Dish Of Salt: Top Ten TV Moments Of 2008

Darrell Hammond as John McCain, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Will Ferrell as President Bush on Thursday Night Live NBCAccess Hollywood

By Laura Saltman

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- # 10 - "Desperate Housewives" Fast Forwards Five Years

It could have been a total disaster but the show's creator, Marc Cherry, and his decision to fast forward the show five years into the future was a smart one. Now Gabrielle Solis is a harried mother of two young daughters, Bree Hodge is a successful caterer and cook book author, Edie Britt is married to a psycho, Susan Mayer is divorced from plumber Mike after a car accident and Lynnette is dealing with troubled teenage twins. It also allows them to flashback through those five years to see what had happened. Maybe Marc watched a little too much "Lost"!

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# 9 - "30 Rock's" Huge Guest Stars

This show doesn't need stunt casting to help with the comedy, only with the ratings - and they landed two of the biggest stars around -- Jennifer Aniston and Oprah Winfrey -- to help kick off their second season. And the ratings spiked (finally)!

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# 8 - Dylan is Kelly's Baby Daddy

"90210," The CW remake of "Beverly Hills, 90210" hasn't exactly been setting the TV sets on fire. It lacks the same zing as the old series (Oh, how we miss Aaron Spelling's genius!) but it did produce one major water cooler moment this year. When old cast member Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) -- who is now West Beverly High's guidance counselor -- finally clued us in via best bud Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty, who pops in every now and again to the show) that her four-year-old son, Sammy, is the offspring of Dylan McKay and not Brandon Walsh (her two famous past loves).

# 7 - When Elizabeth Hasselbeck Attacks!

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Michael Phelps

Everyone is entitled to voice their opinion and the "Survivor" star turned 'The View" co-host took it to a new level during the McCain/Obama election season battling Whoopi, Sherri and Joy. Even Barbara had to step in and quiet her down at one point. Maybe next year she could bring on Sue Hawk from "Survivor's" first season to rehash the whole rat/snake speech she gave at that finale. I'd love to see those two go at it!

# 6 - Britney Spears' "How I Met Your Mother" Comeback

After a difficult 2007 and first half of 2008, Britney cleaned up her act and chose to make her first work experience a comedic one by guest starring on CBS's brilliant ensemble comedy. A smart move on her part as it showed her looking great, sounding great and even poking fun of herself. Here's to Britney back on top in '09!

# 5 - Sarah Silverman's F#@!ing Matt Damon

The water cooler TV moment of the year thanks to YouTube where most people watched Jimmy Kimmel's girlfriend announce to him, via music video, on his late night talk show that she was leaving him for Matt Damon whom she was... well, you know. His equally funny response later on was that he was F#@!ing Ben Affleck.. Cheers to Matt and Ben for being great sports. The only sad part was when Sarah and Jimmy announced months later that they had really broken up. Fortunately, they have since reunited.

# 4 - "Lost's" Oceanic Six

Maybe it was just a marketing scheme like "Heroes" whole 'Save The Cheerleader Save The World' thing in season one but I fell hook, line and sinker for season four's genius idea to allow six survivors off the island - Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sayid, Aaron (Claire's son), and Sun. Now we need to find out why they have to go back and where exactly the island went and basically just what the hell is this show really about! January 21 cannot come soon enough!

# 3 - The Michael Phelps Olympics

So, the USA won 110 medals in this year's summer games. The only eight I can remember are the golds won by swimming super-sensation Michael Phelps. Ask anyone 20 years from now and they will probably say the same thing. Oh, and maybe that those Chinese gymnasts really did not look 16!

#2 - "American Idol's" David Vs. David

The FOX behemoth roared back with a satisfying season that came down to the rocker vs. the teen heartthrob - David Cook vs. David Archuleta. 97 million votes came in on the night of the finale, the most in the show's history and this time "America did get it right" as Simon would say.

#1 - Tina Fey As Sarah Palin

Tina's spot on impersonation of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" made her the hottest commodity in Hollywood this year. The irony being that most "SNL" fans didn't even realize Tina had left the show and was just coming back as a favor to Lorne Michaels. They know she left now. Although not enough of them still are watching "30 Rock." Why people?! It's brilliant!

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