Entertainment

04:08 PM CST on Monday, December 19, 2005

By ED BARK and MANUEL MENDOZA / The Dallas Morning News

The changing face of television resembled a Picasso painting by year's end. News divisions embraced new faces and formats after old hands waved goodbye in ever-growing numbers.

NBC tumbled from its longtime lofty perch as the go-to network for advertiser-courted younger viewers, with Fox, ABC and even elder statesman CBS attracting more dudes and dude-ettes. The early days of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath put wind in the 24-hour cable news networks' sails while the Big Three broadcasters initially clung almost obliviously to their regularly scheduled entertainment programming. America needed a few laughs after the storms finally died down, and TV at last seemed equal to the task with a bracing new wave of quality half-hour comedies.

But we'll mostly remember 2005 for its big exits: Dan Rather from the CBS Evening News , Ted Koppel from Nightline and Peter Jennings and Pope John Paul II from life as we know it. Enter 2006, the year of new people striving to fill big shoes. What impressions will they make? As always, another new painting is nearing its first brushstroke.

FRED R. CONRAD / The New York Times

Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff, new co-anchors of "World News Tonight," were named to succeed the late Peter Jennings on ABC's flagships news program.

Out with the old, out with the old ...
Broadcast news accelerated its transition from generation-spanning fixtures to younger guns and new modes. Peter Jennings' sudden death last August left evening newscasts without any of their longtime father figures after Dan Rather left the CBS Evening News in the wake of "Memogate" and Tom Brokaw made his long-planned exit last year from NBC's Nightly News. Add Ted Koppel's surprise decision to call it a day at Nightline and stir in Barbara Walters' semiretirement from ABC News. Who's left? Larry King signed a new contract with CNN, Jim Lehrer still flies the NewsHour flag and Mike Wallace somehow keeps ticking on 60 Minutes. Eat your vegetables, boys.

Storm troupers
Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans and the Gulf Coast devastated, and some reporters emboldened. Geraldo Rivera made an unsightly spectacle of himself as usual, but eyewitness correspondents such as Shepard Smith, Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper legitimately huffed and puffed on behalf of the newly homeless. Television's pictures spoke even louder, at last forcing the federal government's hand. Images of rooftop rescues and desperate evacuees remain rooted in the collective consciousness, as does rapper Kanye West's unscripted telethon assertion that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Joking matters
After several years of serious neglect, half-hour comedies returned to the living with NBC's My Name Is Earl and the network's Americanized version of The Office; UPN's Everybody Hates Chris ; CBS' How I Met Your Mother; HBO's breakthrough second season of En tourage and even Fox's crudely cartoonish The War at Home. On cable, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report instantly became a perfect sidekick for The Daily Show, while cartoonist Aaron McGruder threw caution for a loop in taking his Boondocks strip to the Cartoon Network's late-night Adult Swim bloc. Comedy isn't king yet, but a coup is finally in play.

News flushes
CBS News began the year in a ditch by sharply discrediting its 60 Minutes Wednesday report on President Bush's Texas Air National Guard Service. The network's long-awaited internal investigation resulted in the dismissals of four CBS staffers, most notably Dallas-based producer Mary Mapes. She fired back in November with her own account in the book Truth and Duty. Its publication came just two weeks after CBS News president Andrew Heyward was replaced by Sean McManus, who also still helms the network's sports division. The search continues for a permanent Evening News anchor, with Bob Schieffer now in his 10th month of interim duties.

Martha's stew
Newly freed from the slammer, domestic diva Martha Stewart went directly to jail with her new version of The Apprentice. Downtrodden NBC envisioned a ratings smash but instead got an opening-night smoosh that instantly sealed the show's fate as fall's biggest flop. Most of the year's new reality shows took tumbles, although one big notable exception came from out of nowhere this past summer. That brings us to...

Sole train
ABC's Dancing With the Stars paired apprentice semicelebrity hoofers with professionals to become a surprise ratings hit in a big o'hurry, thanks in large part to contestant John O'Hurley. Copycats ensued, with Fox planning to put stars on ice early next year while ABC will open January with a second edition of Dancing on Thursday nights.

Trip, stumble, fall
NBC plunged from first to fourth place with advertiser-craved 18- to 49-year-olds while a Sopranos -less HBO saw its Sunday night audiences slowly slip-slide away. The failure of NBC's Friends spinoff Joey epitomized the Peacock network's problems; HBO's lavish but sometimes plodding Rome series flunked the water-cooler buzz test.

On a scale of one to 450 ...
Excess weight became the stuff of excessive TV series and specials. NBC made the most gains with The Biggest Loser, a modest ratings hit. Kirstie Alley flopped in Showtime's heavily hyped Fat Actress, comedian Monique launched her inaugural Fat Chance beauty pageant on Oxygen and a small army of TV personalities donned "fat suits" to showily document mistreatment of the obese.

Papal pageantry
Telecast live in the U.S. during pre-dawn hours, the April funeral of Pope John Paul II was both majestic and moving. Three made-for-TV movies followed, in August on the Hallmark Channel and earlier this month on ABC and CBS. All had dispiriting Nielsen ratings for the networks involved.'

Moving 'Wheel'
After a dominating 18-year run at 6:30 p.m. on WFAA-TV (Channel 8), Wheel of Fortune relocated in September to the same time slot on KTVT-TV (Channel 11). Aiming younger, Channel 8 replaced it with Entertainment Tonight, which ran third in the November "sweeps." Wheel lost viewers but remained No. 1 at 6:30 by a slim margin over runner-up Extra on KXAS-TV (Channel 5).

Deadwood/Entourage (HBO)
Two No. 1's? What a cheater. The common bond between the late-frontier drama and the inside-Hollywood comedy is that their greatness is tied to content freedom. On HBO, they can go wherever their creators' imaginations lead without worrying about the mind police. Both topped their inaugural seasons, especially Entourage, which moved from hit-and-miss to dead-on in its sharp exaggeration of celebrity lifestyles, as well as its feel for the nature of male friendship. Deadwood was brilliant from the start, but in its second season, the richness of the storytelling put it in the pantheon with The Sopranos .

The Colbert Report/The Daily Show
Again with the double entry? Helping me sleep at night, this one-two punch of "fake" news reminds me that what I think of the state of the world isn't crazy. In particular, word to "The Word," Stephen Colbert's nightly unmasking of the "no-spin zone." The Report has made leaps in just a few weeks while The Daily Show remains must-see TV for lefties.

Intervention (A&E)
Speaking of fake, there's nothing phonier than most reality TV. Intervention is a gritty exception. Cameras follow an addict or two as they behave badly. They've been told they're the subjects of a documentary series. What they don't know is that their friends and family are planning to intercede. With no need for cheap sensation, Intervention simply chronicles. It turns out to be educational and emotionally satisfying, free of easy happy endings.

Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
He used to bug me to no end, and I can't even remember why. That's because his retooling of late-night conventions, from the monologue to the guest list, is so fresh. It's as if you've been invited to his house to shoot the breeze. And has any TV host ever had a more talented inner circle, from Cousin Sal to grade-school buddy Cleto?

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History (PBS)
The American Experience documentary captures the reason why we should pay attention to what's happening in the Nevada desert. It's where American culture, good and bad, is constantly distilled.

My Name Is Earl (NBC)
Executive producer Greg Garcia has come up with the winning formula to lead a minor comeback of the network sitcom. His ways-mending petty thief (Jason Lee) is a beautiful mix of edgy and poignant. But the big laughs come from tiny bits of business usually involving Earl's sweetly sociopathic brother (Ethan Suplee).

American Idol (Fox)
I can't bring myself to buy the Fantasia or Bo Bice albums, and not just because it would be uncool. Outside the cocoon of competition – and without Simon's brutal if somewhat strained honesty – it's hard to care. On the other hand, as a TV show that allows the audience to develop rooting interests and see talent rising, it's unparalleled.

Late Show With David Letterman (CBS)
Dave was turning into a crank before fatherhood mellowed him. But he makes the list because his ambition hasn't receded. The political clips, the bear that had to be put away every night, his rants about whatever's bugging him that day more than balance interviews that are occasionally too serious, and bits – Biff's excursions and those into the audience – that are overly silly.

The Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (Comedy Central)
Pam was a great sport, and Courtney Love was, well, Courtney Love. Jeffrey Ross, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Lampanelli – you're @!#$% brilliant. The Friars would be proud.

Weeds (Showtime)
The comedy about a suburban, single-mom pot dealer has deep flaws, starting with its cartoon depiction of African-Americans. But it also goes where no series has dared to before, depicting a Hobson's choice that's as heartbreaking as it is discomforting. Mary-Louise Parker, who has in recent years left her good-girl persona behind, nails the conflicted role. Plus any show that reveals Kevin Nealon's previously hidden talents deserves kudos.

Pay-per-view: the sequels. Tell a friend that the word "television" may soon seem as archaic as "gramophone." The year brought a wealth of new and costly ways to watch broadcast TV programming that initially is free on your friendly living room appliance.

Upon further review, though, maybe you'd rather feel free to watch a missed episode of Lost on your computer or new video iPod. Or how about catching some riotous segments from NBC's Tonight Show on your pocket-sized cellphone? And if that old-school TV set still feels like home, you'll soon be able to catch fresh episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation at any time of day or night via Comcast digital cable's On Demand service.

ABC, NBC and CBS all are thrilled to charge a price for these privileges. Commercial-free episodes of selected ABC and NBC shows can be downloaded via iTunes.com for $1.99 an episode. Beginning in January, CBS' On Demand option will cost consumers 99 cents a pop.

CBS chairman Leslie Moonves heralds what he hopes will be a brave new world of untapped profits.

"This is an incredibly exciting evolution for CBS and network television," he said when the network announced its On Demand partnership in November. "Video on demand is the next frontier for our industry. ... We're confident the lure of watching these shows at one's own convenience will make this feature wildly popular."

Talk is cheap, though. Will extra-cost TV be a deep new revenue stream or just a puddle? After all, the reasonably intrepid consumer can still TiVo or record programming for later viewing. Then again, it's not as transportable as watching a Law & Order episode while riding the rails or walking the dog.

NBC Universal, in a Dec. 6 news release, claims that consumers already have downloaded more than 3 million videos since its iTtunes catalog opened for business on Oct. 12. A 16-show menu includes current NBC series such as Law & Order and The Office and past hits ranging from Alfred Hitchcock Presents to Knight Rider .

The new year likely will bring rapid expansions in pay-per-view choices amid growing concerns that local network stations will see their lifeblood slowly drained from them.

If out-of-home or a la carte viewing goes up, up, up, will appointed-hour Nielsen ratings go down, down, down? Somehow, someway, we'll see.

Here are the top 10 shows for the year so far, in millions of viewers.

DRAMAS

1. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS) – 28.03

2. Without a Trace (CBS) – 20.43

3. Lost (ABC) – 18.62

4. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) –18.47

5. CSI: Miami (CBS) – 18.09

6. NCIS (CBS) – 16.77

7. Cold Case (CBS) – 16.66

8. Law & Order: SVU (NBC) – 15.55

9. CSI: NY (CBS) – 14.85

10. Commander in Chief (ABC) – 14.73

COMEDIES

1. Desperate Housewives (ABC) – 24.89

2. Two and a Half Men (CBS) – 15.15

3. My Name Is Earl (NBC) – 12.61

4. Out of Practice (CBS) – 12.12

5. King of Queens (CBS) – 10.73

6. The Simpsons (Fox) – 10.51

7. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – 10.25

8. Family Guy (Fox) – 8.60

9. Will & Grace (NBC) – 8.290

10. George Lopez (ABC) – 8.289

UNSCRIPTED

1. Survivor: Guatemala (CBS) – 18.30

2. Monday Night Football (ABC) – 16.89

3. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) – 15.56

4. 60 Minutes (CBS) – 15.16

5. The Apprentice 4 (NBC) – 10.69

6. The Amazing Race 8 (CBS) – 10.66

7. Biggest Loser 2 (NBC) – 9.84

8. America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC) – 9.44

9. 48 Hours Mystery (CBS) – 8.36

10. 20/20 (ABC) – 7.99

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research. Ratings are for the first 12 weeks of the season (Sept. 19 to Dec. 11).