2013: Winners and Losers

Well, it's that time of year again, the time when I tally up all the winners and losers of the year gone by.  And it's not easy.  I have to remember as many things that happened for good and for bad as possible and separate the wheat from the chaff, then the chaff from the less-chaffy chaff, to provide what I know will not be a definitive list.  I am not here to look at trends like the Duck Dynasty, twerking, sequestration, and all that rot; I'm here to determine who made it and who blew it.  And, quite frankly, no one responsible for any of the above made it on either list.  I wanted to sort out who had the biggest hits and flops of the year, period.

Picking the most successful movies and the least successful movies was easy, as well as politicians who rose and politicians - like a President - who fell and landed hard.  It was a little more difficult to pick winners and losers with television, though, and I ultimately decided not to pick as winners anyone who had a hit television series premiere at the start of the season that began in September because such a hit could become a flop by May.  In 2004, I listed "Seinfeld" alumnus Jason Alexander as a winner because his first-season sitcom of the time got picked up for a full year.  Alas, it didn't make it to a second season, so calling "Seinfeld"'s lovable loser a winner was obviously premature.  I did the same thing last year, picking Dennis Quaid as a winner because his '60s drama "Vegas" roared out of the gate, ratings-wise, in September 2012.  But by the end of the 2012-13 television season in May 2013, it limped over the finish line and got the axe.  (Both shows were on CBS, a winning network that doesn't like losers and gets rid of a show as soon as it smells like a loser.)  So even though Robin Williams, for example, looks like a winner with his new sitcom "The Crazy Ones," it's too early to call his show - which airs on CBS - a hit.  I'll wait and see if it gets renewed for September 2014.  

Similarly, although Michael J. Fox is a prime candidate for everyone's losers' list after his NBC sitcom "The Michael J. Fox Show" went from being eagerly awaited to being quickly forgotten, it's still on the air as of now, and I'm not going to bring the curtain down on it before the final show by putting him on my losers' list for this year.  Just remember, 41 years ago this time, there was this new historical sitcom, based on a hit movie, and no one thought this show would survive a whole season.  You might have heard of it - "M*A*S*H."  It's too early to pass judgement on any struggling first-season show still on the air.  

Anyway, I tried to, as always, make my lists of winners and losers from as many diverse fields as possible, although I might have overcompensated a bit in sports for the winners' list, I managed to get twelve winners and twelve losers in all, and I think they're both pretty encompassing lists.  

So first, here are the winners of 2013:   

Kerry Washington.  Her ABC drama "Scandal," set in Washington, D.C. and involving sex, politics, and anything else that can bring down men in high positions, has hit television like a bolt of lightning; it's easily the most talked-about TV drama on commercial broadcast television.   

Jennifer Lawrence.   America's hottest young actress won 21 Best Actress awards - including the Best Actress Oscar - for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, and her career continues to roll along merrily, with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and American Hustle.   

Black cinema.  High-profile movie releases such as The Butler, 12 Years a Slave, and The Best Man Holiday prove that it's not African-American cinema.  It's American cinema.   

Summer television.  The Stephen King miniseries "Under The Dome" on CBS, the return of "Unforgettable" to the same network, Canadian TV dramas on ABC, and original programming on basic cable stations have changed the rules for TV in the lazier, crazier and hazier months.  Summer TV isn't just reality and reruns anymore.   

Jerry Brown.  The once and present governor of California is pursuing and passing a liberal agenda involving infrastructure construction, a more equitable tax system, and more money for public education . . . while closing the state's budget gap.  For those wondering what happened to the promise of a progressive America, go west, young man.  

New Jersey politicians.  Chris Christie's landslide re-election to the New Jersey governorship, which made him a big presidential prospect (and I'm not talking about his size), is only one of the triumphs of high-profile politicians from the Garden State.  Cory Booker became the first black U.S. Senator from New Jersey after a hard-fought special election campaign, and his Senate counterpart Robert Menendez, having survived a phony sex scandal, is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Expect more 'tude in national politics going forward.    

Marcus Mumford.  Miley Cyrus may have made all the headlines in popular music with her salacious, hip-hop-driven dance-pop music, but Mumford and his "sons" made the big time making music that is none of those things at a time when their brand of English folk-rock is not exactly Top Forty material these days . . . and it never really was.  Gotta give him credit for that.    

Andy Murray.   The last time a male British tennis player won at Wimbledon was 1936, when Edward VIII was king, and no Scot of either sex had won there since the century before last - in 1896.  Andy Murray broke both traditions in flying colors.  Match!    

Diana Nyad.  Meanwhile, America's best known endurance swimmer finally achieved her biggest goal - becoming the first person to swim across the Strait of Florida without the benefit of a shark cage.  Like the ant and the ram, Nyad had high hopes that paid off against the odds. 

the Boston Red Sox.  The Red Sox's World Series win - only their third since 1918 - was the most bittersweet sports championship win of all this year.  They pulled it off while capping a baseball season that began in the shadow of the bombing at the Boston Marathon, providing a catharsis for sports fans all over the Boston area.     

the Roman Catholic Church.  We have a pope . . . who is thoroughly a pope as a pope ought to be, something we haven't been able to say for at least fifty years.

Ed Schultz.  At a time when MSNBC had to deal with hosts with foot-in-mouth disease (see below), Big Eddie is still standing tall.  Like the average workers he speaks for, he shows up on time, does his job well, and gets it done without a mistake.  His populism got him banished to weekends when MSNBC tried to go more neo-liberal, but Edheads wouldn't have it; he's back on weeknights by popular demand. :-)    

And now, without further ado, the losers:

Tony Shalhoub.  Maybe it's not too late for Michael J. Fox to save his namesake show (highly doubtful, though), but Shalhoub's CBS sitcom "We Are Men" was over right after it started.  It lasted for only two episodes in September.   (See what I mean about CBS not liking losers?)

Lara Logan.  Good news for liberals:  Logan's impugning of President Obama's integrity with her flawed "60 Minutes" report on the sneak attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya - using an unreliable "witness" as its source - got her suspended from CBS News, with no guarantee that she'll be back.   

Martin Bashir.  Good news for conservatives: Bashir's disgusting comment on what to put in Sarah Palin's mouth to make her understand the evils of slavery forced him to resign from MSNBC, a cable news channel fast gaining a reputation for finding it hard to maintain a steady on-air staff.  And there's a guarantee that he won't be back - anywhere.   

Alec Baldwin.  Good news for both liberals and conservatives: The temperamental actor's MSNBC talk show got forced off the air after only a month for the host's homophobic comments, so he won't be able to embarrass the left or annoy the right on a weekly basis any more.  Not that anyone noticed "Up Late" in the first place; those who did see it found Smart Alec acting like a guest on his own show.

Anthony Weiner.  The former future mayor of New York told us he'd stopped his "sexting" habits only to be caught doing it again, and the lie was worse than the deed - even this deed.  Eliot Spitzer's  attempted political comeback may have crashed and burned when he lost his bid to become New York City comptroller, but he at least went down with dignity, and he'd sought a lesser office.  Bill de Blasio's mayoral primary victory took a few days to be called, but it was instantly clear whom New Yorkers did not want in Gracie Mansion; Weiner finished last in a five-person Democratic primary field.    

British and Australian actors in contemporary historical roles.  British actor Benedict Cumberbatch played Australian info-leaker Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate.  Australian actress Naomi Watts played the British Princess Diana in Diana.  Both movies were such huge flops, their failures overshadowed Johnny Depp's racially insensitive portrayal of Tonto in the Disney flop The Lone Ranger.  But with Edward Snowden leaking National Security Administration secrets and with the new kings on the Dutch and Belgian thrones - plus the birth of Prince George in the U.K. - the real lives of rascals and royals in 2013 was more interesting than art.    

Detroit.  The federal government's plan to save the American auto industry was a big payoff.  So why can't anyone save the city that gave birth to it?

the Colorado State University Meteorological Department.  Remember when weather "experts" from this landlocked land-grant college predicted nineteen Atlantic hurricanes for this year, with a good chance of the East Coast seeing another direct hit from a big tropical storm?  The East Coast was spared, only thirteen storms formed, and the thirteenth storm wasn't even potent enough to be classified as tropical.   Two storms that hit Mexico notwithstanding - and let me be clear that what happened in Mexico was bad - it turned out to be a quieter hurricane season than expected.  

Paula Deen.  Her racial insensitivity proved to be as toxic and dangerous as her fatty, sugary dishes.  Stick a fork in her, indeed - she's done.  She's Deen!  

New York rock radio.  It's not because New York City still - still - doesn't have a commercial modern-rock radio station.  It's because Pete Fornatale is dead and Dave Herman is alive! :-O  

New York football teams.  The Giants. The Jets.  Who cares?  

Barack Obama.  A sluggish job market . . . health care reform . . . the IRS scandal . . . health care reform . . . Syria . . .health care reform . . . Republican obstruction . . . health care reform . . .the NSA leaks . . . and, of course, health care reform.  What a disaster.  Obama's poll numbers suggest that he has even fewer supporters than an NBC sitcom has viewers.  If you can remember when the President was a symbol of hope for the age, you're showing your own age.

And so ends another year, and soon we start a year in which some of this year's winners could be losers and some of this year's losers could be winners.  Except President Obama.  Sorry, it's over for him.  Happy 2014, and so let's forget and never bring to mind old acquaintances like hope and change. :-p   

Unless you live in California.