The Top 25 Moments of 2007
by Reg Seeton

5. Donda West Dies, Dr. Jan Adams Walks Off Larry King Live

In November on 2007, Donda West, mother of mega-rapper Kanye West, died shortly after receiving cosmetic surgery from Dr. Jan Adams, which sparked immediate controversy surrounding the actual cause of Donda West's death. Caught in the center of a media storm, cosmetic plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams agreed to appear on Larry King Live to tell his side of the story, but after the West family asked the doctor not to appear on the show, Jan Adams took off his mic and told King that he wouldn't be going ahead with the interview, stating, "I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family and they have asked me not to go on... And I've said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this. They are my side and so I'm going to respect their wishes." Before he exited the set, Adams told Larry King that he'd answer all questions regarding the allegations against him only when Kanye West and his family are comfortable with him speaking about it, "If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable." It was reported that after Larry King took to the airwaves, Adams was in the show's Green Room contemplating whether to do the interview after he received a letter from the West family stating that if he did appear on Larry King Live, the West family would ask the California Medical Board to decertify Adams, stripping the doctor of his medical license, and preventing him from practicing medicine.

4. The Writers' Strike

Since technology has completely revamped the film, television, and home entertainment landscapes, it's hard to argue that the writers behind our favorite projects shouldn't get their fair share of the pie. In October 2007, members of the Writers Guild of America took to the picket lines largely over revenues from DVD and downloadable media subsequently shutting down all current and some upcoming projects in production across the industry. Currently in its second month, the writers strike has taken over the headlines as 2007 comes to a close with no end in sight after recent talks to find a compromise failed. Immediate casualties were the many TV talk shows followed by shows currently in production. As the strike continues, we're sure the ripple effect will take down a few more of our favorites and possibly put an end to some shows and even some of our highly anticipated films. For more on the impact of the writers' strike, check out our recent feature, The Innocent Bystanders of the Writer's Strike.

3. CBGB Closes its Doors

After serving as the launching pad for such alt-punk pioneers as The Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, and more, the New York City underground club CBGB closed its doors after 33 years in business when the lease wasn't renewed in a bitter property dispute. On hand to play the club's final concert was rock poet Patti Smith who was joined on stage by bandmates Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan, and Lenny Kaye to play tunes from the era that made CBGB famous. Drawing over 500 patrons to the club's 350 capacity, also on hand was Sopranos star and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band Steven Van Zandt and longtime owner Hilly Kristal who suggested he might take CBGB to Las Vegas. No matter how you look at the closure of CBGB, it's truly the end to one of music finest eras.

2. Britney Spears

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Britney Spears became the queen of headlines in 2007, making news on almost a weekly basis throughout the year. Add to that, Yahoo announced Britney was the most searched topic in the their engine for 2007. Pick a headline... "Britney Shaves Head", "Britney Runs Over Photographer's Foot", "Britney Loses Custody of her Kids," "Britney Flashes for Photogs," "Britney Spears is Pregnant," Britney Spears is NOT Pregnant", "Britney Fails Drug Test?", "Britney Spears Can't Drive", and the list goes on and on... and on! If that wasn't enough, Britney also made headlines in music for two completely different reasons - her long awaited "Blackout" album lit up the charts in late 2007 but was overshadowed by her bungled performance at this year's Video Music Awards. No one can deny that 2007 wasn't "The Year of Britney Spears" on so many levels. Given all of the headlines, let's give Britney and the headlines a break for a while. It's Christmas for crissakes! For a look at how we can better prepare ourselves for the perils of living a Spears-centric lifestyle and apply it to our own lives, check out our latest feature, The 2008 Britney Spears Horoscope.

1. The Death of Anna Nicole Smith

Sure, you knew this was coming as #1, but the death of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith in February 2007 was the saddest story of the year, especially follwoing so close after the death of her son Daniel. Although it won't be remembered with the same weight as the death of Marilyn Monroe, Anne Nicole's death was a tragedy on many levels. Forget all of the news reports and headlines leading up to her death, in the end Anne Nicole was a human being. If you don't think Anna Nicole should be our #1 headline of 2007, all that we can say is that this website's traffic spiked 400% in the month of February, with all pages related to Anna Nicole among our top 15 stories for the entire month. At least the story had a happy ending in April 2007 when former boyfriend Larry Birkhead was proven by DNA analysis to be the father of Dannielynn, the daughter of Anna Nicole. Shortly thereafter, Birkhead was awarded custody of Dannielynn and life went on.

[Honorable mentions go out to the final book in the Harry Potter series, The LOST finale, and the death of Evel Knieval, which was overshadowed by a guy who walked into Hilary Clinton's campaign HQ and took hostages. In case you didn't know, Evel Knieval died on November 30.]