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CNN Special Reports
All The Best, All The Worst 2024; Donald Trump Won the 2024 Election; Women Dominates Music Industry; Mass Shootings Became A Norm; U.S. Athletes Won More Gold In 2024. Aired 8p-9p ET
Aired December 28, 2024 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:44]
TOM FOREMAN, CNN HOST: Hold on tight. 2024 was a crazy, reckless, risky ride with surprises at every turn, where every rough road led to another. And we're taking a look back at that long, strange trip with our panelists. Roy Wood Jr., Brianna Keilar, Boris Sanchez, Kyung Lah, Omar Jimenez, Pamela Brown, and John Berman.
It's All the Best, All the Worst 2024 Coast to Coast. Welcome, I'm Tom Foreman.
And while every year is a unique journey, the past 12 months took us on an epically bumpy ride through big news entertainment, sports, music, pop culture, and of course, where we begin on the roughest road of all.
The biggest, best, worst political story of the year was the titanic fight for the White House between sitting President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CO-ANCHOR, CNN: Unbelievable.
ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: This year was the year of battle.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Both sides felt like the other side represented the end of America, right?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He's done a poor job.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What were you talking about?
FOREMAN: Worst reality. Even as bitter words flew between the oldest presidential candidates ever, polls showed most voters didn't like either choice.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It was the election that nobody asked for, and everyone was getting. And they were getting it every day at full volume.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: If this were a dating show, you'd want to walk off the set.
FOREMAN: The twice impeached Trump rode in on an avalanche of legal cases over classified documents, election meddling, sexual misconduct, ordered to pay hundreds of millions for his misdeeds, and still stewing about his election loss in 2020.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot happened fast and I can't even remember how things have happened.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Former President Donald J. Trump convicted of 34 felony charges.
FOREMAN: Worst legal moment for the former president, being convicted for dozens of felony counts tied to a hush money payments to a porn star.
TRUMP: As far as the trial itself, it was very unfair.
WOOD JR.: Donald Trump is the first president I've ever seen who do the scandals then get elected. You did it wrong. You're supposed to get elected. Then you run the scams.
FOREMAN: But the GOP barely blinked. Trump blew through the field of would-be challengers and secured his party's nomination with ease.
JIMENEZ: Yes, the Republicans had every chance to change their course from Trump politics, and they didn't.
FOREMAN: Biden had his own problems. Concern about his age, immigration, and inflation fatigue.
BROWN: I'm from Kentucky, and I was talking to a lot of people from home who maybe didn't love Donald Trump, but they weren't happy about the prices at the grocery store.
BERMAN: The bottom line, the headwinds that Joe Biden was facing were just huge.
TAPPER: We're live from Georgia, a key battleground state in the race for the White House.
FOREMAN: Then came the worst debate for Democrats. While Trump rolled out a torrent of falsehoods, Biden sputtered, muttered.
BIDEN: Look, if we finally beat Medicare?
FOREMAN: And teed up the best line of the evening for his opponent.
TRUMP: I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: My jaw dropped to the ground. And you knew right then that the shape of this race was going to change.
TRUMP: Take a look at what happened. FOREMAN: Before that could happen, a violent attempt was made on
Trump's life in Pennsylvania, which left one person dead, two critically injured, and the candidate bloodied. The tragedy set up a triumphant Republican National Convention.
UNKNOWN: I said, Trump mania from wild brother. Let Trump mania rule again. Let Trump mania make America, great again!
FOREMAN: Under intense pressure amid bad polling, Biden dropped out.
[20:05:01]
BIDEN: America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate.
KEILAR: If someone had written that into a script, we as political journalists would say that's not how it works.
FOREMAN: Just like that, Vice President Kamala Harris was the new Democratic nominee and her party's best chance for a do-over.
LAH: So, there was this swell of excitement from pop culture. You know, Kamala is brat, right?
FOREMAN: As Trump stumbled.
TRUMP: I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black.
FOREMAN: Harris rode rising polls, anger over abortion restrictions, and she racked up big-name supporters eager to trump on Trump.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?
(APPLAUSE)
WOOD JR.: Kamala definitely had a lot of momentum. She had the money. She had the popularity.
BERMAN: Look, it was clear at the beginning that Donald Trump did not know how to run against Vice President Harris.
FOREMAN: In the second presidential debate, V.P. Harris lured Trump into the worst lie about immigrants.
TRUMP: They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.
LAH: It's something that such trope that has been repeated so often in history about people of color that it was astonishing to hear it come out of his mouth.
TRUMP: I will appoint a real special prosecutor.
FOREMAN: But Trump came storming back, flooding the campaign with fear and falsehoods while promising pardons for many January 6th rioters.
TRUMP: That was a day of love.
FOREMAN: Slipping past what officials say was a second assassination attempt, although the accused man denies it, and raging at anyone who backed Harris.
UNKNOWN: Kamala is for they, them. President Trump is for you.
FOREMAN: Harris fought to the wire.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It doesn't have to be this way.
KEILAR: But it was a tall order to pull off a campaign in that amount of time.
JIMENEZ: So, when you got to election night, really no one knew what was going to happen.
BERMAN: It is now official CNN projects that Donald Trump has been elected president defeating Vice President Kamala Harris.
FOREMAN: It didn't take long to find out.
(CROWD CHANTING)
FOREMAN: Four years after losing the presidency, Trump reclaimed it, a feat not seen since Grover Cleveland in 1892.
LAH: There is something about him that speaks to America, and we have to understand that.
FOREMAN: Republicans romped, taking the Senate, holding the House, while critics howled about a conservative plan they thought might trash government as we know it.
SANCHEZ: And yet there were so many people out there that felt like that very structure, that very system, those very institutions had failed them.
BROWN: And I think that's a big reason why Donald Trump won.
HARRIS: While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight.
FOREMAN: Democrats did the best thing they could, pledging themselves to a peaceful transfer of power. Even as the election crushed hopes, the legal system might hold Trump accountable.
BROWN: Many of them still feel this way, that Donald Trump back in the White House represents the end of democracy.
FOREMAN: The wildest promotion.
TRUMP: I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible.
FOREMAN: Trump's selling merch throughout the campaign and beyond.
WOOD JR.: If you'd have told me 15 years ago that Donald Trump would be the president and he would be selling gold sneakers to black people, I would have just called you crazy.
FOREMAN: After his win, Trump began rolling out a raft of controversial cabinet picks and advisors, many who have echoed his calls to go after his critics.
BERMAN: He went for loyalists. He went for people who would break things.
LAH: There should be no surprise.
SANCHEZ: Trump's promise throughout his campaign and especially towards the end was one of retribution and revenge.
FOREMAN: Of course, with some of his picks immediately running into troubles, it's hardly a done deal.
JIMENEZ: We haven't even gotten to the confirmation process where all eyes are on these candidates.
FOREMAN: What's more, when the popular vote was fully counted, it showed Trump won. But he fell short of 50 percent and had one of the smallest winning margins in a half century.
KEILAR: That's going to bother him.
SANCHEZ: It's a clear victory. But stop using the word landslide.
FOREMAN: Still, some Republican lawmakers are eager to do whatever the next president wants.
UNKNOWN: If Donald Trump says jump three feet high and scratch your head, we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads.
FOREMAN: Even as the opposition races to keep pushing back hard.
UNKNOWN: We will push back against far-right extremism whenever necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Sit tight, we have so much more ahead, including the best movies and music, the perils of unlimited shrimp, and heads up!
UNKNOWN: It's launching!
FOREMAN: Is that the new space race or another spate of UFOs? Keep your tray table up in your seatbelt pass and all the best, all the worst roars on.
[20:10:11]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOREMAN: In music, the best beats came from the brats as Charli XCX
had everyone doing the Apple dance.
KEILAR: Is that that's a good thing I take it.
BERMAN: No, I have no idea. I have like no idea.
[20:15:09]
FOREMAN: Chappell Roan was smoking at the Video Music Awards, Ariana Grande kept cool, and Billie Eilish took flight again.
JIMENEZ: Look, the pop women this year, I feel like really brought it.
FOREMAN: Sabrina Carpenter not only had hits, but also gets our award for the best tour for an artist not named Taylor Swift.
LAH: She really blew up this year. I really, really like her. My daughter loves her, but enough with the espresso.
FOREMAN: In rap, Kendrick Lamar gave the best beat down to his old rival Drake.
SANCHEZ: It's a diss track and it's a vicious one at that. And yet it has this amazing beat that you can dance to.
FOREMAN: And he rolled out a surprise new album to the delight of fans.
JIMENEZ: It's unbelievable.
WOOD: I don't know if anyone had a better year musically than Kendrick Lamar.
FOREMAN: It was a big year for country with hot hits from Shaboozey, Post Malone.
KEILAR: Post Malone was everywhere this year. Post Malone is actually one of the artists that I listen to a lot.
FOREMAN: Dasha too.
BROWN: I do not like country music. Can you believe that?
FOREMAN: But the biggest, boldest, best move on the country charts came from pop star Beyonce with Cowboy Carter.
BERMAN: It's all sort of wildly popular country, and hip hop, and pop, and rock. They all blend in certain ways now that maybe they didn't 20, 30 years ago.
FOREMAN: In the Latin music scene, an old favorite Juan Luis Guerra grabbed the Grammy for best album. For indie pop we liked Illuminati Hotties, Dead, Fontaines D.C., but we're calling Bleacher's the best.
There was just so much good music this year. The worst job is picking favorites, but make no mistake, the person on top of the pop throne it's still Taylor Swift. Breaking records, grabbing awards, making fans swoon over her romantic adventures.
LAH: It was so much fun to watch this budding romance, you know. I mean, who would have ever even heard of Like the NFL until Taylor Swift came along?
FOREMAN: And proving once again, it's good to be the queen.
Let's turn now from gold records to the silver screen. Out in Hollywood, superhero flicks have dominated the box office for quite some time, but this year, the movies went in a cartoonish direction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Look, we all have a job to do. I plan for the future.
UNKNOWN: You want to sit with us?
UNKNOWN: These girls are so cool.
FOREMAN: "Inside Out 2" made more than $1 billion in less than three weeks.
UNKNOWN: Hey.
FOREMAN: The fastest any animated movie has ever hit that milestone.
KEILAR: When I was a kid, where were the movies teaching us about our feelings?
FOREMAN: And the list of top money makers was crowded with more of the same. The minions reappeared in "Despicable Me 4."
UNKNOWN: We need volunteers. Nice work, gentlemen.
[20:20:06]
BERMAN: There should be dozens of "Despicable Me's," as far as I'm concerned. Minions are always exciting.
UNKNOWN: You were chosen to become something more than you already are.
FOREMAN: "Kung Fu Panda" showed off his moves again.
LAH: I'm done with the "Kung Fu Panda's." Like, stop. Stop already.
UNKNOWN: This is a call from the ancestors. To sail to new skies.
FOREMAN: And "Moana 2" rode the wave of animation fascination. The worst problem for many these days, movies cost a lot and not everyone loves fans singing along.
WOOD JR.: The same karaoke, the same concert. Shut your ass up.
UNKNOWN: I don't know why you are so greedy for it in this one.
FOREMAN: Big budget spectacles had their moments, including the long- awaited "Gladiator 2."
BROWN: "Gladiator 2," I can't wait to see and I'm going to make it work because "Gladiator 1" is my favorite movie of all time.
UNKNOWN: This is a form of power that our world has not yet seen. The ultimate power.
FOREMAN: Best visuals with breathtaking scenes and out of this world action, the winner has to be "Dune, Part 2."
JIMENEZ: That's what you want. That's what you want. And for me, that is what defined my movie experience.
FOREMAN: "Deadpool and Wolverine" managed to keep superheroes in the mix.
UNKNOWN: I have no idea how to save it alone. But you, you know how to save it.
FOREMAN: Spoiler alert.
BERMAN: It turned out it was fairly violent.
FOREMAN: In straight drama, the worst anxiety came from Civil War.
UNKNOWN: There's some kind of misunderstanding here.
UNKNOWN: What?
UNKNOWN: You're American.
FOREMAN: It also had the best line of the year.
UNKNOWN: Okay. What kind of American are you?
SANCHEZ: That is really a Rorschach test for where you sit politically. What you see in it tells you more about yourself than the actual movie.
WOOD JR.: The last time those two met up, it was almost the end of Kong.
FOREMAN: Of course, "Godzilla and Kong" raged again and --
UNKNOWN: Sometimes the old ways are better than the new.
FOREMAN: The bigger, better, faster sequel to the "Twister" franchise sucked in a huge audience.
KEILAR: I thought the plot was very good. I thought the special effects were excellent. I thought the soundtrack was very good. If I'm being honest with you though, I think Glen Powell is a hottie.
UNKNOWN: Come on, Mike, slow down!
UNKNOWN: We are late.
FOREMAN: The worst trend, if you haven't already noticed. The continuing dominance of sequels. Although, admittedly, follow-up films such as "Bad Boys," "Ride or Die," were huge hits.
WOOD JR.: Love or hate, Will Smith for what happened, that boy still got it on screen.
UNKNOWN: Who is this Santa? He's scaring my kid.
UNKNOWN: Yes. He's scaring me too.
FOREMAN: In horror, all the good little kids went to see "Terrifier 3." All the Oscar watchers grabbed onto the substance.
UNKNOWN: There's been a slight misuse of the substance.
FOREMAN: In comedy, give a hand to "The Fall Guy."
UNKNOWN: You're a stuntman. Nobody's going to notice you. That's your job. No offense.
UNKNOWN: I mean, sun taking.
FOREMAN: And "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" conjured up giggles too.
UNKNOWN: Feel free to express yourselves. Don't be afraid.
UNKNOWN: You're a figment of my imagination.
UNKNOWN: Really?
SANCHEZ: Michael Keaton is a genius, and I enjoyed watching it.
FOREMAN: Best Magical Moments, "Wicked" is the winner.
UNKNOWN: You have no real power.
UNKNOWN: That's why I need you.
UNKNOWN: Don't let her get away this wicked witch.
FOREMAN: And even with several movies making late Oscar bids, we've already picked a strong contender for best film.
UNKNOWN: This is a conclave, Aldo. It's not a war.
UNKNOWN: It is a war. And you have to commit to a sign.
FOREMAN: "Conclave" is a modern masterpiece and a hit with papal people everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: The world of big news seemed almost cinematic this year, full of such drama and explosive events, so when we come back, we will take a look. Plus, we'll have the best moments in sports, the cutest lost penguin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Pretty, pretty cute.
FOREMAN: And the fan favorite TV shows. It's All The Best, All The Worst 2024.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:29:29]
FOREMAN: Beyond the election, this was a year jammed with huge news stories which in any other time could have dominated the headlines for weeks. For raw intensity and surprise impact, nothing topped the worst storm of the year. Hurricane Helene striking the southern coast, then moving up and hammering North Carolina.
BERMAN: So much water, so much water in places that just couldn't handle it.
[20:30:00]
FOREMAN: In the middle of the country, tornadoes slammed one community after another.
JIMENEZ: Look, this was a chaotic year.
UNKNOWN: The window, it was just like sizzling from the heat.
FOREMAN: As NASA called this summer the hottest on record. Heat waves hit and hit and held on.
WOOD JR.: Maybe it shouldn't be 80 full in December.
UNKNOWN: This is an emergency evacuation.
FOREMAN: Out West, it was not the worst fire season, but --
LAH: In California there are so many wildfires that we can't cover them all.
UNKNOWN: So this is the kitchen, was.
SANCHEZ: It's yet another sign that climate change is real and that its impacts are being felt more and more each day.
CROWD: Two. One.
FOREMAN: More than 200 orbital rockets blasted off this year, bringing us, among other things, the first civilian spacewalk.
KEILAR: The most interesting thing was the propulsion system just coming back and sort of parking itself.
FOREMAN: We also got the worst flight delay. Those two astronauts who took the new Boeing Starliner to the space station for a week and had been stuck there for months.
BERMAN: It's like Gilligan's Island on the International Space Station. You go for a three-hour tour and you're up there for like a year and a half.
FOREMAN: That was just part of the worst turbulence for Boeing, which saw a door plug blowout in flight, massive legal payouts, and a labor dispute as well.
WOOD JR.: If it's anybody that need to pay their mechanics, it's Boeing.
FOREMAN: Worst unexpected accident, the bridge that was hit by a ship in Baltimore and collapsed, killing six people. Overall, the American economy was among the best in the world. The stock market hit new highs, consumer spending and hiring remained strong, but public opinion.
JIMENEZ: I don't think most people understand what's going on with the economy, but what they do understand is their ability to put food on their table.
WOOD JR.: I think people feel about the economy however they feel about their own home.
FOREMAN: Best cashing in on it. The computer chip and software giant Nvidia edged past Microsoft and Apple this fall to become the most valuable publicly traded company on earth, each worth more than $3 trillion.
BROWN: It's insane. Don't you wish you got in there early on.
FOREMAN: Other companies had the worst time. Jo-Ann stores unraveled into bankruptcy. So did Tupperware, the 99 Cents only stores. Kmart closed its last major outlet.
KEILAR: In the course of a month in the 80s, when I was little, we would hit all of those spots. Well, we wouldn't hit Tupperware, but we'd use it.
LAH: I mean, brick and mortar. These stores are having hard times right now.
UNKNOWN: Flavor drop.
SANCHEZ: Red Lobster is on the comeback trail.
FOREMAN: And in the worst shell game, those endless shrimp allegedly helped sink one of America's favorite seafood joints. But Fresh Financing has Red Lobster regrouping.
SANCHEZ: So, I, for one, am bullish on Red Lobster. I'm buying Red Lobster all the way. Cheddar Bay biscuits, baby.
FOREMAN: Worst public image plunge. The U.S. Supreme Court, dominated by conservatives, issued rulings that gave presidents broad immunity from prosecution, limited the regulatory power of government, and saw critics sharply question the impartiality of some justices.
LAH: It does lend to the argument the Supreme Court has indeed been politicized and that the opinions of the justices are not based on law and precedent.
FOREMAN: The court's ruling more than two years ago to let states decide on abortion rights is still white hot.
BROWN: I don't think that like this is over by any stretch of the imagination and it's still a galvanizing topic.
FOREMAN: And conservative groups this year pursued even more hard right policies on religion in the public square.
KEILAR: We're seeing people on the right pushing the envelope because even though things have been asked and answered, they think maybe with this court the answer has changed.
FOREMAN: The worst court time goes to Sean Diddy Combs, who is facing a storm of criminal and civil cases tied to people who say he drugged and sexually abused them. Diddy denies the accusations, but could face many years behind bars, and he's already facing outrage over video showing him violently assaulting a former girlfriend in 2016.
LAH: Astonishing. It turned everything upside down for Diddy. And that is the power of video.
FOREMAN: Cryptocurrency king Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years for fraud.
BROWN: Do not ask me a question about cryptocurrency, please. Let me read up on it, then I'll get back to you.
FOREMAN: Mass shootings continued to rock communities coast to coast. While in New York, the gunning down of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson spurred a manhunt, and in Georgia.
[20:35:10]
UNKNOWN: Count one, malice murder. I find the defendant guilty.
FOREMAN: The killing of a single young woman out for a run rattled a national debate about immigration.
BERMAN: The murder of Laken Riley by an undocumented immigrant became a symbolic case for so many people who said, there are those who are being killed by people who shouldn't be in the country.
FOREMAN: Best news for many families facing the tragedy of addiction. Overall deaths are declining.
JIMENEZ: Anybody who studies that field, anybody who's dealt with that first hand, wants those numbers to go down much further than they are already.
Overseas, a late year charge by rebels overturned the 50-year reign of the family of Bashar al-Assad. The brutal dictator was sent on the run to Russia. Next door, running clashes between Israel, Palestinian groups, Hezbollah and Iran threatened to boil over even as ceasefires were negotiated. In Haiti, violence ran rampant.
SANCHEZ: It just seems like every iteration of news that comes out of Haiti is more and more depressing.
FOREMAN: The occupation of eastern Ukraine by Russia passed day 1000.
BERMAN: It is a very, very tenuous situation at best. And it's hard to imagine things staying like they are now in Ukraine for the next year.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, FOX NEWS: Pardon my English. What is denazification?
FOREMAN: Not helping, right-wing ideologue Tucker Carlson sitting down for the worst interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
LAH: My god, did you watch that whole thing? It just felt like a talk show, like propaganda.
FOREMAN: It all fed dismal polls of how people feel about the state of things.
JIMENEZ: That should give you an indication of people's perception of what this world is.
FOREMAN: But the best news in the whole mess, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter turned 100, becoming the oldest U.S. president ever.
FOREMAN: In a moment we will lace up our cleats and hit the field for the very best and worst in sports, including breakdancing at the Olympics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: So what are you planning?
UNKNOWN: Watch it all burn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: And we'll look back at some of the TV shows that lit up our homes. Plus, America's favorite names for our favorite pets and the most expensive bite of banana ever. It is All The Best, All The Worst, 2024.
[20:37:45]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNKNOWN: You know what the problem with the U.S. culture show, they're so damn interesting.
[20:42:14]
FOREMAN: On television, among the hot new arrivals was Tracker, which chased down one of the biggest weekly audiences. And not far behind, Kathy Bates was mesmerizing as the new Matlock.
KATHY BATES, ACTRESS: There's this funny thing that happens when women age. We become damn near invisible. Oh, dear.
UNKNOWN: I got you.
BATES: That's how I got through your security.
CARRIE PRESTON, ACTRESS: Wow, what is all this?
FOREMAN: Carrie Preston barged in too.
PRESTON: Hi, I'm Elsbeth Tascioni. I'm the thingy-thing.
UNKNOWN: The thingy-thing?
PRESTON: The outside observer.
FOREMAN: Those were all big winners for the big broadcast networks. Throw in another hot year for "Chicago Fire. Med and PD," "Blue Bloods," "FBI" and more, and it proves police and emergency procedurals are still big draws for American audiences.
KEILAR: And I'm a huge true crime fan, so I get that. I think it's really interesting. People want a window into how this works.
UNKNOWN: Whoever controls the drug business, controls the street.
FOREMAN: Best streaming answer to broadcast crime obsession and our pick for best new arrival, the dark, brutal, cold world of The Penguin.
JIMENEZ: Couldn't get enough of Colin Farrell as Oz. That performance is going to be top of mind for a long time. Give him all the Emmys.
UNKNOWN: Look out at this wasteland. Looks like chaos.
FOREMAN: Maybe there was too much to sort through.
BROWN: There is a lot of television, there's a lot of competition.
UNKNOWN: The call is coming from inside the house.
FOREMAN: Still, for TV with an international flair, "The Diplomat" with Keri Russell was a standout.
LAH: It is the series that you must watch, especially if you don't have time, especially if you're a working woman and your kids are making you crazy.
UNKNOWN: You're a cheater.
UNKNOWN: No, you're a cheater.
FOREMAN: In comedy, "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Larry David used his 12th season to say goodbye with sensitivity.
UNKNOWN: Very sorry to hear about your father.
UNKNOWN: Father and mother, thank you.
UNKNOWN: Well, that's, you know, it's a little better. Your dad is still alive?
UNKNOWN: Yes.
UNKNOWN: Oh, well there you go. Boom.
FOREMAN: "Shrinking," book some fun new sessions.
UNKNOWN: It's not your mission's job to heal you.
BERMAN: I think it's Harrison Ford like goal in a best way. I mean, everyone, you know, likes "Indiana Jones." I think it's really cool to see him do something completely different.
UNKNOWN: You can even be Batman.
FOREMAN: And the best creepiest perfect series for our psychopathic times, we've got to give it to "Baby Reindeer."
UNKNOWN: Ladies and gentlemen, this is my stalker. Say hello to Mark.
UNKNOWN: Don't you say that to me. Apologize to me right now.
SANCHEZ: I found it difficult to watch at times, but it was truly like a car accident. I couldn't take my eyes off it.
UNKNOWN: I'm going to be talking about Chuck E. Cheese 4, and I'm not kidding about this, the next 25 minutes.
FOREMAN: Political satire in the hands of John Oliver, Bill Maher, and The Daily Show found new life in our politically fractured world.
[20:45:04]
WOOD JR.: CNN got a show on Saturday nights now where they talk about the news and crack jokes. The host of that one is pretty good too. I'm Roy Wood Jr.
UNKNOWN: Lyle was the only person that had ever protected me.
FOREMAN: Documentaries on the Menendez brothers and Martha Stewart drew crowds.
MARTHA STEWART, WRITER: I was on the top of the world.
BROWN: That doesn't really count as television, does it?
UNKNOWN: The realm is only hope is an elite strong enough to unite them.
FOREMAN: And for sheer adventure "House of the Dragon" left plenty of viewers breathless and wanting more.
KEILAR: They're getting ready for a big battle and then that's the end of the season? That was it.
UNKNOWN: Many years ago, the great injustice stole everything from me.
FOREMAN: But our pick for series of the Year, draw your swords, it's --
UNKNOWN: Kill them.
JIMENEZ: Had me gripped every single episode. The visuals, the score, the acting, the story. Absolutely, absolutely amazing show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Of course, the biggest audiences in television were generally not for drama, comedy, or reality, but for sports, including the 30 million viewers tuning in each day to watch the biggest, best competition of the year.
Paris said, ooh, la, la, let's play at the Olympics. And the U.S. collected the most medals by far. Katie Ledecky snagged four more as she became the most decorated U.S. female Olympian ever.
KATIE LEDECKY, SWIMMER: I just love the pool, love the water, love telling people how great our sport is.
FOREMAN: The U.S. women's and men's basketball teams dominated for gold in both cases beating the host country's team. Zut alor, that had to be the worst.
BERMAN: And to see Steph Curry just like chucking bombs at the end, one after another after another, it was great.
JIMENEZ: I'm going to remember it for a long, long time. I'm going to tell my grandkids about it.
FOREMAN: In the 100-meter dash, Noah Lyles took the title of world's fastest man in a photo finish, then medaled again and collapsed.
WOOD JR.: That boy won an Olympic medal on COVID. Do you understand when I had COVID, I couldn't walk up the stairs?
FOREMAN: The unstoppable Simone Biles jumped, flipped, and fought her way into the medals again.
BROWN: She's amazing. Such an inspiration. FOREMAN: And the men weren't bad either.
LAH: The male athlete with the glasses whose name I cannot remember who was so serious, I mean, he blew me away.
FOREMAN: But the U.S. can't claim the most amazing performance that goes to Australia and the dazzling dance of Rachael Gunn, better known as Raygun.
KEILAR: I feel badly that so much fun has been made, and yet I might have also been Raygun for Halloween.
FOREMAN: Back on U.S. shores, the Kansas City Chiefs bested the San Francisco 49ers to repeat as Super Bowl champs, first time since the Patriots two decades ago.
SANCHEZ: I think Patrick Mahomes is on pace to be the GOAT, to unseat Tom Brady as the greatest of all time.
FOREMAN: In baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers crushed the New York Yankees in the World Series, and the best of the best was clearly number 17.
LAH: Ah. Shohei Ohtani. It was thrilling to see this kid who, and I'm going to call him a kid because he's so young. This import from Japan, really killing it in American sports.
WOOD JR.: He's still a base. He smile. He hit a home run. He smile. He strike out. He smile. You can't hate that.
FOREMAN: In hockey, the Florida Panthers mauled the Edmonton Oilers for Lord Stanley's Cup. Oh, Canada. In basketball, the Boston Celtics grabbed the top trophy by roping and tying the Dallas Mavericks.
BERMAN: It was really fun to see the Celtics winning again.
CAITLIN CLARK, BASKETBALL PLAYER: These people were my idols. I grew up wanting to be like them.
FOREMAN: Also in basketball, Caitlin Clark, the phenom who brought record audiences to college games is now lighting up the WNBA.
KEILAR: I love watching an athlete who has revolutionized interest in a sport, and I just think about how many little girls she has brought to basketball.
UNKNOWN: We'll give it to you, Chet.
FOREMAN: Worse spectacle, the aging iron Mike Tyson squaring off with internet influencer Jake Paul.
JIMENEZ: I don't know what I expected.
LAH: Something about that fight was really hard to watch.
TARA DOWER, CANDY MAMA: If you don't know who I am, my name is Tara Dower, otherwise known as Candy Mama.
FOREMAN: And while you were sleeping, the best athletic achievement of the year, Tara Dower ran all 2,189 miles of the Appalachian Trail in a record 40 days, 18 hours and 5 minutes.
[20:50:00]
SANCHEZ: It stretches the notion of what people think the human body is capable of. And it's always astounding to hear these feats from my couch as I'm sitting down eating Cheetos, watching from home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Don't you run off, grab some more snacks and sit tight, because when we come back we'll have the best of pop culture, science, the arts, and look, up in the sky.
UNKNOWN: Wow. It's so cool.
FOREMAN: Eclipses and auroras and comets, oh, my. And hey, is that a penguin on the beach? All The Best, All The Worst will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:05]
FOREMAN: In pop culture, art and science, the best show on earth about things off earth was the total eclipse that sliced across America. The worst reality? All the places you couldn't see it.
LAH: I did see the clip of Brianna and Boris doing Sun and Moon, and that was about as close to the eclipse as I got.
KEILAR: The moon will be going in front of the sun. We didn't tell our bosses that we were going to do it, because we thought they'd shut us down.
SANCHEZ: It was an astounding moment to witness in person, and one that I'll never forget.
FOREMAN: The second-best celestial show was that rare explosion of northern lights much farther south than usual.
BERMAN: It turns out you can see them better through your phone, but if I'm looking at it through my phone, am I really looking at it?
FOREMAN: And let's not forget the spectacular comet that lit up the skies in autumn.
BROWN: When was the comet?
UNKNOWN: Unidentified objects in any domain pose potential threats to U.S. safety and security.
FOREMAN: The best testimony for those who are sure the truth is out there. Lawmakers held more hearings on UFO or UAP sightings. JIMENEZ: I firmly believe that we are not alone in the universe. I
just want a little bit more evidence to prove it to me.
FOREMAN: Best Bones, an exciting new dinosaur was discovered in Montana, although once again, the worst news, it was not alive.
SANCHEZ: I feel like they're just making up dinosaurs now to feature in a new "Jurassic Park" movie.
FOREMAN: The world population has grown to about 8 billion people. The U.S. population this year tipped above 337 million, and the most popular baby names are returning champions, Noah and Olivia.
LAH: Can you imagine what that second-grade classroom is going to be like? Olivia, eight hands go up in the air.
FOREMAN: Most common languages spoken by American homes after English, Spanish, Chinese, and?
KEILAR: German? Are the Germans here?
LAH: It's not Korean?
JIMENEZ: I honestly, I have no clue.
FOREMAN: Tagalog, a language of the Philippines.
JIMENEZ: I never would have guessed that, ever.
FOREMAN: The fastest growing sport seems to be pickleball with 50 million people picking up paddles this year.
WOOD JR.: Which meant they annoyed 100 million people who were close by just trying to play tennis.
FOREMAN: Among big changes you may have missed, best mouse in the house, steamboat Willie. The progenitor of Mickey Mouse went into the public domain. The best salute to bees came from Utah, which officially adopted a new state flag with a beehive in the middle. The Boy Scouts of America became Scouting America to promote more inclusion.
KEILAR: I was a Girl Scout. I think I did something on textiles.
FOREMAN: The French Bulldog remains America's favorite dog breed. Top names for all dogs this year, Luna.
BROWN: Luna, I love that name actually.
FOREMAN: And Milo.
BERMAN: Who's a good boy? Milo.
FOREMAN: Best frequent flyer or floater. The emperor penguin that somehow drifted all the way from Antarctica to Australia.
JIMENEZ: Hats off to the penguin. Whatever you're trying to do, glad you did it.
FOREMAN: And worst sign that we've all gone crazy the banana taped to a wall that sold for more than six million dollars because hey, art.
BERMAN: Is that a banana on the wall or you're just happy to see?
WOOD JR.: I'm tell you right now I got an orange taped to a piece of wood with some super glue. I sell it to you for 200,000.
BROWN: No matter how you slice it, I don't get it.
FOREMAN: That about does it, but before we go, we always ask the friends who have joined us their wishes for the coming year.
WOOD JR.: My wish for the coming year is peace and love, especially on inauguration day.
LAH: I hope in this year going forward that people will just be more kind.
SANCHEZ: I wish for the Miami Dolphins to finally, finally make it to the Super Bowl in my lifetime.
KEILAR: It feels like a lot of people have been feeling stretched and they've been feeling anxious. And I just would like to calm that down. That would be my wish.
BERMAN: My wish for next year is that everyone gets their own podcast or a cabinet appointment, whether they're qualified for it or not.
BROWN: I just think if we better understood each other, we'd be happier and there'd be more peace.
JIMENEZ: We got to figure out a way to coexist much more peacefully. And at the very least, we're heading in the wrong direction from those ideals. So, let's fix that.
FOREMAN: And with that, we are pulling 2024 into the garage and hanging up the keys. Thanks for joining us on this very wild ride for everyone at Anderson Cooper 360 and the CNN family worldwide.
[21:00:08]
I'm Tom Foreman and my wish for you all the best and none of the worst, no matter where the roads take us in 2025.
