy of deals that will eventually turn many of us into on-demand viewers who will never AGAIN watch TV shows at their appointed hour or sit through another commercial break.

Appointment TV, however, was clearly alive in 2005. Millions stayed up to see Oprah Winfrey end her 16-year feud with David Letterman. Millions more tuned in Dec. 11 to see Danni Boatwright win the $1 million prize on "Survivor."

Cable news networks lost theirs when Michael Jackson took one last ride away from the Santa Barbara courthouse and flew off to Bahrain.

"Jeopardy!" had to hope for a new meal ticket when its biggest star, Ken Jennings, was defeated in a three-day ultimate tournament by the less telegenic Brad Rutter.

Martha Stewart got to remove her ankle bracelet, but by then she had shackled herself to Mark Burnett, who sweet-talked her into doing a second "Apprentice." Next to fibbing about a stock trade, it was the second dumbest move she has made.

Chris Rock hosted the Oscars. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Emmys. Craig Ferguson hosted "The Late Late Show." And many of us would've traded every night of the year to see Johnny host anything one more time.

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Aaron Barnhart: TVBarn.com

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(c) 2005, The Kansas City Star.

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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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