Is it almost 2007 already?

Jeez, it seems like just yesterday Taylor Hicks was being crowned the "American Idol," "The West Wing" was taking its final bow and Michael Richards was best known for his full-force "Seinfeld" entrances.

This year, the networks tried hard to embrace viewer wishes and complaints by developing a schedule that not only increased the amount of highbrow content on the air, but that also placed many popular shows on hiatus between new episode batches instead of running the once-familiar stretch of reruns. Additionally, the 2006 television season marked the emergence of the Internet as a major promotional force. (It also served as a graveyard for axed shows.) Meanwhile, fans of both "America's Next Top Model" and "Gilmore Girls" no longer had to flip the channel to catch both shows, as the CW launched, merging two struggling networks -- UPN and The WB -- into one.

Networks also made the same mistakes this year as they have in years' past. In hopes of catering to an audience demand for serialized programming, the networks seemed to neglect originality, flooding the airwaves with an avalanche of similarly-themed serials, few of which caught fire with audiences. Meanwhile, the handful of shows that really broke through were the ones that were the most inventive and had the strongest characters ("Ugly Betty," "Heroes").

What else was memorable on the tube in 2006? We asked our team of freelancers to weigh in:

-- Thank heaven for "The Daily Show," which makes us laugh through the aches of our dubious government. This is eminently better for our scalps than tearing our hair out at the roots.

-- "Saturday Night Live" actually had a funny moment: The opening, pre-credits sketch on the first "Saturday Night Live" after the November election. Amy Poehler played Nancy Pelosi, who was speaking to America about what the Democrats would do now that they controlled the House and Senate, which involved the right's extreme nightmare about gays, people of color, hippies and S&M freaks. Well-executed, the sketch offered a cathartic laugh after a tense few weeks of voting anticipation. 

-- We're hoping that the fates of "Smith," "The Nine," "Vanished" and "Kidnapped" will show the networks that serialized shows might just work best when they're sci-fi.

-- America finally agreed on something when Fox announced its plans to air an interview with O.J. Simpson about his book, "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened." After the country joined together for a mutual retching, Fox (as well as book publisher HarperCollins), quickly cancelled the release of the controversial content.

-- The running gag in "My Name Is Earl" in which Jason Lee's eyes are closed in every single picture never fails to make us smile. Watch for it!

-- The way "Veronica Mars" appropriated "frack" and "frackin'" from "Battlestar Galactica" was cross-network synergy of a most authentic and hilarious kind.

-- "South Park, "which puts extra dirty meaning into the word "nice," and which still manages to be hilarious episode after episode.

-- Nancy Grace showed the world that CNN can be just as bad as Fox News if they really put their minds to it.

--Many once-beloved shows that had long been limping toward sunset were mercifully put out of their misery ("Will & Grace," "Malcolm in the Middle," "That 70s Show"). It hurt to say goodbye, but it was far more painful to watch them unceremoniously fade into irrelevance. Another bonus: Because it was the end, they actually (sort of) got good again. 

-- With "The Unit," President Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) has something to do ... now that he's, you know, dead and all.

-- "Samurai 7" for being the best new anime of the year.

-- Whether cultivating the "Colbert Report" or skewering the President on live television, Steven Colbert has shown a brilliant marriage of genius and chutzpah this year.

-- Keith Olbermann's 9/11 commentary from Ground Zero was powerful, provocative and reminiscent of a more dignified day in anchorage. His "good night, and good luck" closing was just stultifying.

--Morning, daytime and evening programming played an entertaining game of musical chairs this year, as Meredith Vieira left "The View" to take Katie Couric's old gig on "The Today Show" (while she went to the "CBS Evening News") and Rosie O'Donnell replaced Meredith, while Star Jones Reynolds was left without a chair. 

-- While the actual footage of Steve Irwin's death will never -- and should never -- be broadcast, his death seemed to cause a broad cultural ripple that was both ironic and earnest.
 
-- Bravo's airing of "Six Feet Under" from its awkward, quirky start to the inevitable, terminal finish proves just as great the second time around. We know how it ends, we know all the twists, but we're loving it once again. It's gruesome, gloomy and glorious -- three great tastes that taste great together!

-- Jack Bauer saved the world once again ... and paid for it with a one-way ticket to a Chinese prison camp.

-- "Arrested Development" gave one of the best series-ending episodes of all time. Thank you Fox, for sticking it out over three seasons.

-- Jeffrey Sebelia's neck tattoo on "Project Runway" provided the perfect blueprint for where best to strangle him.

-- Showtime's "Dexter" showed us the lighter side of a serial killer -- and the tremendous acting chops of Michael C. Hall.

-- This season made us wonder, how did celebs ever hook up before "Dancing with the Stars"?

-- The men of "Prison Break" still make the yummiest eye candy, even in the harsh Utah sunlight (which is apparently a lot like Texas sunlight, where the show is filmed).

-- Green Arrow gave new sex appeal to "Smallville," and Justin Hartley's character is giving Clark Kent a run for his superpowers.

-- It's nice to see Sally Field back on TV on "Brothers & Sisters." And she makes Calista Flockhart seem a lot less fluttery.

-- Though flawed, the racially-charged reality series "Black/White" was on the right track to get America talking about race; the conversations it started were worth its slightly clumsy execution.

-- The fact that most shows can now be streamed or downloaded on the Web -- many for free -- is a most appreciated convenience.

-- Chris Daughtry's exit from "American Idol" was one of the most unpredictable moments of the TV season, and also a reminder that: A) the tide can turn for or against a certain performer very quickly, which is part of what makes the show fun to watch, and that B) the Web site that predicts who'll be voted off every week is pretty dead on.

-- Dick Clark's return to "New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006" wasn't comfortable to watch, but it was inspiring and oddly comforting.

-- AMC's first original movie, "Broken Trail," was a magnificent western with a loping pace and savage explosions of violence. The film created a very dynamic sense of frontier life and marvelous relationships through body language and a few well-chosen words.

-- Season 4 of "The Wire," the smartest, densest, richest TV show ever, topped even itself.

-- Forest Whitaker on "The Shield." Enough said.

-- "Homecoming," Joe Dante's episode of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series, was the best of a very good lot.

Contributed by: Barbara Atkinson, Sean Axmaker, Martha Brockenbrough, Kurt Geltz, Sarah Haas, Anne Hurley, Robert Isenberg, Tom Keogh, Dave Lake, Kim Potts and Paul Semel