To continue the tradition established by the great Barbara Walters, it’s time for my annual list of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the year – all entertainment industry newsmakers. If you’re expecting a certain former Reality TV mogul turned politician to be here – he isn’t, simply because, you may remember, he was my Most Fascinating Person of 2015. Here’s the 2016 lineup:
One of the biggest casting choices of the year was who would play Mary Poppins in Disney’s upcoming sequel to the 1964 classic. Emily Blunt landed the role, and the British actress also earned rave reviews and a surprise Best Actress SAG Awards nomination for her performance in the fall thriller “The Girl on the Train”.
People Magazine named Dwayne Johnson this year’s Sexiest Man Alive. The star of HBO’s “Ballers” also joined Kevin Hart in the summer hit comedy “Central Intelligence”. The two filmed the “Jumanji” reboot a few months ago, before Johnson was able to promote Disney’s animated musical “Moana”, in which he voiced the demigod Maui. A “Fate of the Furious” teaser rounds-out his very high profile year.
When it came to music, Justin Timberlake dominated the airwaves with The Song of the Summer – “Can’t Stop the Feeling”. The Critics Choice and Golden Globe nominated tune is highlighted in DreamWorks Animation’s showstopper, “Trolls”. Timberlake also teamed-up with director Jonathan Demme for the dynamite concert film “Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids” for Netflix.
TV host Steve Harvey needed to rebound following his “Miss Universe” meltdown at the end of ’15. And boy did he! An unforgettable T-Mobile Super Bowl commercial featuring Harvey poking fun at himself for the incident was just the beginning of a remarkable ’16 for Harvey. “Family Feud” hit new ratings highs, “Celebrity Family Feud” did well again for ABC, and “Little Big Shots” scored huge numbers for NBC. Harvey also announced that his daytime talk show will be made-over into a celebrity-oriented show filmed in LA starting next fall.
For many, she was the only redeeming quality of “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”. The new “Wonder Woman”, Gal Gadot, made a welcome late-in-the-movie appearance, which established her as a Hollywood star and set the tone for her own highly-anticipated film opening this June.
The city of Cleveland rejoiced over its first sports championship since 1964 when LeBron James led the Cavs to an NBA title. James, coming-off his memorable ’15 work in “Trainwreck”, also put together another great year off the court, with executive producer roles on two TV shows, including the NBC game show “The Wall”. And he’s set to return to the big screen, along with the Looney Tunes gang, as the star of “Space Jam 2”.
No 2016 movie produced more buzz – good and bad – than “Ghostbusters”. Leading ladies Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones were criticized and exploited on social media. Most moviegoers were ready to hate the film, and yet, to the surprise of many (including yours truly), the new “Ghostbusters” was actually very entertaining.
The most fascinating TV departure, hands down, was Michael Strahan leaving “LIVE” for a full-time spot on “Good Morning America”. Co-host Kelly Ripa found out the news when the rest of the country did, which started a furor. Ripa took some time off and came back a week later (to a ratings high). Strahan’s final day was moved-up from September to mid-May. He hosted the new “$100,000 Pyramid” on ABC over the summer and joined “GMA” right after Labor Day. The permanent co-host gap at “LIVE” has still not been filled.
The Broadway lights shined on Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the smash hit musical “Hamilton”, which earned a record 16 Tony Awards nominations and 11 wins. “The toughest ticket in town” solidified its status as a pop culture phenomenon. Miranda also composed the music for Disney’s “Moana” and is now moving onto Sony Pictures Animation for “Vivo”, due out in 2020.
But, without question, the Most Fascinating Person of 2016 is one of the most recognizable figures in sports and pop culture history. And long after his superstar days on the football field, and TV/movie screens AND his epic fall from grace, he was brought back to prominence in two major media events. Earning the title of Most Fascinating for 2016 are “The People” AND O.J. Simpson:
The 10-part FX fictionalized miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., John Travolta, Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, Courtney B. Vance, Bruce Greenwood, Nathan Lane, David Schwimmer and Lady Gaga was the TV event of the year. The show, created by Ryan Murphy, averaged 3.3 million viewers per each episode’s initial airing and captured 9 Emmys and 4 Critics Choice Awards.
Meantime, ESPN’s groundbreaking, nearly eight-hour “30 for 30” documentary on Simpson, “O.J.: Made in America”, aired over five nights in June and was also screened in Los Angeles to qualify for Best Documentary Feature Oscars consideration. “O.J.: Made in America” took top honors at the inaugural Critics Choice Documentary Awards in November, where director Ezra Edelman told me he urged ESPN to show it on as few nights as possible. I binge-watched the incredible work over a couple of days and was completely enthralled by the amazing effort put into the showcase of Simpson’s life story. “Made in America” will undoubtedly land on many critics’ 10 Best lists for the year, and rightfully so.