The losers were the best thing about TV 2004

I n the TV world, 2004 was a year of losses.

We lost “Friends,” “Sex and the City” and Tom Brokaw.

Janet Jackson lost her shirt.

And the FCC lost its grip.

Even one of TV’s best new dramas of the year was called “Lost.”

Here’s a look at the 10 moments and shows that shaped the year in television:

1. The “wardrobe malfunction”: It remains the lasting mammary of Super Bowl XXXVIII: Justin Timberlake “unintentionally” ripping off part of Janet Jackson’s top, exposing her right breast, while singing the words, “I’m gonna have you naked by the end of this song.”

Uh huh.

And since we’re on football-related nudity, let’s just mention “Desperate Housewives” star Nicolette Sheridan’s locker-room towel-dropping promo on “Monday Night Football” now, so we don’t have to do it later.

Jackson’s “Nipplegate” incident set the stage for a harebrained crackdown by the Federal Communications Commission, which has been fining anyone who so much as hints that people have sexual organs underneath their clothes.

Playing it safe this year, Paul McCartney will be the one rocking the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 6 on Fox.

Let’s just hope he keeps his shirt on.

2. Red Sox break the curse: It’s a sad day when a solitary boob can outlast a whole baseball team breaking an 86-year-old losing streak. But that’s the world we’re living in. Besides, the Sox had to be No. 2 on at least one of these year-end lists, right?

The Red Sox World Series championship was like one of those speeches at a political convention where you’re not quite sure when to applaud.

Their historic comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series was the real dramatic moment. But Major League Baseball rules stated they still had to beat the National League representative in the World Series.

So they swept the St. Louis Cardinals and claimed the title that had eluded them since 1918, completing the best reality show TV could ever produce.

3. “Friends” farewell: It’s always hard to say goodbye, especially if you’re NBC in 2004. Apparently “Frasier” also went away this year, but the real loss was “Friends,” which ended a 10-year run and wrapped up with an appropriately dramatic and amusing reunion of Ross and Rachel.

“Friends” was a trend setter that will find no match anytime soon. Even “Joey,” for all his effort, can’t match the goodness of what the six characters together brought to millions of TV screens for a decade.

4. Tom Brokaw signs off: Six friends trumps one, but millions of Americans spent many a weeknight with newsman Tom Brokaw filling them in on the day’s events on “NBC Nightly News.” Perhaps putting a period on the influence of network news, Brokaw called it quits on Nov. 30.

Something about Brokaw made you believe what he was saying and trust that he was looking out for you. Brian Williams will likely be a fine replacement, but Brokaw’s departure probably means more people will opt for getting yelled at by cable news folks each night.

5. Big exit for “Sex and the City”: Gone too soon was HBO’s “Sex and the City.” Rather than risk overstaying its welcome, it will go down as a groundbreaking and just plain funny show. Like “Friends,” it ended by matching up the couple that was always meant to be but just couldn’t get it together: Carrie and Mr. Big, who we finally came to know, at least, as John.

The show undemonized single women and introduced them to us as complex and deep figures like no other show has done. “Sex” matured especially in its final years, making its sometimes caricaturelike stars more real, vulnerabilities and all, and leaving a huge void on Sunday nights.

6. Desperate for “Housewives” and “Lost”: Swooping in to fill that Sunday night void was ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” the most original drama in recent memory – with the exception of its fellow ABC newcomer “Lost.”

“Housewives” (9 p.m. Sundays on KOMO-TV) isn’t cops. It isn’t courts. It isn’t doctors. It is a refreshingly dark, funny and cynical look at the sinister side of suburban life.

“Lost” (8 p.m. Wednesdays on KOMO) meanwhile took a chance on a reality-show premise – survivors of a plane crash trapped on an island – and turned it into an intriguing, can’t-miss show.

7. Trump gets “fired” up: Yet another 1980s retread made a splash this year as Donald Trump found a new level of popularity in reality TV with “The Apprentice.” While the sophomore season didn’t capture viewers like the original – about 3 million fewer people watched the second time around – Trump’s trademark “You’re fired” had people wanting to hire people just so they could fire them.

8. Ashlee Simpson’s sing-along: No one will soon forget where they were when Ashlee Simpson’s lip-synching during a performance on “Saturday Night Live” was revealed.

OK, maybe you already have.

In an embarrassing moment that made even viewers uncomfortable, Simpson danced and held the microphone at her waist when her vocals spilled out of the sound system.

She made matters worse by doing a hoedown before walking off the stage. She later blamed her band, her dad and, eventually, acid reflux. Curious viewers surely had some acid-reflux symptoms when she tried to prove she could sing a week later at the Radio Music Awards.

9. Who is Ken Jennings?: The 30-year-old man from Salt Lake City, who was born in Edmonds but moved away many years ago, set a record by winning 74 consecutive episodes on “Jeopardy!” All told, he amassed $2.5 million and, fittingly, became the answer to a trivia question for years to come.

10. Psst! Jon, his name is Tucker: Finally, something worth talking about came out of CNN’s “Crossfire” when Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, got into a heated discussion with hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson on the verbal ping-pong show. The argument, in which Carlson began hurling insults at Stewart, ended with a fed-up Stewart referring to Carlson as a four-letter synonym for a male sexual organ.

But this notation is as much for the “Crossfire” blast as it is a way of thanking Stewart for bringing some levity and common sense to a year that was, in so many ways, all about losses.

Columnist Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.