Best & Worst in Money 2008: Hottest in entertainment

Our second subject is the Beijing Olympics. Okay, full disclosure: I'm not into the Olympics. But I am a General Electric (NYSE: GE) shareholder, and I was rooting for the highest ratings conceivable for the famous competition. NBC Universal also was rooting for a lot of eyeballs, and for good reason: the Olympics don't come cheap. Obtaining the rights to the games and then putting together a comprehensive broadcasting/marketing scheme to monetize the investment is an expensive exercise. But they did deliver, according to this source: well over 200 million people watched NBC's coverage of the event. Not only were the numbers huge, but the cultural significance was pretty high as well. With China hosting the games, the whole world stopped to scrutinize the social and political ramifications of the communist country's involvement. And the spillover into pop culture was undeniable. There were all kinds of merchandising opportunities for the Olympics, and many of the participants became celebrities. In fact, Michael Phelps, who has won multiple gold medals for swimming, was even invited to host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Talk about synergy maybe going wrong. Although it was fitting for the NBC comedy show to utilize an athlete from the Beijing Olympics, I can't say Phelps did an exemplary job as a funnyman. Still, the summer games fulfilled their role of bringing together the best of the best from the world of sports and holding the attention of the globe for a short, but spectacular, time.

The third hottest entertainment property on our list is the Disney (NYSE: DIS) Channel and its portfolio of intellectual assets geared toward the tween set. You know the names by now: Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, and the High School Musical and Camp Rock movie franchises. And if you're a shareholder of Disney (like I am), then you know that these names are mentioned without fail during the Mouse's earnings calls. There's a simple reason for this: the shows, concerts, CDs, movies, and merchandise based on Disney Channel's most famous characters have turned into a bona fide money-generating machine. In fact, this source tells of how the High School Musical franchise contributed $200 million in terms of operating income to Disney in the past few years. That's real money, and I have to say, I am amazed at how the media company has cultivated these tween superstars. However, I do wonder how long it will last. I'm sure everyone out there is feeling that Hannah Montana, for example, may have had her day. There will be a film featuring her in 2009, and her concert movie was held over for an encore back in February. But I think she's outgrowing her squeaky-clean image. Remember the controversial photo thing? Disney will need to incubate more stars. And it will need to keep an eye on Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and its Nickelodeon network. Viacom definitely wants some of those tween dollars. Have you noticed how the company is pushing the iCarly show? Nickelodeon would love to have a Hannah of its own. Best of luck to the cable channel. Creating a teen sensation is easier said than done.

Our fourth entertainment event for the year has to do with all the election coverage and parodies that hit both the television screens and the web-connected computer screens. You truly could not hide from the media blast surrounding the campaign battles between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. From the fetching Obama Girl to the comedic Jon Stewart, from the always-perturbed Bill O'Reilly over at News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox News Channel to the scores of video commentaries posted on the internet, you knew there was an election going on. And then there was the Governor of Alaska herself, the moose-shooting-sexy-MILF-GILF-whatever Sarah Palin. She was so spoof-ready. NBC's Saturday Night Live was lucky enough to have Tina Fey to call on to put forth an accurate-as-hell impersonation of Palin that acted as a wonderful catalyst to increase the venerable comedy institution's ratings. In fact, you had to feel for Fey. Since she has her own television show, 30 Rock, to worry about, I'd have to assume that the extra workload of perfecting her Palin character, even for a short period, must have been very challenging. Of course, I won't feel too badly for her, since she makes a ton of money. In fact, I probably should take back the sympathy I just expressed. Seriously, this was a great time for all the Joe-six-packs out there to compete with the pros by putting up their own satires on Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube. I am not a political junkie by any means. I will admit, though, that I received a ton of exposure to the candidates during the election gauntlet. And I did indeed try to watch every sketch involving Fey's take on Palin. As for Vice President-elect Joe Biden, I don't think the media found a great hook to his personality to include him in any interesting pieces (I know the SNL sketches featuring Biden didn't grab my attention).

And now, rounding out the list is a personal favorite of mine: video games. Yes indeed, there were some blazing-hot titles for the console and PC platforms that surely grabbed some of your attention. Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) is responsible for two of the biggest properties out there: the massively multiplayer online role-playing phenomenon known as World of Warcraft, and the Guitar Hero franchise. Don't tell me you haven't heard of these two. I'm sure you've seen some of those funny WoW commercials, the ones featuring William Shatner and Ozzy Osbourne. And here's something you should know: according to reports, the latest WoW expansion software, Wrath of the Lich King, sold 2.8 million copies on its first day of release, a record achievement. And as far as Guitar Hero goes, you've probably played along to a song or two, or at least know someone who has (as for me, I've tried to pseudo-strum along to a few tunes, but I'm afraid I lack the hand-eye coordination necessary for rock-hero status). Of course, Activision Blizzard does have competition. Viacom owns the Rock Band brand, and it happily allows major publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to perform the distribution chores. Both of these musical games have been significant drivers for their respective proprietors, as they've sold a whole lot of units for Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation hardware, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360, and Nintendo's (NYSE: NTDOY) Wii and DS systems.

Disclosure: I own Activision Blizzard, Disney, and General Electric; positions can change at any time.

Share the reasons for your Hottest in Entertainment pick in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of the Best & Worst in Money 2008.