TV Guide's Lists of Worsts, Bests And All the Rest

The closer we get to the Feb. 1 premiere of the Miley Cyrus & Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Concert movie, the more headlines the teen sensation seems to be making. Body doubles! A rumored breakup! A name change! Could it all be part of a plot to keep young Miley Ray Cyrus in the news? We don't know. What we do know is that if that's the case, there must have been some ideas that didn't make the cut. Here are those bad ideas. — David Flores

10) Miley Grows a Mullet: After her announcement that's she added her dad's "Ray" name, she announces that she's also adding her dad's Achy Breaky mane.

9) The Crossover: After finding some musty CDs in Dad's attic, Miley becomes enthralled by '90s hip-hop beats and covers the collected works of Kid 'n Play.

8) The Intervention: Miley shows up at a Hollywood Starbucks trying to straighten out Britney Spears. (After all, could she do any worse than Dr. Phil?)

7) The Adoption: While standing at a restroom in New Orleans, Miley is accidentally adopted by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. She escapes minutes later when the Pitt-Jolies lose count of how many children they have at a local Pizza Hut.

6) The Candidate: Deciding that she's had enough of the deadlock in Washington, D.C., Miley Ray announces she'll run for president of the United States in 2028, and begins running attack ads against prospective rival Jamie Lynn Spears.

5) State of Disgrace: Saying she hasn't felt the love from the great state of Montana, our heroine decides to change the name of her show to "Hannah North Dakota." To the relief of everyone, she changes her mind after receiving a lovely fruit basket from the Treasure State.

4) The Meal: The star announces her plans for a line of non-gourmet food called Miley's Mini-Meals. First product: Hannah Montana's Hamburger-in-a-Can.

3) MileyIdol: In a move that flabbergasts critics, Miley shows up under a pseudonym to audition for American Idol in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, belting out one of her own tunes. Randy Jackson tells her, "That was pitchy." Simon punches Randy. Paula... does something no one understands. A dejected Miley does not get sent to Hollywood.

2) BotGirl: Fans are shocked to learn that the real Miley Cyrus is a retiring, bookish high-school student whose genius former mullet-wearing dad has sent out a string of android MileyBots to captivate American teens and separate their parents from their wallets.

1) The Breakup: Rumors of the fabled romance and breakup between Miley and Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers explode when it's learned that she's left him for his body double.

What's your take? Is the recent rash of "shocking" Miley news part of a calculated pre-premiere PR campaign? Do you have any other "headline-making" ploys to add to our list?

Related:
• Is Miley Pulling a (Milder) Vanessa Hudgens?
• Miley's New Identity
• Miley Feels N.O. Good During Concert
• Miley Fan a Would-be Teen Terrorist?

After four seasons and countless fistfights, the soap headed into the sunset, and we take a look back on its juiciest twists.

1)"Welcome to the O.C., Bitch!” “Premiere” (August 5, 2003)
Luke’s bon mot to new punching-bag-in-town Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) quickly became the signature line of the series. Says Schwartz, “Kids from Orange County say they’re from ‘the O.C.’ like it’s ‘the Ukraine.’ I always found it funny so I gave Luke that line.”

2) Marissa Dies “The Graduates” (May 18, 2006)
Marissa (Mischa Barton) died in Ryan’s arms after being run off the road by her bad-boy ex Volchok in Season 3’s shocking finale. Despite what the rumor mill would have you think, Schwartz contends that the tragedy was not dictated by anyone’s off-set antics: “Losing Marissa—and Mischa—was a big loss for the show.”

3) Julie’s Affair With Luke “The Telenovela” (February 25, 2004)
Jaws dropped—and temperatures soared—when Julie (Melinda Clarke) bedded her teenage daughter’s ex-beau (Chris Carmack) while also romancing her best friend’s father, Caleb. Talk about multitasking.

4) Chrismukkah Is Born “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” (December 3, 2003)
Seth’s Festivus-like mixed-faith holiday was almost called something else. “A lot of names were tossed around,” recalls Schwartz. “Han-umas being one of them.” Oy to the world!

5) Marissa Goes Lesbian “The Lonely Hearts Club (February 10, 2005) Coop’s Sapphic fling with Bait Shop babe Alex (Olivia Wilde) was too hot to handle—at least by Fox standards. “It was post-Janet Jackson/Super Bowl FCC time,” Schwartz says. “And we were forced to end the story line much sooner.”

6) Seth and Summer’s Spider-Man Kiss “Rainy Day Women” (February 24, 2005)
Ever the pop-culture avatar, The O.C. scored with this cinematic nod to beauties and their comic-book fanboy toys everywhere. “After the episode aired, we got called from then-Marvel head Avi Arad and ‘Spider-Man’ director Sam Raimi saying how much they loved it,” Schwartz says.

7) Marissa ODs in Tijuana “The Escape” (September 16, 2003)
The kids’ ill-fated run for the border stands as one of Schwartz’s favorites eps. “It sums up what I think the show was capable of: feeling real, heightened, funny and, at times, operatically tragic,” he says.

8) Oliver Goes Nuts “The Links” (January 14, 2004)
Although Schwartz calls Marissa’s friendship with the unhinged interloper (played by Taylor Handley) “the single most passionately hated story line,” he gives the kid props for being creatively crazy. “C’mon people! He broke a plate then punched himself in the head—twice!”

9) Sandy Serenades Kirsten on Their 20th Anniversary “The Power of Love” (January 13, 2005)
Solomon Burke’s “Don’t Give Up on Me” never sounded so sweet. “It embodies their crazy love for each other,” remembers Schwartz. Plus, “after Peter Gallagher serenaded Kelly Rowan, he got a record deal out of it.”

10) Cage-fighting Ryan Falls for Taylor Townsend “The Sleeping Beauty” (November 30, 2006)
“Like a lot of people, I originally thought it was an odd pairing,” Autumn Reeser reveals of the romance that juiced the lighter, quirkier final season. It also—finally!—gave Ryan—the best thing to happen to muscle tees since Marlon Brando—a reason to smile. And that’s the happiest ending we could ask for.

Apparently our presidential candidates have enough free time to be watching TV!? In any case, here's a list of our candidates' favorite shows.

1) Hillary Clinton
Favorite TV shows: HGTV makeover shows, Grey's Anatomy, Antiques Roadshow, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars
Favorite TV show of all time: The Ed Sullivan Show

2) John Edwards
Favorite TV shows: Boston Legal, SportsCenter
Guilty pleasure: "Fred Thompson on Law & Order"
Favorite TV show of all time: Perry Mason
Favorite TV character of all time: Sam Malone from Cheers
Where do you watch TV when you're on the campaign trail? "I mostly watch football and basketball games in hotel rooms in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Des Moines, Iowa."

3) Dennis Kucinich
Favorite TV shows: The Tonight Show, Late Show, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live. "When I get a chance to watch TV, it's usually late in the evening.... Those shows have brilliant
writers. It's just great to watch them."
And you don't mind being the punch line of their jokes? "It's hilarious. I take what I do seriously, but I don't take myself seriously."
Favorite TV show of all time: The Lone Ranger
Favorite TV characters of all time: "It'd be a three-way tie: the Lone Ranger, Lou Grant and Archie Bunker."

4) John McCain
Favorite TV shows: 24, Lost, Damages, The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, Late Show, The Sopranos — and Prison Break, "because as a fellow prisoner, I always dreamed and plotted how I would break out of the Hanoi Hilton."
Favorite TV show of all time: I, Claudius
Favorite TV character of all time: James Garner as Maverick

5) Barack Obama
Favorite TV show: Monday Night Football
Viewing guilty pleasure: "I watch a lot of SportsCenter — for better or worse."
Favorite TV shows of all time: "M*A*S*H and The Wire are my favorites."
Favorite TV character of all time: "SpongeBob SquarePants, because SpongeBob is the show I watch with my daughters."

6) Mitt Romney
Favorite TV shows: Lost, The Office, House, Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal; "[Lost has] a very captivating plot, and if you live a busy life, escape is always welcome."
Viewing guilty pleasure "From time to time, Saturday Night Live. I TiVo it so I can zip through and find the sketches I think are funny."
Favorite TV character of all time: "Going back to my boyhood: Davy Crockett."

7) Fred Thompson
Favorite TV show: SportsCenter. "I always need to stay up on my Titans, Vols, Vanderbilt and, of course, my Memphis Tigers."
Favorite TV character of all time: "My favorite 'character' is Chris Berman, a longtime ESPN broadcaster."
Where do you watch TV when you're on the campaign trail? "Like Johnny Cash says, 'I've been everywhere, man.' But when we're traveling, we're always moving, so I don't get to watch too much TV."

List compiled by Danny Spiegel

Think Tom Cruise was the first star to flip out on national TV? Don’t be crazy!

1) Tom Cruise loses control.
Declaring his love for Katie Holmes, Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch. He pumped his fists and squatted like a scary version of The Thinker. He made weird faces. In short, he acted nuts. Then he went on Today and loonily challenged Matt Lauer’s knowledge of psychiatric history. Of course, Cruise’s 2005 publicity-grabbing antics didn’t hurt the box office for War of the Worlds (or for Holmes’ Batman Begins), so who’s crazy now?

2) Michael Jackson dangles a baby.
Jacko had pulled plenty of wacko stunts before, but this one seemed dangerous: holding his son (nicknamed “Blanket”) over the railing of a Berlin hotel balcony in 2002. “I got caught up in the excitement of the moment,” Jackson explained. Perhaps most shockingly, no charges were filed.

3) Farrah Fawcett spaces out.
The Charlie’s Angels goddess denied allegations that she was flying high on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1997. Sure, she was distracted by the faux skyline backdrop (which she thought was real), but she later claimed she was just “pretending.” We had no idea Fawcett was such a talented actress.

4) Mariah Carey breaks down.
Her rambling 2001 MTV striptease was attributed to “exhaustion.” And this was before Glitter came out.

5) Whitney Houston just says “no.”
Houston, we have a problem: In a 2002 chat with Diane Sawyer, the diva admitted to doing drugs but insisted, “I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Crack is whack.” Judging from her bizarre behavior on Being Bobby Brown, so is Houston.

6) Howard Dean screams.
He may have finished third among Iowa voters in 2004, but the Democratic presidential contender shot to the top of late-night comics’ hit lists when he let loose an ear-splitting, bloodcurdling wail at a post-caucus rally. What a howler!

7) Anna Nicole Smith slurs her speech.
It wasn’t the TrimSpa talking when the reality-TV train wreck woozily introduced Kanye West at the 2004 American Music Awards. In a barely coherent falsetto, Smith squealed, “Like my body?” and dubbed the rapper “a freakin’ genius.” As opposed to just being a freak.

8) Jack Paar walks off.
The weepy host quit The Tonight Show for a month in 1960 after NBC’s censors nixed a joke about a “water closet” (that means a toilet, kids). In an era when Mini-Me pees on TV, a “WC” gag seems downright quaint.

9) Verne Troyer relieves himself.
The Surreal Life was never more surreal than in 2005, when a blotto Mini-Me rode his scooter into a corner and went No. 1. This is why pixilation was invented.

10) Courtney Love goes wild.
OK, it was cute when Drew Barrymore flashed David Letterman in 1995. But when this wobbly warbler repeated Barrymore's stunt in 2004, it was just plain creepy. Not that Letterman was complaining.

11) Joe Namath makes a pass.
“I want to kiss you,” the ex-Jets quarterback leeringly burbled to ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber in 2003. Alas, Namath didn’t score, but he did rush into alcohol rehab.

12) Tyra Banks blows up.
It wasn’t pretty when, in 2005, Banks chewed out America’s Next Top Model wannabe Tiffany for — no kidding — not taking the show seriously. “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” she bellowed. Here’s one model who’s not afraid to show her bad side.

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It's a good thing they quit their day jobs....

1) Brad Pitt: Restaurant mascot

2) Denzel Washington: Coffin polisher

3) Jerry Seinfeld: Phone sales (lightbulbs)

4) Ellen DeGeneres: Oyster shucker

5) Jack Nicholson: Toy-store employee

6) Lucy Liu: Pajama-factory worker

7) Tom Hanks: Bellboy

8) Jim Carrey: Janitor

9) Jerry Springer: Cincinnati mayor

10) Charles Bronson: Coal miner

11) David Letterman: Weatherman

12) Jay Leno: Mechanic

13) Norm MacDonald: Garbage collector

14) Mr. T: Gym teacher

15) Danny DeVito: Hairdresser

16) Quentin Tarantino: Video-store clerk

17) Ken Kercheval: Cemetery-plot salesman

18) Whoopi Goldberg: Funeral-parlor makeup artist

19) Calista Flockhart: Aerobics instructor

20) Josh Holloway: Chicken-farm worker

21) Robin Williams: Street mime

22) Bruce Willis and Sandra Bullock: Bartender

23) Lorenzo Lamas: Fry cook

24) Dennis Franz: Postman

25) Carroll O’Connor: Substitute teacher

26) Carol Burnett: Hatcheck girl

27) Steve Buscemi: Fireman

28) John Goodman: Bouncer

29) Groucho Marx: Wig cleaner

30) Kathy Kinney: Wig-company receptionist

So what was your favorite celebrity doing before they hit the big time? Share some facts, get creative, and let us know below!

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A: Amy Adams
The Oscar-nominated actress (Junebug) played Katy, aka the Hot Girl, who dated Jim Halpert (John Krasinski). But he unceremoniously dumped her during the…

B: Booze Cruise
It became the night that Jim made the ill-advised decision to tell Michael Scott (Steve Carell) about his feelings for Pam (Jenna Fischer). Executive producer Greg Daniels calls the episode "our Scranton version of Jim Cameron’s Titanic."

C: Crystal Club Cola
The soft drink that you see Dunder-Mifflin employees occasionally sip in the employee lunchroom is a real regional soda brand from eastern Pennsylvania.

D: Diversity Day
The hilarious episode about sensitivity training was partly inspired by a sexual-harassment seminar the cast and production staff was required to go through once NBC hired them for the show.

E: Edgar
Steve Carell has played unctuous and annoying before as Edgar, Ellie’s ex-boyfriend on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ short-lived sitcom Watching Ellie.

F: "Fundle Bundle"
The clip of this fictional Scranton kiddie TV show with little Michael Scott gave us an early glimpse of his lonely misfit side.

G: Grass Roots
Remember the 1960s hit “Midnight Confessions” by the Grass Roots? Cast member Creed Bratton played guitar in that band.

H: Halloween
Only Michael would wear a Halloween costume with a papier-mâché likeness of himself on his shoulder on the same day he attempted to terminate an employee.

I: "Islands in the Stream"
One of the most annoying songs of the '80s made a great karaoke moment for Jim and Michael.

J: Jay Ferguson
The composer of The Office theme, Ferguson was lead singer in the rock bands Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and had a solo Top 40 hit in 1977 with "Thunder Island."

K: Kiss
The big cliff-hanger moment in Season 2’s finale was when Jim finally planted one on Pam, even though she was engaged to shipping-department lug Roy (David Denman). Think she got back the deposit on the reception hall?

L: Lampshades
The singing duo that includes Kate Flannery, who plays tipsy customer-service rep Meredith. They play regularly at an improv club in Hollywood.

M: Men's Room
Assistant to the regional manager Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) once found his desk in there courtesy of his torturer, Jim.

N: Nancy Walls
She plays Carol, Michael’s Realtor and potential love interest, and is Steve Carell’s real-life wife. They met while both were players in the Second City comedy troupe.

O: Olympics
Not to be outdone by NBC’s coverage of the Winter Games in Torino, Dunder-Mifflin’s office Olympics offered Flonkerton, the highly specialized sport that uses paper boxes as snowshoes.

P: Phyllis Smith
She was the show’s casting associate until she got the role of Phyllis — based on her reading parts with other auditioning actors.

Q: Quincy, M.E.
Melora Hardin, who plays Michael’s boss, Jan Levinson, appeared on the medical-examiner drama twice when she was a teen actress.

R: Reality TV
Camera crews that have worked on Survivor are often used to give The Office its documentary-style look.

S: Scrantonicity
The Police cover band with Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) from accounting on drums. Pam’s fiancé, Roy, wanted the group to play at their wedding.

T: Toby
Paul Lieberstein, the show’s coexecutive producer, who has never acted before, plays the morose human-resources guy. NBC execs cast him in the show when they saw his brief appearance in the second episode. He’s not the only cast member who works on both sides of the camera — B.J. Novak (Ryan Howard) is a coproducer and Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor) is story editor.

U: Urine
Dwight provided some to Michael to help him pass a drug test. But his guilt over it forced him to resign as a Lackawanna sheriff’s deputy — a tragic loss for the law enforcement community.

V: Valentine's Day
Dwight got his own personal bobblehead. Angela (Angela Kinsey) got his key. Michael got a big kiss from Jan. Phyllis got flowers and a giant bear from Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration. And Pam got a promise from Roy that she would get the best sex of her life. Uh-oh.

W: Webisodes
In the summer of 2006, a series of Web-only episodes featured accountants Kevin, Angela and Oscar (Oscar Nunez) and a story about $3,000 in missing Dunder-Mifflin funds.

X: Xmas Party
The most popular gift in the episode was a video iPod, which in real life boosted The Office’s popularity. It’s been one of the most downloaded shows on Apple’s iTunes store.

Y: YouTube
Fans have made their own music videos about Pam and Jim’s relationship and posted them on this website.

Z: Zbornak, Kent
When the Office producer worked for The Golden Girls, the writers borrowed his last name for Bea Arthur’s character, Dorothy.

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