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CNN Special Reports
Best and Worst of 2014
Aired December 31, 2014 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Step right up and see the most amazing, astounding, astonishing year ever with all the thrills, chills and spills. Politics, sports, music, movies and much more with our guest comedienne Judy Gold, Bill Nye the Science Guy, talk show host Loni Love, commentator Ben Stein, radio host Bethany Watson, actor Fred Willard, CNN Contributor Van Jones and our own Brooke Baldwin. It's All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
Welcome I'm Tom Foreman and even a carnival huckster would have a hard time coming up with words to describe the year just passed. 2014 was full of brilliant, baffling, mind-bending moments like no other and we're going to look at all of them over the next hour. So, we'll take down the lights, you pull out the popcorn and let the side show begin.
JUDY GOLD, COMEDIENNE: 2014 went by really fast. Really, really fast.
FRED WILLARD, ACTOR: I think for the first in a long time, I'm going to be celebrating that the year is over.
LONI LOVE, COMEDIENNE: It wasn't too bad, it wasn't too good.
BETHANY WATSON, RADIO HOST: It was nuts trying to keep up with the news, you just felt like you couldn't stay on top it.
FOREMAN: Let's start our look at big stories with one of the biggest and worst of all, the missing Malaysia air jet. The plane took off with 239 people aboard disappeared. And despite a global effort to track it down that continues to this day, not a single scrap has been found.
BEN STEIN, COMMENTATOR: Well, but look, how could they find it, once it's way down at the bottom of the ocean, there's no device that we know of that can find it. Their satellites can't find it, unless they have submarines crawling along the bottom of the ocean, they can't find it. So it's gone. I mean, it's just sad but it's gone.
FOREMAN: Almost as amazing and just as tragic, the second Malaysia airplane with 298 people on board that was shot down while flying over the conflict in Ukraine.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Seeing the debris field, learning it has been looted and then I'll never forget live on my show watching car, after car, after car being taken finally to, you know, the morgue.
LOVE: This is terrible story. Change the name of your airline. Change the name. Who is getting on Malaysia airline? I'm not.
FOREMAN: Worst international land grab, the rush by the Russians into Crimea and Ukraine.
BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY: Russia's relationship with the rest of the world is getting weirder and weirder. To me, just as a voter, I'm not an expert on this stuff obviously, but it has a real cold war vibe.
STEIN: The question is what happens when Putin goes into the Baltic today which he' undoubtedly going to do. Will we fight for them? If we're not ready to do that, then NATO is dead. And that's a real problem.
FOREMAN: Best news for hard core anglophiles. The vote to break Scotland off from the United Kingdom failed.
WILLARD: I'm glad it was (inaudible). I want to see those -- all -- everything over there stay as it is. England, Scotland, long live the queen.
FOREMAN: Other stories shook the planet, the abducted Nigerian girls.
LOVE: If you take 200 girls from Detroit, you'll end up being a hostage. And we don't take that.
FOREMAN: That ferry crash near South Korea.
The hostage standoff in Australia, the terrorist slaughter of children in Pakistan and the latest clash between Israelis and Palestinians.
BALDWIN: Sadly, this seems like a conflict that's never ending.
FOREMAN: Best new guy shaking up the old world scene. Pope Francis kept the papal guessing with new openness to divorce and to LGBT rights. Francis even demoted a conservative bishop who was critical of him.
GOLD: As a Jew, I never thought I'd say this. I love the Pope. What an amazing guy. He's like a real person. Thank you Pope. Thank you, I'm not going to convert, but I really think you're doing a great job.
LOVE: He actually sold two of his motorcycles for the hungry. I mean, he's different, he really is.
STEIN: He's way, way, way, way, way more liberal and way, way, way more out there than any pope I've seen in my lifetime.
FOREMAN: Back in the States, there were plenty of big bad stories, school shooting, sex abuse scandals, a massive mud slide, but the worst unexpected headline, Ebola appearing for the first time on American shores.
LOVE: Oh, everybody was scared riding on a plane because if you got on that plane and somebody coughed, you're giving them the side eye. You're like, "Oh, what? You got Ebola?" WILLARD: I'm a hypochondriac so I fear everything. I've been quarantined for six months now and my doctor still doesn't like the way I look.
FOREMAN: Best or worst reaction depending on how safe you felt. That nurse remained who defied calls for her to be quarantined.
WATSON: It's crazy, like people who were all of a sudden coming down with Ebola, they were having the most amazing days they were balling and riding the subway. I don't do any of that stuff.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITCAL COMMENTATOR: Well look, you know, when the highlight of the year is that Ebola didn't kill everyone. That's not a good year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have lift off.
FOREMAN: Worst failure to launch, the orbital scientists rocket that left Virginia the hard way.
NYE: But it was in commercial launch and nobody got hurt and just spent a lot of money and crashed the dreams of a lot of people. People I know where the instrument on flight. It's a real set back.
FOREMAN: Worst followup. The Virgin Galactic space plane that exploded in flight just days later killing a pilot.
Best news about inner space for some in the science community, people are talking more about global climate change. The problem is the world still can't seem to agree on a plan of action.
NYE: If the United States were taking aggressive step to address the climate change, none of these agreements and roll backs and trade and these keeping track of local businesses, none of that would be important.
GOLD: I'm very upset about the climate change and I'm not a fan of polar vortex.
BALDWIN: The polar vortex is really cute because I'm from Wisconsin. So for us we just call this winter.
FOREMAN: Worst chilling news on terrorism. The rise of ISIS.
BALDWIN: I remember first hearing about this group, ISIS and we start covering then maybe January, February, March and it seemed small.
STEIN: How are we going to stop them? We can't stop them with drones, we can stop them with limited missile attacks, we can't stop them at all.
LOVE: You know, I thought ISIS was mad at the west. But they're hurting other Muslims, so how is that hurting the west.
FOREMAN: Best example of standing up to the bad guys, Malala, the teen who was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking about women's rights, but lived to become the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALALA YOUSAFZAI: It's a big honor for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLD: You know, if my kids don't win a Nobel Piece Prize by the time they're 17, they are in big trouble.
FOREMAN: Worst dispute about standing up to bad guys. The public feud among navy seals over precisely who killed Osama bin Laden.
WATSON: We kind of live in a culture now of look at me, pay attention to me and I want credit for what I did. And in the military, you're not supposed to take credit for what you did.
FOREMAN: And worst home grown headline of the year, Ferguson, Missouri, shooting of unarmed black teenager by a police officer. The details of Michael Brown's confrontation with a shop owner during a theft, and everything else set off a national debate.
WATSON: Like every really hot button issue that causes tension and anger, it's all wrapped up in a story and, you know, I didn't even know how to cover, I didn't even know how to address it.
FOREMAN: And when the grand jury decided against an indictment for the officer, everything cut lose.
BALDWIN: I've never seen a night of TV and coverage like that in a long, long, long time.
FOREMAN: Then another death at the hands of police in New York and another non-indictment made the protest rage even louder.
JONES: We tell our young boys to be basically whatever the police do, whatever they say, just say yes or go along with it, no matter what because we just don't have confidence that police will interact with our little boys with any degree of deference or respect. That's a terrible way to feel.
FOREMAN: And that big story is still rolling on.
Stay put, later we'll have the best of sports, the worst of politics, the internet's endless insanity, the movies that fizzled and those that set the box office on fire. Lights, cameras, we've got all the action on All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
Sony may be on the run from the North Koreans but we've got lights, cameras and plenty of action coming up on All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Holly Moses, movie theaters were flooded with late entries into the best box office category. From Exodus, to Unbroken, to Foxcatcher, to the next course served up in the Hunger Games, Mockingjay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, ACTRESS: If we burn, you burn with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEIN: I rarely see a movie that I don't like and I'm a huge fan of popcorn. I just stuff myself full of popcorn on about the first and I enjoy it a lot.
FOREMAN: As pop culture goes for sheer fairytale grandeur, it was hard to top the magnificent Maleficent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: Well, well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOVE: For over 50 years, the evil witch of sleeping beauty was getting, you know, (inaudible). We didn't know why she was evil. And of course, we found out her story and it was because of a man. That's it.
FOREMAN: Best return of an old friend and foe, Godzilla.
WILLARD: I saw Godzilla and I love it. The monster is misunderstood. You know, there's two sides to every story.
FOREMAN: Fury was a fantastic tale of World War II tanks. The Monuments Men by contrast was far from monumental.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James Brown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hit it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: James Brown was a great mover but Get on Up was not great movie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're saving the human race.
FOREMAN: Still the worst persistent trend out of Hollywood was the relentless reliance on remakes and sequels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONAH HILL, ACTOR: Are you ready.
CHANNING TATUM, ACTOR: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: Case in point 22 Jump Street, which by the way, still made a fortune.
LOVE: There's probably going to be a 50 Jump Street, they keep doing these great movies.
FOREMAN: Best tearjerker, The Fault In Our Stars.
GOLD: Look, if I want to cry, I'll look at my bank account.
FOREMAN: Worst movie for a first date, second date or maybe any date, Gone Girl.
WATSON: If you're looking for a sly way to like broach the topic of breaking up, take your date to Gone Girl and then when it's done and like she'll probably break up with you.
FOREMAN: The worst creeper award. Give it to Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
BALDWIN: I met with him and I said, "Dude, your character kind of made me want to take a shower." "He's like, I can use that, that's a good line."
FOREMAN: The Lego Movie led a slew flew of hot kid films including Big Hero 6.
JONES: It's so great to see a film showing young people every color under this side using technology for good. Using technology to become hero, why? Because I am tired of young people thinking the only way to be cool is to be big and macho. Think your way out of the problem. That's what I wanted the young people doing.
FOREMAN: There were also sequels for Rio, How to Train Your Dragon and Planes.
WILLARD: It was a great thing to be part of and it's a fun movie for old and young life. Middle-age people may not like it. But for young and old alike, they're going to love it.
FOREMAN: Fantasy movies packed them in. Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest adventures of Captain America, the Transformers and the X-Men.
STEIN: I like X-Men a lot. I really, really lot.
FOREMAN: Worst sci-fi flick according to our science guy. Interstellar, was the science unbelievable? No, it wasn't that.
NYE: I'm not going to be on a spaceship with somebody like Anne Hathaway's character without trying to jump her, I'm sorry people.
FOREMAN: Best movie you didn't see but should have, St. Vincent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is he mowing your jerk patch. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm showing her how the word works.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: And the worst movie of the year, maybe of the decade, maybe of all time, Noah, a stinker of biblical proportions.
The small screen also generated plenty of excitement this year with some new series, some older ones, but plenty of action for everyone to watch.
Game of Thrones reign supreme over the TV kingdom for its fans.
WATSON: The Game of Thrones is the best show ever. It's huge, it's bloody. There are always boobs.
LOVE: The issue I have with Game of Thrones, if you like a character on Game of Thrones, you better take a picture of it because they going to get killed.
FOREMAN: Orange is the New Black killed it in the latest season, Hyper, Crazy Eyes and Red keep doing time in style.
GOLD: You know what's great about Orange is the New Black? The makeup and hair people don't really have to do much.
FOREMAN: And House of Cards is still standing strong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: Haunt or be haunted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Everybody in D.C. was watching House of Cards and I think that's kind of dangerous, I mean because the way they solve problems in House of Cards is they off people.
FOREMAN: But the best trend in television, watching a whole season all at once.
WATSON: Oh, totally. I'm a total binge watcher.
FOREMAN: Some series continue to roll out just an episode a week but do very well. The Big Bang Theory, Scandal, NCIS, The Good Wife, Sons of Anarchy.
NYE: A friend of mine is an actor on Madam Secretary. So I watch Madam Secretary and it takes on big issues and that's good. I enjoy that.
STEIN: Let me tell you what I watch on TV night after night roughly two hours per night every night, Cops.
FOREMAN: Worst idea on TV for the second year in a row.
WATSON: Can we also talk about Sharknado 2. I have a lot of feelings about Sharknado 2.
WILLARD: I like sports show and a lot of the reality shows would be the daredevil's people snowboarding and going off a cliff. I love to watch people dare to do things that I would be afraid of doing and then see them Wipe Out, that's why I don't do it.
FOREMAN: The year brought plenty of examples of pop stars and other famous folks doing things they probably should not have.
Worst bad boy Justin Bieber, the teen heartthrob seemed to be constantly chatting it up with police over wild parties and throwing eggs.
LOVE: He keeps acting like this, Justin (inaudible) it back to Canada, so stop it, all right? Make some songs for little girls but stop what you're doing because you're about to ruin yourself, Justin.
FOREMAN: Comics did not have much to laugh at as their world was hilted with the worst kind of news.
Bill Cosby wasn't even smiling as a parade of women from his past accused him of sexual assault, charges his attorneys deny.
JONES: There's no punch line, there's nothing to say. But you don't get a free pass after spending, you know, three decades telling everybody else how to be a better person. And the first time your name is in trouble, you just duck and hide behind your lawyers.
FOREMAN: David Brenner died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BRENNER, COMEDIAN: Did you ever get a cured ham and wondered what it had?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: He was a longtime regular on the late night circuit who influenced everyone from Letterman to Leno to Seinfield.
Joan Rivers went in for a minor vocal chord procedure and never came out, ending her long life and unstoppable career.
WILLARD: Joan Rivers just kept going joke after joke, wonderful and the way she left was not the way she should have. I'm sorry. But she will be missed.
FOREMAN: And the worst news in ages for those who like to laugh, Robin Williams committed suicide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBIN WILLIAMS, COMEDIAN/ACTOR: You treat a disease you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you'll win.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: It was later revealed that he was suffering from a disease that causes dementia.
GOLD: The comedy world really took a big hit this year. First David Brenner, then Robin Williams then Joan Rivers, the world is laughing a lot less.
FOREMAN: Still, give it to the Royal Family for coming through with some good news to lift spirits amid all that celebrity turmoil.
GOLD: Kate is pregnant again.
WILLARD: They're having babies. They're waving to people. God bless them. And God bless England.
LOVE: I love the royal. I hope this one is a girl and they name it Loni, Princess Loni of Cambridge. I can just see that now. That would be great.
FOREMAN: Yes, that would be great. Coming up, the Palins get punchy, the President gets grumpy and the whole political scene roars into the holidays no better than it left them last year.
And later, maybe the politicians don't know how to manage their base but the music business sure did.
We have a lot more low notes and high notes too coming up on All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: The political world remains in turmoil from the Palin family getting into a pawnshop at a party to the democrats getting hit hard at the ballot box. Washington seemed unsure whether it should grind to an utter halt or spin completely out of control.
Depending on your party, the best or worst election night butt kicking was the republican routed the democrats in the midterms. The GOP took control of the US Senate, increased their majority in the House and picked up a couple of new governors chairs too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: President Obama grilled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, CURRENT UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Obviously, republicans had a good night.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: Worst fair-weather friends, the democratic contenders who ran from his trashy whole numbers and wouldn't even say they voted for the man in the White House.
JONES: We just got devastated. It was humiliating as I've ever seen. How did democrats lose a governorship in Massachusetts? I really don't get (inaudible).
GOLD: You know what, thank God, the republicans took over the House and the Senate because things are really going to get done now.
FOREMAN: Well, that may already be the worst political prediction of the coming year.
STEIN: The republicans don't have a program to solve America's problems. The democrats don't have a program to solve America's problems. They can't be solved by the government.
FOREMAN: Best case of a lame duck flying back into the fight, the President responded to the midterm loss by announcing an executive order to protect millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally. Republicans outraged even though they showed little enthusiasm for a legislative fix of their own.
BALDWIN: It passed in the Senate and we talked to senators and they like to remind you 500 plus days. It has been sitting in the House and they haven't done a darn thing.
FOREMAN: Worst case of "I fall in and I can't get up." Give it to Governor Chris Christie, a possible presidential candidate. The New Jersey Republican was hammered over allegations that he staff purposely created traffic jam on a bridge last year to punish a democratic foe. Christie not amused by critics, "Sit down and shut up."
JONES: Chris Christie before the bridge gate completely formidable nightmare for democrats. I mean, this guy, he's funny, he's aggressive, he's got this bizarre charm and then, you know, a bridge fell on him.
FOREMAN: Worst case of playing it coy. Hillary Clinton, despite putting out a big book, she still won't say what everyone thinks they know.
STEIN: Of course Hillary Clinton is going to run.
FOREMAN: Marijuana faired well in state initiatives as did measures promoting the environment in higher minimum wages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
FOREMAN: Best continuing trend for rights activist.
WATSON: It's not like a really big year for gay rights. A lot of gay marriage...
FOREMAN: Worst continuing trend for environmentalists.
NYE: That's the biggest story of the year, and we didn't do much on climate change.
FOREMAN: Best news from the Benjamins. Housing values are still rising, jobelessness is still falling.
STEIN: It's been a great year in terms of economic recovery. The recovery has done really, really well.
FOREMAN: Worst part of that great news, the percentage of people working or seeking work has dropped to its lowest level in decades. But in a lot of places, jobs aren't paying that much. And job security, dodging.
WILLARD: I am thinking seriously of moving to New York and becoming a cab driver. Because there's more demand for a cab driver in Times Square than it is for a Broadway actor.
FOREMAN: Worst casting of the part of a professional diplomat, the White House selected the producer of the Bold and the Beautiful as ambassador to Hungary. Colleen Bell didn't seem to know much about the job but she raised millions for the President's reelection, cue the official response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell you that that's not the reason that she was chosen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Of course not.
Worst attempted amateur diplomacy. Dennis Rodman's fourth trip to play basketball for North Korean strong men Kim Jong Un.
LOVE: We're like, OK, first of all, why is Dennis going over there and why is that he's free and he's a dictator, Dennis.
FOREMAN: Best followup slam dunk, a trip to North Korea by the director of intelligence to bring home American captives Kenneth Bay and Matthew Todd Miller. Why did Kim let them go? Who knows?
WATSON: I think that we all just need to agree that we have no freaking clue what's going on in North Korea and it's like a country being ruled by a toddler.
FOREMAN: Worst turkey? The GOP staff who badmouth the Obama girls' behavior. Best flying the coop, she resigned within days.
Best makeover, refurbishing of the Capitol Dome if it's ever finished.
Worst makeup, the continuing failure of the two major parties to agree on almost anything.
BALDWIN: And come 2015, it's going to be a really interesting year as far as Washington goes.
FOREMAN: And putting the best face on the whole big mess, give it to the team from the University of Southern California that turned out the first ever 3D printed portrait of a president. Hey, with tech like that, who needs wax museums?
When we come back, we'll be cranking up the music and talking about all the songs that hit or missed in the past year, plus Boston is back. The magnificent man runs into the record books.
They NFL runs into trouble, and online videos just run and run and run. It's All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Entertainment always seems to thrive in difficult times, maybe because people need the escape, maybe because artists feel inspired. Whatever the reason, this year had a lot of people asking did you see that?
The most seen music video according to VEVO was Fancy by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX but it had plenty of challengers.
LOVE: I think in 2014, the women kicked it when it came to songs. You had Meghan Trainor who came with All About that Bass talking about, you know what, I don't care you're going to accept me for who I am, I'm not a size two. So it's really empowering this year for women.
FOREMAN: And it's really catchy. So we're giving the best debut to All About that Bass.
NYE: Well for me, it's all about that bass. No, actually it isn't. I like songs from previous years a little better.
STEIN: I don't know any current music at all, none. Absolutely zero, zilch.
FOREMAN: Well, there were plenty of old school sounds to be found.
Luke Bryan lit up the country charts with his summer single. Sam Smith made his fans swoon with Stay With Me.
JONES: I hate to admit it. I'm just now getting caught up with Lorde. I think Lorde is great. And, you know, so I like her.
BALDWIN: I'm kind of an old, old person, old soul musically but I kind of have been jamming out to a little Taylor Swift.
FOREMAN: And we have to give the best job of taking it to the bank to Taylor Swift who shook off the competition all year long.
Her mind blowing song sales, promotional efforts and expansion of her business empire made her the reigning queen of pop music.
GOLD: Is she done? FOREMAN: The best selling song by a female artist according to Nielsen SoundScan goes to Katy Perry's Dark Horse, which moved more than 4.3 million copies. Still the guys were no slouches, Ed Sheeran hit it hard as the most streamed artist in the world with 860 million listens to his tunes, especially Don't.
WATSON: It's angry, it's vengeful, it's primal and it's really catchy which I mean all of those are very good songs.
FOREMAN: And Billboard says the most recent number one on digital songs by any group goes to Magic for their catchy song, Rude.
Worst music video for a family audience, cover your eyes. It's Nicki Minaj's Anaconda.
WATSON: I have two nieces. I never want them to see that music video ever.
LOVE: Even, you know, old ladies on the street was twerking because of that video.
FOREMAN: Best rising star, George Ezra. He's only 21 but sounds like a seasoned pro.
We were tempted to go with an outlier for best song of the year, maybe Lord Huron's Ends of the Earth or Spoon's fantastic Do You. But there was just no denying who struck the very best chord with the best tune of 2014.
GOLD: The song Happy by Pharrell Williams was a national addiction.
NYE: Happy made me happy at first but there was a lot of it, there was a lot of happy.
WATSON: The word genius is thrown around a lot but he is actually a musical genius. And also, the nicest guy in the world.
FOREMAN: That video featured a good many scenes that involved athletic pursuits and this was a big year for sports, lots of global events, lots of huge money and a lot of unbelievable moments.
Best spectacle in all of sports, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
STEIN: The Russians did an incredible job. They were beautiful, beautiful, beautiful to watch. The stake of the skill of the people at the Winter Olympics, it raises your hopes about the whole future of mankind, to think that people can do such magnificent work on the ice or in the snow.
FOREMAN: Vladimir Putin took some heat over his attitude toward gays and lesbians.
GOLD: And it was amazing because, you know, here we are doing figure skating in a place where there are no gay people.
FOREMAN: But he also had the last laugh. The Russians edged out everyone in medals, US coming in second, Norway third.
Best comeback. America's love of soccer brought on every four years by the return of the World Cup, this time in Brazil.
NYE: Oh, I watched the World Cup like crazy.
WATSON: I like going to bars and getting drunk. This is why I love the World Cup.
FOREMAN: The US found itself in an early bracket with three teams so tough it was called the group of death but behind the heroic efforts of goal keeper Tim Howard, the Americans nearly made it to the quarter finals.
GOLD: I love how they underestimated the US in the World Cup. And we did fine. All right, we didn't win, but it shows how much (inaudible) we have in this country.
FOREMAN: Germany took the trophy leaving us with what still the worst thing about the sports no matter what happens on that field, that clock keeps ticking.
NYE: Everybody in my world growing up had a clock. So, there's no reason that international soccer couldn't have a regular clock.
FOREMAN: Back home, it took no time for the Spurs to cool the Heat. The team from San Antonio took the title best team in the NBA and Miami star Lebron James took a hike back to the team he abandoned just a few years ago.
WILLARD: I was shocked that Cleveland welcomed Lebron James back with open arms. It's like when your wife leaves you and then comes back like an old country song, now here we go again. She's back in town again.
FOREMAN: Worst flagrant foul, LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's reported rant about black people. He said he was sorry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD STERLING, LA CLIPPERS OWNER: I'm not a racist. I made a terrible, terrible mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: The NBA still took his team and banned him for life.
LOVE: OK. Right, get him out of here. There's no place for that craziness.
FOREMAN: Best cool cats. The Los Angeles Kings storm the ice and skated circles around the New York Rangers to make off with Lord Stanley's Cup.
In baseball, the best goodbye came from Yankee Derek Jeter after 20 seasons. GOLD: What a great captain. And you know what, with what's going on in the sports world, it's nice to have a hero.
BALDWIN: I'm a Boston Red Sox fan, no love for the Jeter.
WATSON: I think I went to bed early that night.
FOREMAN: No one wins a bet early when the best batters were up in the World Series including the Giants against the Royals in a titanic battle. But the KC kids could not hold off the San Francisco Clubs unbeatable, Madison Bumgarner.
STEIN: This guy is better than a machine. He's incredible, absolutely unbelievable. I never saw a pitching job like that in my life.
WILLARD: But to go seven games in the final game, he set it by one run with the runners stranded on third base and two outs. You don't get better than that.
FOREMAN: Worst sack, the Super Bowl. Seattle versus Denver was built as a battle for the ages but look like a war on the aged as the Broncos fell and the third worst loss ever in the championship.
NYE: Oh, I'm a Seahawks fan, yeah. It was fun for us.
FOREMAN: Overall, the NFL had some bright moments including drafting its first openly gay player.
WILLARD: I think Michael Sam has accomplished something great even he doesn't go on to make it. I think he'll end up in broadcasting or some other field.
FOREMAN: But troubling headlines piled up on other fronts, head injuries, domestic violence.
GOLD: I thought I had issues.
FOREMAN: Worst instant replay. The ugly assault case against former Raven Ray Rice turned even uglier after a video came out of that attack on his then fiancee who is now his wife.
STEIN: Then he slapped her and he punched her and knocked her out cold.
FOREMAN: Questions immediately arose about whether NFL officials had seen the tape.
LOVE: You didn't - My - seriously why do they need to see a tape from the inside. I think you could tell when a girl was knocked out cold dragging her out that something happened. I mean she just didn't hit her head.
FOREMAN: Are all these scandals hurting the League? You decide. More than 45 million people watched the NFL draft and TV ratings kept climbing for the games including among women. And our best finish in all of sports, we're giving it to the great Meb Keflezighi who brought the Boston Marathon back from last year's horrible bombings by becoming the first American to win the race in decades.
STEIN: Well, what an amazingly great guy and what incredibly great lungs he has.
JONES: I'm glad I can see the American actually pull it off.
BALDWIN: That was one of the most incredible stories I covered this year, is being around those people I will never forget hearing the announcer saying let's take back the finish line. It was awesome.
FOREMAN: Don't go anywhere. The best and worst of new technology, offline sensations and online videos that just won't quit are coming your way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shall we make out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: We'll be kissing strangers, catching up with cats and taking to the skies as we burn toward the finish of All the Best, All the Worst 2014.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Of all the remarkable things online and offline this year, the very best was one that seemed to arise out of nowhere and pretty soon was everywhere, the ice bucket challenge.
GOLD: It's amazing to me that you can poor a bucket of ice on your head and make millions of dollars. I need to do that for my career.
FOREMAN: The viral sensation raised more than $115 million to fight ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease.
WATSON: ALS isn't like one of those sexy causes that gets a lot of, you know, press and a lot of attention.
LOVE: And I told people, do not call me out, I am not doing ice bucket on my weave.
BALDWIN: But at the end of the day, it raised so much money and if that's what we have to do to raise money for wonderful causes, I'm in, ice and all.
FOREMAN: Best reaction to it all, that little British girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) mom!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Worst reason for women to feel like cursing, well it was captured in that video of a woman walking all around New York all day and getting steadily cat pulled.
BALDWIN: You don't even necessarily have to be like a hot chick. It happens. It's reality. I think it was just like putting a camera on her to see that this is what happens and fellas, please be nice.
JONES: I don't think that men actually understand what like a war zone it's like if you're a woman. I think most men don't know how offensive and often scary it is for them to be engaged in those kind of behaviors. And I think most women don't know that most men don't know. So I thought that video was very, very helpful.
FOREMAN: Best first date, everyone featured in that little online movie of strangers kissing that drew millions of clicks with its charming, awkward and hesitant picks and pecks.
WATSON: I was obsessed with that because I love kissing strangers. It's like one of my favorite things to do.
LOVE: You know, on a Saturday night after a couple of ones, I kiss strangers. I do it all the time. I don't know what was the big deal.
FOREMAN: Speaking of charming, best lip sync, that guy's wife working it out to Salt-N-Peppa right up until she notices his phone.
Of course, there was that yearly barrage of adorable pets online, worst in just as among our four-footed friends, cats stealing dog beds.
WILLARD: Every time there's a video of a cat or a dog doing something funny, I say, "Oh no." Then I watch it and I get sucked right in and I said, "That is the cutest thing I've ever seen," so I love them.
FOREMAN: Best room with a view. Check out Astronaut, a beautiful compilation of images from the International Space Station cut together by a French filmmaker.
There weren't too many of those wait in line for hours and wow, you're tech-obsessed friends gadget is out there this year. But there were upgrades of pleasant.
The arrival of the iPhone 6 gave us our best splash, people lined up for it around the planet, which also led to the worst crash. The guy who tried to show his to a reporter and dropped it.
Worst worry for the Apple gang, the rising tide of alternatives.
JONES: This is the first year where I felt like having an iPhone was somehow not cool. You know, all my friends are getting Samsung things and they're doing all these stuff and I'm still very loyal, I miss Steve Jobs. FOREMAN: Smart TVs are going wireless more often. Smart TV watchers are going for bigger, better experiences.
STEIN: This year, I bought a 3D television and I love my 3D television and my wife often comes in to my study room with my 3D (inaudible) and they're finding slack-jawed in front of it.
FOREMAN: And how does that look Ben?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Euller, Euller?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEIN: Euller, Euller.
FOREMAN: Best action shots. The ocean of images now appearing all the time courtesy of GoPros and other small, wearable cameras.
Best night time stroll. Nick Wallenda's wire walk across the skyline of Chicago.
Best roadtrip. The astonishing flight of the Rosetta Space Probe, we put a lander on to a comet some 300 million miles from earth, yeah, that's far and yeah, that had the space community cheering.
NYE: It's amazing, it's just so far out there everybody. It's 10 years of flying to catch up with this thing.
FOREMAN: Best way to get a bird's eye view, the legions of unmanned aerial vehicles taking to the skies producing stunning images of, well, almost everything. And the best way to light up the night, give it to the guy who flew his unmanned aerial camera right through some fireworks in Florida.
Don't go away. All the Best, All the Worst 2014 is headed for our finale.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: We are almost done but we have just enough time for our traditional final question for our guest. For all we've been through in the past 12 months, what would you wish for America in the coming year?
GOLD: Oh God. My wish for 2015 is peace and my own show on CNN.
WILLARD: I hope all these countries can just stop protesting and rioting and just live and love each other. Life is so short and my other dream is to play first base for the Cleveland Indians.
WATSON: My hope for 2015 is that the news becomes a little bit easier to follow because we've gotten more people. That's probably not going to happen, but we could hope. It's been a rough year. We need a good 2015. NYE: My hope for 2015 is the world gets motivated to do work together on climate change.
JONES: If we could just live in a world where we thought that the police were being policed by somebody, I think 2015 will be a dramatic improvement over 2014.
LOVE: My hopes for 2015 is that we can all get along and that we can all just, you know, love each other more and help each other more and you know, we'll be all right, America. We're doing all right.
STEIN: I think if America spend more time thinking about what they've been blessed with and how great our lives are in America and less time complaining, we'd be a much, much happier people.
BALDWIN: I hope for love and warmth, and joy please for 2015.
FOREMAN: And with that, we can bring down the curtain on this whole side show of a year. Sometimes, it was infuriating , sometimes unsettling, but now it is finally over.
Our thanks to our guests and to you for watching. On behalf of everyone at AC360 and CNN, I'm Tom Foreman wishing you all of the best and none of the worst in 2015.
