Let The Round-ups Begin

Jon Friedman today kicks off the retrospective season with his 2005 “good, bad, and the ugly” bulletins on the events of the year. Some chosen few:

I WILL SURVIVE – New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd had a memorable 2005. She made splashy headlines with the publication of her provocative best-selling book, “Are Men Necessary?” — and a cheap-shot column about her now ex-colleague, Judith Miller. Dowd, whose sarcastic columns on President Bush glowed like a thousand points of light, also (apparently) conquered her fear of appearing on television. Like a lion-tamer conjuring up a spell, MoDo utterly charmed a Murderers Row of tough-guy interviewers – including Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Howard Kurtz and, yes, David Letterman – who swooned in her aura. She got her comeuppance on “The View,” though. Critics who call Dowd preening, smarmy and sneaky could’ve added “pedantic” to their arsenal after her use of “rapacious” went over the panel’s head. Adding insult to injury, Joy Behar of “The View,” of all pundits, lectured Dowd about feminism.

D.O.A. – ABC’s aimless, much-criticized new version of “Nightline.” Somewhere, Ted Koppel, whom ABC regarded as being too draggy and old-school (read: serious) to lure young viewers, is chuckling and saying to whoever will listen, “I told you so!”

JUDY IN DISGUISE with (rose-colored) glasses – Martyr? Hero? Saint? Custodian of the First Amendment? Judith Miller was regarded as all of the above when she went to jail in the spirit of protecting her sources. But when she emerged, 85 days later, she was excoriated and accused of playing footsy with some facts. For her part, Miller acted like she couldn’t understand the uproar (Larry King never had a more cheerful guest.). Nobody had a stranger year than the Times’ self-described Miss Run Amok.

Then he closes with a cheap crowd pleaser: “BEST READERS ANYWHERE – You folks.”

Real classy, Jon.

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