Pop culture this year had but one season: The Fall, but not as in autumn months on the calendar.
More stars were seen falling in 2009 on entertainment shows than ever viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope. Two divas—one Latin, the other an American Idol runner-up—each hit the deck on the same awards show, while on another trophy-fest, a descending set-piece knocked a rock singer down almost as far as his career tumbled in the 1980s. One famous couple’s marriage fell apart almost as fast as did the ratings for the reality show about them and their eight children did. A local pro athlete, once placed on a pedestal as the pinnacle of his sport, suffered a fast fall from grace when allegations of infidelity surfaced from every nook, cranny, and Hooters restaurant around.
Perhaps with the economy failing and jobs disappearing, people looked for comfort in the demise of others. This year it was more than easy to find it.
The Big Stories
- Miss California Carrie Prejean became a Miss USA runner-up after answering judge Perez Hilton’s question about gay marriage, stating she believed the right should be reserved to a man and a woman. She was later stripped of her state title after failing to appear at pageant-sponsored events. Taking a page from the beauty pageant contestant handbook, nude photos of Prejean eventually surfaced, and while appearing on Larry King Live to promote her tell-all book, she called the show’s host “inappropriate” with nary a hint of irony.
- Tiger Woods ran over a fire hydrant and into a neighbor’s tree in the early morning hours on the day after Thanksgiving. Thoughts that Woods was attempting to hit Black Friday jewelry sales early in hopes of pulling a Kobe for wife Elin were only confirmed when more than a dozen women claimed to have slept with the pro golfer.
Music
- While attempting a comeback, Whitney Houston swapped recipes with her favorite talk show host: “You put (rock cocaine) in your marijuana, Oprah, you lace it, you roll it up, and you smoke it in your weed — it’s like heroin and cocaine speed-balling, but you level it off, with marijuana.”
- Australian concert-goers expressed shock at Britney Spears’ lip-syncing, but claimed “no comment” when reminded that the Sydney Symphony Orchestra mimed their entire performance at the opening ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
- Riders on Universal Studio’s new roller coaster Rip Ride Rockit fell over and over to a musical soundtrack that includes gay classics like Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”
- Bucking the trend, Lady Gaga rose to the top of the singles chart four times, becoming the first artist ever to land her first four singles at number one. She performed at the Human Rights Campaign Annual National Dinner in Washington, D.C. after being introduced by none other than President Barack Obama. In accepting her MTV Video Music Award she thanked her family and friends, saying, “It’s for God and the gays!”
Television
- On TV, shows that wanted ratings success featured LGBT characters and story-lines. Perhaps the gayest show in prime time ever, Glee, proved America was ready for staged musical performances on a major network. The relationship between gay student Kurt and his father has been one of the most moving and honest parent/gay child dynamics ever portrayed on TV.
- Modern Family found comedy in Mitchell and Cameron, a gay couple who have adopted a Vietnamese baby. Hilarity came not only in fresh takes on old stereotypes, but also in the couple’s every-man struggles with new parenthood.
- All My Children featured daytime TV’s first lesbian wedding, while out actor Scott Evans turned his appearance as a gay cop on One Life To Live into a recurring role. Oddly enough, NBC’s Days of Our Lives remained gay-free despite being on the rainbow-hued peacock network
- LGBTs kept it real in reality TV, too. RuPaul’s Drag Race ruled by giving equal time to its drag contestants and their male alter-egos, while drag icon Joan Rivers won The Celebrity Apprentice.
- After an extended hiatus, Project Runway returned. New spin-off Models of the Runway ensured those who had fallen asleep during the fashion design competition’s lackluster debut season on Lifetime remained so.
- Gay brothers Sam and Dan McMillen took second on The Amazing Race. After CBS pixilated the boys’ junk during an Estonian mud volleyball competition, curious gays everywhere began counting the days until the season’s unrated DVD release.
- Ellen DeGeneres was announced as Judge Paula Abdul’s replacement on the upcoming season of American Idol (which held auditions in Orlando). DeGeneres’ success continued as she achieved a very public O by appearing on the cover of Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. Meanwhile, DeGeneres’s wife Portia DeRossi played a shrill exec for laughs on Better Off Ted.
- Scene-stealer Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine, Curb Your Enthusiasm) came out at a Prop 8 rally in Las Vegas, emceed President Obama’s first White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and by year’s end was rewarded with her own weekly chat show on Fox.
- But not everyone had it so good on TV in 2009. Megan Mullally’s singing and dancing talents were reduced to shilling for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Paula Dean went where no celebrity spokesperson had gone before: taking a smack of her product—in this case a ham—to the face. However, Tiger Woods’ attempt at similar publicity—crashing his endorsement-sponsored Cadillac Escalade—did not elicit the same sympathy.
Movies
- Stake it! Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Chronicles, and even Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream in Tampa all jumped on the Vampire Express.
- Despite a publicity onslaught, Brüno failed to match Borat at the box office.
- Audiences barely remembered the name, let alone anything else, of the remake of Fame.
- Outrage, a documentary about closeted politicians, spent much time on Florida’s Charlie Crist. When the governor recently signed the state’s SunRail bill at Church Street Station, mere steps away from Hamburger Mary’s, it was likely the closest Crist had been near anything gay since the film’s release.
The Real Drama
- Despite scripted movies and television shows, by far the best dramas of 2009 all took place on awards shows, and it went far beyond Kanye (rightfully, but still disrespectfully) dissing Taylor Swift’s win at the MTV Video Music Awards.
- When Adam Lambert came out after taking first runner-up in this season’s American Idol, no one was shocked…until his debut post-Idol performance on the American Music Awards. The 10:55 pm EST performance—with spur-of-the-moment crotch thrusts and male same-sex kissing—grabbed headlines, while Janet Jackson’s 8:01 pm EST sexually-charged choreography danced by without notice.
- Miley Cyrus chose the kid-friendly Nickelodeon Kid Choice Awards to display her new-found pole dancing talents; pre-teen girls immediately begged to makeover their princess-themed bedrooms to urban strip club chic.
- At the Neil Patrick Harris-hosted Tony Awards, Poison’s Bret Michaels introduced his next project, How I Met Your Mother-Fuck! What’s That? when a descending piece of scenery knocked the Rock of Love star to the stage. Three months later, when Harris hosted the Emmys, the only tragedy that ensued was Harris’ loss of Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy to Two And A Half Men’s Jon Cryer.
- Hugh Jackman hosted the Oscars and performed an elaborate stage production with trend-setter Beyoncé, famed for her 1997 Orlando concert tumble. Thankfully, neither fell down the set’s massive Busby Berkeley-inspired staircase.
Yes, 2009 was an amazing year in pop culture. We can only imagine what highs—and what lows—2010 will bring
