2014: Winners and Losers

Once again, I take stock of the year gone by, and I sort out who, in my opinion, scored big or struck out.  And, as always, it was not easy.  Some of the people, places and things who made out well in 2014 didn't make out well in a really big or significant way, and those that fell short didn't necessarily fall flat on their whatevers.

I picked winners and losers on a clearly temporal basis, knowing full well that today's nightingales could become tomorrow's albatrosses, while those in the valley this year could be high on the mountain next year.  Unless her name is Allison Lundergan Grimes.

Oh yeah, about that . . . I could have picked politicians by name for the winners and losers list, but since being a politician is a losing proposition in America these days, I'm not including victorious candidates for office or high-profile presidential prospects on the winners list, and a roster of political losers - especially Democratic losers - would take up too much bandwidth.  So I limited my political losers to the mention of one party . . . and one member of said party.  Also left out of the winners list are stars of TV shows that debuted this year, as their shows have only been on the air for a couple of months, so I can't gauge whether they'll be hits of flops in the long term.  That includes Viola Davis.  However,  I have listed TV producer Shonda Rhimes as a winner, because even if "How To Get Away With Murder" runs out of gas by springtime, she'll likely still be calling the shots regarding ABC's Thursday prime-time lineup.  Left out of my losers list is Arsenio Hall, because even though his return to late-night talk TV failed, no one noticed he was even back on TV.  They were too busy talking about Stephen Colbert's new gig as the host of CBS's "The Late Show" (which he hasn't even started, so that's why he's not on my winners list).

Anyway, you get the idea, as you probably have from my previous ten annual winners-and-losers list on this blog, that picking heroes and heels is not an exact science.  I'm still not sure I did the right thing by excluding Pope Francis from the winners list, although I still regard his papacy to be a work in progress.  Vladimir Putin?  He's won and lost this year, from the heights of the Sochi Winter Olympics to the depths of sanctions over Ukraine and falling oil prices, so I don't think he belongs on either list.  And Sony Pictures?  The studio got hacked by North Korea for producing The Interview but released it after originally deciding not to.  Now everyone's going out to see it.  But again, it's a wash for Sony, and thanks to those leaked e-mails, some stars (and the President) would have a case if they sued for defamation.  As for the Islamic State and the Ebola crisis, this is not the post in which to discuss those topics.

So, now that I've gotten all that out of the way, without further ado, here is my list of winners for 2014, twelve selections for each list:

Teri Polo.  My favorite actress of my own generation finally has a hit series.  "The Fosters," about a lesbian couple and their multiracial children, is a hit on ABC Family.  Not only is there a third season on tap, a special Christmas episode was aired earlier this month, outside its regular seasons.  From Fockers to Fosters, Ms. Polo is now on course.

Online petitions.  You think they don't work?  Well, one online petition to keep the Chicago-based Walgreens pharmacy chain from moving to Switzerland as a tax dodge actually got the firm's notice, and Walgreens ain't going anywhere.  By the way, has anyone else signed my high-speed passenger rail petition on MoveOn.org?

Germany.  It's not because the country is doing relatively better than other European countries economically.  It's because it won its first World Cup this year since reunification.

Benedict Cumberbatch.  Playing Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate almost deep-sixed this British actor's career, but his performance in The Imitation Game as another man of secrets (British code breaker Alan Turing, who deciphered Nazi messages in World War II) has gotten a lot of good vibes and good buzz; the code word is Oscar.

Richard Sherman.  The NFL star got taunted for trash-talking.  He responded by helping the Seattle Seahawks win their first Super Bowl championship.

Shonda Rhimes.  A lot of television critics are saying that ABC owns Thursday nights. No, the producer of "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal" and "How To Get Away With Murder" owns Thursday nights. ABC is just the conduit for Rhimes' success.

Jimmy Fallon.  Less than a decade ago, he was a snarky "Saturday Night Live" alumnus with a penchant for annoying the few people who sat through one of his movies (or both of them).  Now, while he's not ready for prime time yet, his gig as the newest host of "The Tonight Show" - now based in New York again - shows how ready he is for 11:35 Eastern.  But watch out, Jimmy; Stephen Colbert is coming.

Taylor Swift.  A lot of people miss her country persona, but as she's the first (only?) recording artist to release an LP to sell over a million copies this year, it's obvious that she has no place in American popular music.  She is American popular music.

Ted Ligety.  Between the lack of snow and the preponderance of free Pussy Riot shows at the Sochi Winter Olympics this year, the skiing star managed to distinguish himself by becoming the first American to win the gold medal in the men's giant slalom and the first American male skier to win two gold medals in skiing.

the San Francisco Giants.  The Giants won the pennant . . . and the World Series, their 2014 victory meaning that they've won three out of the past five Major League Baseball championship tournaments.  The last time the Giants had a Series victory before the 2010s, Eisenhower was in the White House . . . and the Giants were in New York.

Neil Patrick Harris.  The one-time child star of "Doogie Howser, M.D." has grown up in a big way.  Not only did a wrap up a triumphant role as Barney Stinson on "How I Met Your Mother," he won a Tony (among other awards) for the title role in a new Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and he married his domestic partner.

Thomas Picketty.  The French economist got people thinking about the fairness of the American economy with his book on income inequality with his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century . . .  

And now, the losers:

Thomas Picketty.  . . . but people went back to indifference on the subject when his book got shoved aside on the bestseller lists by Hillary Clinton's latest memoir.

the Democratic Party.  The party lost the Senate, saw its House caucus shrink to its smallest size in decades, lost more state governorships (though Democrat Tom Wolf did take Pennsylvania), and saw all of its future stars relegated to the past - all in a few hours on Election Day.  How can a party not ready for prime time be ready for Hillary? How can Hillary be ready?  The Democrats weren't hit by a Republican wave, they were hit by a tsunami.  Is that a Whig Nancy Pelosi is wearing?

Barack Obama.  On the positive side, he still has rock-star appeal.  But you know what that's worth these days, with rock having lost most of its audience to hip-hop and all . . .

Rock and roll.  Speaking of which: The Grammy Awards for 2014 veered toward hip-hop and hit pop, the Grammy nominations for 2015 mostly continued the trend, the Allman Brothers Band broke up, Foster the People's second album got mixed reviews, and New York just entered its third year without a commercial new-rock station.  Among other setbacks.  If rock and roll fans think their favorite music can survive rap and electro-pop and come back, well, as Ed Schultz used to say, they can keep on pretending!

Bill Cosby.  At the start of the year, the Cos was on track to add yet another sitcom project to his illustrious career.  He leaves the year with no fewer than two dozen women - including two supermodels  - accusing him of drugging them and/or raping them, and as soon as Beverly Johnson added her accusations, that was enough to convince me.  For those who thought Leonard: Part 6 was the worst he could do, sorry.

Roger Goodell.  The current National Football League commissioner, the son of a former U.S. Senator, probably wishes he'd gone into the family business.  First came the NFL's embarrassment of playing up the Super Bowl being in New York when in fact it was in East Rutherford, New Jersey, then came stories of domestic violence committed by players, while Redskins owner Dan Snyder undistinguished himself defending his team's racist name.  Goodell seems less like a major league sports commissioner these days and more like a social worker.

Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Arnie tried going back to his movie career after leaving politics, but moviegoers weren't ready to go back to him.  Sabotage got sabotaged at the box office, and it's clear that the once-hot action star is . . . expendable.

Atlantic City.  Four casinos - the Atlantic Club, Showboat, Trump Plaza and Revel - all closed in 2014, and if not for Carl Icahn throwing in $20 million to keep it going during bankruptcy proceedings, Trump Taj Mahal would have closed, too.  With a potential buyer for the Revel complex wanting a discount on account of the auction for the property not having been conducted fairly, the rules for a gambling revival in the town once called America's Playground don't favor the house.

"Meet The Press."  Let's see, what's the problem with this once-heralded show?  Was it Chuck Todd's sycophancy with Republicans that lowered the ratings?  Was it David Gregory's snarky focus on polls and politics rather than policy?  You know what?  I got that backwards.  Or did I?  Anyway, I remember Chuck Todd shrugging off the answer to a question . . . wait, wasn't that David Gregory, who got fired because of bad ratings?  Wait, was that interim host Andrea Mitchell who did that?  And, thanks to still-low ratings, Chuck Todd is due to be replaced . .  .wait, he's staying on?  Ah, forget it.  "Face The Nation," anyone?    

General Motors.  One could argue that Volkswagen had a bad year.  Its new modular platform has had teething problems, its plant in Tennessee failed to get unionized, and its overall U.S. sales are sinking fast . . . again.  But it's ready to go with a new midsize SUV for the North American market for 2016, and the new Golf has garnered great sales and Motor Trend's 2015 Car of the Year award in the States.  Also, there are currently two unions dueling with each other over organizing the Chattanooga plant to establish the worker's council that VW wants there.  Meanwhile, General Motors has had to deal with a crisis regarding faulty ignition switches that has caused numerous accidents, along with a slew of recalls of nearly three million vehicles made over the past decade.  What's good for GM is not good for America.  (Dishonorable mention goes to Japanese air bag company Takata, whose faulty products injured motorists, passengers, and the reputations of numerous auto marques.)     

Cristin Milioti.  At the beginning of the year, Crisitin Milioti was generating buzz as the Mother -  Tracy McConnell Mosby - in the final season of "How I Met Your Mother."  Then the series ended with her character getting killed off.  Even worse, when she starred in her own sitcom, "A to Z," the show got killed off.  But just as I correctly predicted back in 2004 that Julie Bowen would survive the cancellation of "Ed," I predict that Cristin Milioti will bounce back.

Jenna Elfman.  But Jenna Elfman won't.  "Growing Up Fisher," her fourth sitcom since "Dharma & Greg," was canceled after thirteen episodes, meaning that her career can't even be saved by a good sitcom.  I'll come right out and say it; she's the female McLean Stevenson.

And there you have it, my winners and losers for 2014.  One could read this list and think I had fun writing it.  Well, I hope you had a lot of fun reading it, because writing it was really hard, grueling work.  It took so long to put this post together and select my winners and losers that I kept giving myself a headache. So I'll just take two aspirin and sleep in on January 1 so I can start 2015 refreshed . . . and on the eye for more winners and losers.  Happy new year.