The top pop-culture moments of 2007

July
Harry Potter's month, hands down, with the release of the seventh and final installment in J.K. Rowling's insanely successful series. We won't reveal details of the adorable young wizard's fate in case any of you (like us) haven't gotten around to reading it yet, in any of the 64 languages that Potter books have been published in. But here's a choice tidbit not found in the book: later this year Rowling announces that thebeloved character Dumbledore was gay.

August
What time is it? If you're a tween or live in close proximity to one, you know the answer: It's time for "High School Musical 2," the sequel to the hugely popular Disney Channel movie. In this scrubbed-up, 21st-century "Grease," high school never looked so clean, so gentle, so tolerant, with cliques that melt like butter and mean girls that aren't really mean. Realistic? As legions of fans would say, whatever!! More than 17 million watch the first telecast alone, making it TV's biggest event of the summer. Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are bona fide stars, which makes it ...

September
... a little awkward when nude photos of Hudgens surface on the Web. Will Disney disown its dark-haired sweetheart, heroine to countless young girls? Surely you jest (for one thing, there's the upcoming "High School Musical 3" to consider.) Hudgens apologizes, and life at East High goes on. Britney Spears could only hope for such a smooth landing. But it's bumpy, bumpy, bumpy for the troubled pop icon, who hazards a comeback at MTV's Video Music Awards, only to stumble through her song as if she were sloshing through mud. An unfortunately revealing sequined bikini guarantees the next day's painful headlines, but not nearly as painful as a few weeks later, when ...

October
... Spears loses custody of her two toddler sons to ex-hubby Kevin Federline. Though her album, "Blackout," is well-reviewed, her personal struggles continue with no end in sight. On a less serious note, the world spends a few days pondering the fate of Iggy the terrier, first adopted by Ellen DeGeneres, then given to her hairdresser's kid, then taken away according to the rescue agency's regulations. "Please, please, please, just give the dog back," DeGeneres weeps on national TV. But later she has to plead with angry fans to stop threatening the agency.

Speaking of strange things on talk shows, is that really Lynne Cheney on Jon Stewart's show, greeting him with a Darth Vader doll (a joking reference to hubby Dick) and getting a friendly, respectful reception? And speaking of Stewart, we told you last year there would be no Stewart/Colbert ticket in 2008 'cause, well, these guys are just comedians. Turns out we were only half right. For in October, conservative faux-pundit Stephen Colbert announces he's running, but only in South Carolina, his native state, which ....

November
... rejects him. State Democrats vote 13-3 to disallow his bid. Their lame reason? That he's not serious. Bah, humbug! At least South Carolina will get Oprah: The talk-show mogul announces that she'll campaign for her favorite guy Barack Obama in the key early voting states. Can Winfrey sparkle her candidate with the same fairy dust that makes books — even really old ones — sudden best sellers? And here's one youngster that's obviously gotten her hands on some fairy dust: Miley Cyrus, aka Disney's Hannah Montana, turns 15 amid one of the very the hottest concert tours of the year. Hottest kids tours, you ask? No, hottest tours period, with tickets selling out in minutes and scalpers having a field day. In Florida, a man hangs onto a pole for much of six days in a contest to win tickets for his fiancee's daughter.

December
December completes the circle for Don Imus, who debuts his new show on WABC with a cast that includes two black comedians and a promise to "never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret ... that they accepted my apology." He also pledges to use his new show to discuss race relations.

Will Imus be one of the first pop culture figures to actually make his apology mean something? We'll have to get back to you on that.

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