THE BEST ENTERTAINMENT OF 2002

By the Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
My favorite album of the year. The Peppers may not "rock" like they used to, but they rock plenty for my tastes, and the lyrics are more meaningful if just as wacky. I'll take the melodies and harmonic background vocals of this album over chanting "Catholic Schoolgirls Rule" any day. Well, maybe not on Saturdays. Those can get pretty wild.

The Country Bears
Perhaps there were better movies released in 2002, but was there a movie that gave us more pure unadulterated fun? I think not.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
The best sitcom around is needed more than ever in a TV world that is getting more and more loaded with reality shows and Law and Order spinoffs. Larry David is a genius-it's that simple. If the short seasons help keep quality up, I shouldn't complain, but in what kind of world are there a handful of episodes of this year, yet That 70's Show is on seemingly every other night of the week?

Diamond Road by Sheryl Crow
C'mon, C'mon was a fine album that has been overshadowed somewhat by all the gigs Crow does with others, plus her Stuff magazine photo shoot. This sweet but sad song was my favorite.

Gangs of New York
The year's finest movie. Who cares about all the budget overruns, squabbles etc? Well, I do, for one. I eat that stuff up. But really, it is only significant in how it affects the movie, and the film itself is brilliant.

Live from New York
I had a few quibbles with this oral history book, but the source material, the umpteen years of Saturday Night Live, always makes fascinating reading. And any book that helps pile it on Chevy Chase is OK in my…sorry, I have to say it…book.

Netflix
I had problems with this mail order DVD rental service in the past, but they've turned it around and they seem to have their act together now. When executed well, the concept of renting DVD's by mail is brilliant.

The Sopranos
I had to laugh at people who were complaining early in the season because not enough people were being whacked to suit them. It was a long build this season, but man, it all paid off. The show is not what it was in the first season, maybe, but jeez, what IS on the level of that? Each episode is still an event. No network drama can say that.

Visa Sheen commercial
I don't particularly enjoy a lot of commercials, so when I say this one was pretty cool, you know it means something. Give credit to Charlie and Martin for sending themselves up. They probably already got a lot of cash for it, of course. The only way this ad would have been funnier is if Charlie had tried to write a check for a hooker.

The Wire
I have no idea how many people saw the best TV show of the year, but given that it's on HBO, I can safely assume it wasn't enough. The fact that this didn't get the buzz of practically every other Sunday HBO series is a travesty that hopefully will be corrected this summer, when this dynamite look at Baltimore police chasing the bad guys returns. Believe me, the show is much more complex than that little summary I just gave it.

THE WORST ENTERTAINMENT OF 2002

American Movie Classics
Last year I complained about the addition of commercial, but this year the channel got worse. The selection of movies, when it bothers to show them, gets worse every month. Everything is chopped up by commercials or edited or both. Take this channel off the air now.

The Anna Nicole Show
Simply the worst show in television. E's desperate attempt to seem in on the joke somehow makes it even worse.

Christina Aguilera's descent into skankiness
No, I never thought she was "all that" (as the kids say) before. What irks me is her shedding of clothes-normally something we would all applaud-was accompanied by the addition of a proportionate amount of makeup-plus her continued insistence on talking. The whole package rightly drew scorn from just about everyone-which will probably make hot singers reluctant to take their clothes off in the future.

Jimmy Fallon
Yeah, just Jimmy Fallon. Whether it be his goofy, embarrassing hosting performance at the MTV Awards or his smirking, preening "Ain't I cute" weekly self-lovefest on SNL's Weekend Update, Fallon was the most annoying celebrity of the year.

HBO Sunday Night
3 shows from this lineup-3!-made the Best of 2002 list. Maybe it's their brilliance that makes shows like Arliss and Mind of the Married Man suck so badly by comparison. Nah, they really are that bad. It got so that I dreaded watching my tapes of The Wire because I knew the last minute of Arliss would be right before it.

Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From the Block" video
How could a video be so bad as to actually make me turn away from JLo's ass? By shoving her romance with Ben down my throat, by showing pointless paparazzi shots while claiming you're satirizing them, by constantly trying to tell us a multimillion dollar-earning diva is still "keepin' it real." Stuff likes this makes me wish MTV showed LESS videos.

Kim on 24
A great show induces groans just about every time Jack Bauer's airheaded daughter shows up. Fallon is the most annoying celebrity on TV, but Kim Bauer is the most annoying character.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
I could have ignored this movie if it had tanked, but its ridiculous box office success forces me to call BS on it. This stupid movie was not even funny or charming yet somehow became a phenomenon because…why? It was a "crowd pleaser?" People identified with it? I personally found more reality in The Family Circus.

Scooby Doo
A giant marketing opportunity/brand extension disguised as-wait, was it a little kid's movie? A hip satire? Who knows? Who cares? My pick for the worst movie of the year was inept on all levels except for Matthew Lillard's decent job as Shaggy. I reserve the right to take back even that compliment if they force a sequel on us.

WWE
I used to be a little defensive about being a wrestling fan, but at least I used to be a wrestling fan. The current WWE product is terrible-ruined by terrible booking, stale stars playing politics, and crappy writing. There is very little actual wrestling on WWE programming anymore, so at least there's nothing for wrestling fans to be defensive about, I guess. Oh, the new name sucks, too.

You Know You're Right
Is the state of rock music so bad that an old Nirvana reject that happened to have been unreleased should be fawned over so much? Well, yes, the state of music is pretty bad. However, this moldy oldie is not our salvation. Lyrics that rank with Kurt Cobain's least inspired are accompanied by droning vocals that must be the verbal equivalent of his scratching a chalkboard with his nails. Remember, being a drug addict, his nails were probably really dirty, too.

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