Happy New Year!

Hi everybody. Are you fully awake yet? Hung over? I'll try to whisper. Well, it was quite the night for our CNN friends, who are no doubt still in the process of unfreezing themselves. Seriously, so cold! But they were all troopers. Once again, the pairing of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin was a blast to watch. Well, mostly. More on that later. For now, let's do this thing with a little New Year's Eve bullet points. And hey, look mom, Eliza learned a new trick. Screen caps! Onward we go:

• I already mentioned this, but oh, they looked so cold! I wanted to wrap them all up in a big blanket, especially Erica Hill.
  

• Yay to the addition of the adorable Don Lemon. And he brought everyone goofy (yet warm) hats. How cute is that?

• Kathy Griffin managed to make my jaw drop right off the bat with her comment about wanting a pap smear from Sanjay Gupta. I admit to maybe once wondering what it might be like to have the walking toothpaste commercial be my doctor, but man, that's just wrong.

• Raise your hand if you want to (lovingly) smack Ed Henry chillaxing in Hawaii. Yep, thought so.

• Sushi! What NYE show would be complete without a drag queen dropping in a pump? And on the most trusted name in news, no less. Gotta love it.

• Okay, Gary Tuchman running in Central Park while trying to talk to us is adorable. But Gary Tuchman running with his too-cute-for-words daughter Samantha who's doing it to spend time with her dad? Adorable squared! No, quadrupled. Seriously, I'm sending CNN my dental bill because I just got a cavity from all the sweetness.

• Always enjoy Sean Callebs in New Orleans. He doesn't seem to be much of a fan of Bourbon Street though. Not digging the drunks, eh?

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• Wolf Blitzer gets in on the action via phone and doesn't sound anything like himself! How freaky was that? And aw for getting dissed by Kathy. The Wolfbot tries so hard.

• I'm still bitter about Richard Quest continuing to have a job, so I can't say I enjoyed his appearance. But the aftermath with Kathy wondering if they really weren't going to comment on that train wreck had me cracking up because those were my thoughts exactly.

• Interviewing David Spade? Why? I'm sure Brooke Anderson is a nice person, but I could have done without all of her segments.

• Loved Anderson's shocked reaction to Kathy throwing things. I'd probably want to hit a Jonas Brother too. If I knew who they were.
  

• Did our anchor really say, "peeps out of the seats"? Aw, he's so hip. Sorta.

• Lady Gaga? CNN, stop playing acts that I've never heard of. It makes me feel old.

• Sweet Home Alabama! Now that's what I'm talking about. Who doesn't love that song? Well, except maybe Neil Young.
  

• I actually like all the "official" NYE songs (like "Imagine") better than anything from the CNN show.
  

• Anderson Cooper is great at a many things, but uh, not so much with the counting. I believe this is the second or third year he's messed up the countdown. Loved Kathy's, "What?!" reaction.

• Aw, where was the camera shot of our crime duo when the clock struck midnight? I wanted to see the kiss (that we clearly heard). Of course, with Kathy's threats of pantsing Anderson, I guess I can't blame them for playing it safe.

• Anderson and Kathy dancing?! Awww. But that totally doesn't count as real dancing, Anderson. Until you can match your favorite political analyst's moves, we're still going to need to mock you. Sorry.

• Okay, Kathy, what the hell was with the punching? Twice?! She really hit Anderson hard that second time. You could hear all the air go out of his lungs. I'm assuming it didn't hurt since he was probably wearing 5,000 layers under that coat (you know he was), but still. DO NOT assault the TV news boyfriend, capiche?
  

• Speaking of punching, I would have been okay if someone punched that Sarah Palin doppleganger. At first I thought it was a cool coincidence, but then she opened her mouth and you knew she practiced the whole thing. Lame and incredibly annoying.

• Aw, to the talk about Anderson's speech impediment, an ever-continuing source of amusement for his fans. I mean, I'm not saying that I used to get excited when Russia was in the news, because then we could hear him say "Pooden," but uh...wait, actually, yes I did. Don't be self conscious, Anderson. It's adorable.

• I know our anchor has been working out and now has himself quite a pair of guns, but his claim of being able to "take" Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann in arm wrestling? Not so sure about that. Olbermann is huge and Matthews will just keep with it until Anderson gets bored.

• Mmm, crab cakes. Sean, why do you have to tease Anderson (and us!) like that?

• Poor Erica Hill. She had quite a time of it, didn't she? Freezing cold temp, crushing crowds, and one jerk doing something incredibly rude that I will not be screencapping. But she looked really pretty in her little scarf and hat ensemble, if that's any consolation.

• Let's leave off Lil Wayne next year, shall we? When you can't even show the guy because of R-ratedness, you know there's a problem.

• That Coolio interview was...interesting. Again, could have done without it, but the banter with Anderson and Kathy afterwards was priceless.

• And now we come to the talk of the Internets (parents, take the kiddies off the blog): oral sex reference on CNN! Yes, Kathy really did scream at a heckler that she doesn't come to his job and knock the dicks out of his mouth. Oh my! Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the control room when that happened. Or even on the platform, really. Because after they came back from commercial they pretended like it didn't happen. And oh my God that clip hit YouTube fast.
  

• I appreciate the extra hour this year so us Central Time Zoners could join in on the fun, but dude, we like countdowns too you know. They cut from a musical act with two seconds to go! Not cool.

• I was hoping for a wave from blog-comedian Jack Gray, but it was not to be. At least we got a crew pic.
  

Well, that about does it. In regards to the controversial comment, I thought it was over-the-line for CNN. Yes, it was late, but there were no doubt still lots of kids watching. But other than that, I thought the night was a hit and I hope they give Kathy another chance next year.

So, another year bites the dust. I have to say, good riddance. Some of you know that this was a bad year for me. And really, that's an understatement. There were times when there was a serious question as to whether I would even be seeing 2009. Thanks to 360 for providing me a distraction. I wish everyone a healthy and happy new year.