Where the Girls are on TV: Top 10 of 2008, Jennifer Beals, Wanda Sykes

With nary an updated show to be found on any major network, what's a couch spud to do for the next few weeks until her fave shows return? Fortunately, re-runs have rescued my cheeky imagination from total atrophy and restored my faith that 2009 will pump new life-blood into a brood that had begun to pale and turn lackluster. I am cautiously, if not vaguely, optimistic that the new year will resuscitate the recently lugubrious Grey's Anatomy, erstwhile monarch of ABC primetime programming.

Scads of unforgettable TV moments throughout the past year titillated my mind and fed my insatiable appetite for primetime eye candy. The beacon of gleaming light on the horizon with the advent of a new television season has inspired me to revisit the thrilling moments of yesteryear when the goings on in Washington sustained the entertainment industry with its three thousand mile long big umbilical cord.

Here's a gander at some other entertaining and unforgettable TV moments of 2008 that were both beautifully awe-inspiring to the human spirit and downright salacious for the rest of us:

 10. Shannen Doherty's Return to Beverly Hills:

The return of Shannen Doherty on the new 90210 promised a season of nasty feuds, both on and off the set. In the past, Doherty's antics have proved delectable fodder for the tabs while simultaneously turning cast and crewmembers into antacid pill poppers. And let's not overlook what a hot MILF Jennie Garth evolved into. Let's see if the claws come out in 09 between these two divas. 

9. Kate Walsh's Cadillac Commercial

Kate Walsh's Cadillac commercial was uber hot. The sexy and sultry Walsh sped along the open road donning a short skirt and a pair of high heels. What could be any hotter than watching Walsh command a ton of steel as she pulls up to a couple of enamored boys at a red light and then leaves them to cough on her dust when the light turns green? Brilliant. Makes me want to buy American the next time around.

8.Mariska Hargitay as an Undercover Prossie

The long awaited glimpse of Mariska Hargitay, who plays Det. Benson on Law and Order: SVU, in black lace panties and bra as she posed as a prostitute to protect partner -- Christopher Meloni's -- Elliot Stabler's anonymity as an undercover officer. It was a major SVU moment and the closest we'll ever get to seeing one of the most gorgeous women on TV in the buff. Godspeed the hookers.

7. Wanda and Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Big Kiss

Wanda Sykes making out with Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine. Sykes earns double kudos for officially outing herself in 08. Last year on New Christine the gals got married to keep Barb (Sykes) in the country. Props to CBS for scripting the lesbian storyline even if it is a phony marriage and for bringing in the hilarious Megan Mullally  as a repressed lesbian who loins burned hot for Christine in a subsequent episode.

6. Erica's and Callie's First Kiss on Grey's Anatomy

The Grey's Anatomy kiss between Drs. Erica Hahn and Callie Torres was smokin' hot. ABC may have put the kibosh on a lesbian storyline and fired Brooke Smith (Dr. Hahn) for undisclosed reasons, but the moonlit kiss was the spiciest thing to hit Grey's Anatomy since the lunch trolley. ABC may want to think again about a gay storyline because its current one with Izzy Stevens (Katherine Heigl) talking and having sex with her dead boyfriend is utterly ridiculous.

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5. Bette and Tina's Reunion

My pulse hasn't dropped since Jennifer Beals' Bette and Laurel Holloman's Tina's schtooping scene in the elevator on last season of The L Word. From the moment Bette grabbed Tina in She Bar and planted a long awaited wet one on her one true MILF love, my heart has been set on an L Word's denouement that includes the reunification of this sickeningly gorgeous duo...or at least a last look at Helena Peabody getting her hot, rich ass slammed in the slammer.

4. Tina Fey's Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator Hillary Clinton were prescient, spot-on depictions of women in politics at opposite poles. The pair went on to create other spoofs of the Republican hockey mom, but the Palin/Clinton address to the nation was a brilliant F-you to the boys club of politics smacking with sexism and elitism. Other personal faves were Amy Poehler as Katie Couric and Queen Latifah as moderator Gwen Ifill.  

3. Michael Phelps Olympic Gold Medal Sweep

The Olympic opening ceremony and Michael Phelps's historic eight-medal win. The Chinese sure throw one hell of a party, and last year's opening ceremony in Beijing was awe-inspiring. Despite their oppression over Tibet, it's fair to say Beijing's ceremony left most of the world speechless. America had its awe-inspiring moment when Michael Phelps made Olympic history by winning eight medals in a single Olympic. It's a woeful day when a young swimmer makes you more proud to be an American than your government.

2. Barbara Walter's Interview with Thomas Beatie

Barbara Walter's 10 Most Intriguing People special featuring Thomas  Beatie, the pregnant man who announced he was again pregnant with a second child was an eye-opener. Beatie shocked the world as details unfurled of his ability to be a man and carry a child. A female to male transgender, Beatie kept his uterus although transitioning the rest of his body.  I would love to be fly on the wall in the Beatie household when the "Where did I come from" conversation comes up.

1. Lastly, wait for it....the piece de resistance of 2008 television  moments. No ladies, it doesn't include any lesbian action. Even a nude Angelina Jolie sprawled across my bed whispering my name would, sadly, have to pale in comparison to this Holy Grail of events. Only the second coming of Christ could evoke such a sense of worldwide fervor. The zenith TV moment of 2008 was Iraqi journalist Muntadhar Al Zaydi launching a shoe at President Bush. Can you imagine what a world it would be if Birkenstock were the only weapons of mass destruction?

Missed the last Where the Girls Are? Read it here.