NEW YORK — It’s been a wild and wearying year in the world of TV, with memorable moments by the dozens. Here are nine (though a few of them are perhaps best forgotten):
• HE’S FIRED? Before ascending to the presidency early in January, Donald Trump played TV critic by berating his successor as host of “The New Celebrity Apprentice.” Mocking Arnold Schwarzenegger for his puny ratings, Trump tweeted, “So much for being a movie star,” which sparked a Twitter sparring session as Schwarzenegger fired back expressing hope that Trump would work as aggressively as president as he had as a ratings-hungry TV celebrity. In February, Trump tweeted that Schwarzenegger was an even worse TV host than California governor. By March, Schwarzenegger said he had had enough, declaring that Trump’s “baggage” was what killed his ratings and that, even if invited, he wouldn’t be available for a new season.
• FAKE MEDIA BRIEFING: Melissa McCarthy lampooned then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer in a January edition of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch where the actress taunted reporters as “losers,” fired a water gun at the press corps and used the lectern to ram a (fake) Wall Street Journal reporter. “I want to begin tonight by apologizing on behalf of YOU to ME for how you have treated me these last two weeks,” McCarthy said in opening the mock press briefing. “And that apology is NOT accepted.”
• BATTER UP: Jeffrey Dean Morgan maintained his hitting streak as “The Walking Dead” returned in February with him back as arch-villain Negan, a grinning, swaggering brute whose non-regulation barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille scored one hit after another against Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and the good guys he led. The first half of season 7 in fall 2016, however, proved too brutal even for some fans, and viewership of the perennially popular AMC show waned when the series came in the winter, maybe as a result.