Mekeisha Madden Toby: 2008: The year in television

From Jay Leno to Tina Fey and the election, TV takes an amazing turn

Leno, strikers and basic cable, oh my! Leno, strikers and basic cable, oh my!

That's right, Dorothy -- 2008 has been quite a year in the wonderful world of television. Between the 100-day Writers Guild of America strike, the emergence of basic cable as a TV powerhouse, and late-night gabber Jay Leno's battles and eventual accord with NBC, there wasn't a dull moment in 2008 when it came to the small screen.

The aforementioned are just three of five game-altering occurrences that have transformed the way we look at TV, not just now, but for years to come. No less significant, the other two catalysts for change -- the race for the White House and celebrity stunt casting -- also shook up things and made the medium fun to talk about. Read on to see what we mean.

1. Writers Guild of America strike

Although the WGA strike started at the end of 2007, it ended in February of this year, and by the time the ink dried on the agreement that brought writers back to work, the TV landscape was permanently changed. Studios lost millions, and many writers found themselves without jobs. Several shows were axed because of the strike, key among them "Cane" on CBS, "Women's Murder Club" on ABC and "Aliens in America" on The CW.

Because the strike delayed the development of new shows, too, several borderline series suffering from low ratings received unexpected second chances. A record 12 shows came back this fall, but four of them -- "Dirty Sexy Money," "Pushing Daisies" and "Eli Stone" on ABC and "Lipstick Jungle" on NBC -- were recently canceled because of, you guessed it, low ratings. And at Fox, the strike halted production for the popular real-time drama "24," causing the show to be off the air for almost two years.

In the post-strike world, all of the network heads became more cautious and conservative. CBS delayed the debut of its racy, spouse-swapping series "Swingtown" until summer, only to kill it after one season. Meanwhile, NBC refused to pick up full orders on any of its 2008-09 series and consequently rolled out most of its freshman series as late as mid-October. And Fox and ABC only introduced two new shows in the fall.

Expect more rigidity in 2009, a tone punctuated by an increase of reality- and game-show offerings.

2. Leno vs. NBC

Jay Leno seemed to have made peace with his decision to pass the baton on to Conan O'Brien, 45, and walk away from "The Tonight Show" after 16 years as host. But the WGA strike changed all that. Forced to write his own monologues and jokes, Leno not only weathered the strike without his writers, but he blossomed as a result. Suddenly his ratings were at an all-time high, and Leno got his funny mojo back.

When the strike ended, Leno wanted NBC to reconsider its choice but by then, the Peacock network already had promised O'Brien millions -- a monetary amount he'd receive whether the network honored its promise to him or not.

Stuck at an impasse, NBC execs said their hands were tied. So Leno, 58, waltzed down the street to ABC for a game of "Let's Make a Deal." Such talks caused Jimmy Kimmel of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" fame to sweat nervously. Kimmel, 41, was so nervous that he posed as a reporter during an ABC press conference at the Television Critics Association's tour over the summer in Los Angeles and asked about his future. Several days later, Leno pulled the same stunt at an NBC press conference.

In the end, NBC made Leno an offer he couldn't refuse with his own "The Jay Leno Show" to air in the network's anemic 10 p.m. primetime slot, a change that will take effect in the fall of 2009. The latter decision was announced earlier this month. Because Leno chose to stay, NBC will hopefully improve its ratings, Kimmel will keep his job, and O'Brien will become the new face of "The Tonight Show" in June 2009.

3. Basic cable's boon

HBO used to be the king of cable. But after the loss of "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," the premium cable network lost its footing, creating a void that basic-cable contenders such as FX, TNT and AMC were all too happy to fill with original programming.

This is one of the reasons AMC snatched up the critically acclaimed Madison Avenue drama "Mad Men." Set in the advertising world of the white-male dominated 1960s, the show comes from Matthew Weiner, a former writer for "The Sopranos." When Weiner pitched the show to HBO, executives passed and AMC grabbed it. This decision earned AMC the honor of being the first basic-cable network to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama for "Mad Men." All told, "Mad Men" walked away with six Emmy awards in September, including a writing award for Weiner. Bryan Cranston, who stars on AMC's meth drama "Breaking Bad," also walked away with an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama.

Meanwhile, FX celebrated Glenn Close's win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for her work on the network's suspenseful legal drama "Damages." The show won a total of three Emmys.

HBO won more than two dozen Emmys, but only three of them were for its original series "In Treatment" and "Entourage." The majority of wins were for the mini-

series "John Adams."

4. The 2008 presidential election

Not only did 2008 trumpet the most diverse Democratic and Republican ballots in our nation's history, but the race for the White House this time around drew enormous viewing audiences that the medium hasn't seen in decades.

When the Republican candidate for vice president, Sarah Palin, made a guest appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in October, the Alaska governor gave the sketch comedy its best ratings in 14 years. The program's former head writer, Tina Fey, also received a career boost for parodying Palin. And Fey's inside-show-business sitcom "30 Rock" has a bigger audience this season because of the attention her uncanny resemblance and subsequent impersonation received. Sadly, for "SNL" and "30 Rock," ratings dropped significantly after the race for the White House came to an end.

On Election Night, some 71 million people tuned in to learn that Democratic candidate Barack Obama would become the nation's 44th commander-in-chief and the first African American to achieve the distinction. This is the largest viewing audience election night coverage has garnered since 1980, according to Nielsen Media Research. After clinching the victory as president-elect, Obama granted his first interview, which aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" and gave the news magazine series its best ratings in nearly 10 years.

5. Celebrity stunt casting

Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance on "Saturday Night Live" ranks at the top of the list for most-successful and buzzed-about guest appearances. Second to Palin's pop-in is pop-star Britney Spears' guest appearance on CBS' romantic sitcom "How I Met Your Mother." Spears gave the show its highest ratings ever with 10.6 million viewers in the spring. Palin, by comparison, gave "SNL" 14 million viewers. The two women certainly garnered the most TV attention in 2008.

Other big-name guest appearances came from actress and tabloid darling Lindsay Lohan, who had a recurring guest role on ABC's underdog comedy "Ugly Betty," and celebrity twin Mary Kate Olsen's one-time cameo on the Alphabet network's amnesia comedy "Samantha Who?"

Obviously inspired by all the attention Spears drew, CBS decided to add Tony award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne to the cast of its popular procedural "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Fishburne's new gig gave "CSI" Nielsen's top rating slot a couple of weeks ago during his debut with 20.6 million viewers. In other words, because big names draw big audiences; expect more big names in 2009.

What to look for in 2009

No, TV won't be experiencing any apocalyptic overhauls in the coming year. But big changes are on the horizon.

1. TV will be making the leap from analog to digital on Feb. 17. People who don't have cable will have to get converter boxes. For more information, go to dtv2009.gov.

2. NBC's hit medical drama "ER" will come to an end after 15 unforgettable seasons. Expect a May 2009 exit.

3. The Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, will debut in late 2009. Per Winfrey's deal with Discovery Communications, OWN will replace the Discovery Health Channel.

4. Jay Leno will leave NBC's "The Tonight Show" on May 29. Conan O'Brien will take over the position on June 1, and comedian and former "Saturday Night Live" player Jimmy Fallon will take over O'Brien's old job on "Late Night" soon afterward.

5. Encouraged by the success of its "Beverly Hills, 90210" remake "90210," The CW will remix and retool a new version of "Melrose Place." The latter is slated to debut in the fall of 2009.

You can reach Mekeisha Madden Toby at (313) 222-2501 or mmadden@detnews.com.