What was the top TV story of the year? The choice was obvious to all of us, and probably all of you, too: The election. The 2008 race for the White House was not only historic, it was dramatic and played out more on TV with recognizable star personas than any election in recent memory.

And like a great TV show, it was a season-long run of highs and lows, tension and release, defeat and victory. Along the way, Americans made a choice about who will run the country for the next four years, but they were also entertained by a near constant barrage of media coverage in the form of maximum cable news, thousands of commercials, daily political commentary both serious and comic, a plethora of debates, and -- naturally -- Saturday Night Live's take on it all.

It all started about a year ago in the cold of Iowa and New Hampshire...

Does the title of this post have you groaning and asking yourself, "Why are we talking about this again?" If so, I'm familiar with the feeling. It's how I felt earlier this year as the gossiperati (for lack of a more disparaging term) were putting the full court press on Britney Spears. And that was just because she went shopping, or bought a Slurpee, or something ... I didn't really pay much attention to those reports.

Suffice it to say, while it may have been for all the wrong reasons, Britney had once again captured the attention of the public at large. It's an important bit of this story, because it speaks to both why she was brought in to guest on HIMYM, and why I hated it from jump street. I certainly wasn't alone in that, as most of the TV Squad staff, and 36.9% of the readers that voted, named her for the What The *#@#%! Were They Thinking Award.

This is always the most depressing end-of-year list -- the TV people (in front of and behind the camera) who died during the past year. This is a big list, but if we forgot anyone, let us know in the comments (and check out the obituary category for more).

• Tim Russert
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry
• Bernie Mac
• George Carlin
• Estelle Getty
• Jack Narz
• Tony Snow
• Nina Foch
• Beverly Garland
• Bill Melendez
• Jeff MacKay
• Julius Carry
• George Furth
• Bernie Brillstein