Best One-Hit Wonders of the Decade

By Amy Wilkinson Posted Dec 25th 2009 06:00AM

With Daniel Powter's 'American Idol' farewell song 'Bad Day,' earning the dubious distinction of Billboard's top one-hit wonder of the decade, we got to thinking of the other blink-and-you-missed-it stars of the aughts-from actors and musicians to authors and reality-show hosts. Their popularity may have fizzled as quickly as William Hung's, but here at PopEater, we'll always remember them for their contribution to the crazy first decade of the 2000s.

Actor: Brandon Routh
Brandon Routh beat out some of Hollywood's hottest young hunks to don Clark Kent's Coke-bottle glasses in "Superman Returns." Though the film soared like a bird (and/or a plane) at the box office, the role may have been career kryptonite for the actor seeing as he's been in little since.

Actress: Lindsay Lohan
As a child actress, Lindsay Lohan gained moderate fame playing scheming twins in the 'Parent Trap' remake, but it was as transfer student Cady Heron in 2004's 'Mean Girls' that the New York-native gained starlet status, for better or for worse. Nowadays, LiLo's known more for her addiction problems and relationship quarrels than her acting chops, with her last effort 'Labor Pains,' released directly to the ABC Family channel.

Singer: Vanessa Carlton
American audiences must have a thing for unrequited love. Much like James Blunt's 2005 hit 'You're Beautiful,' Vanessa Carlton's popular piano ballad 'A Thousand Miles' dealt with the loss of a lover, and just like Blunt's song, became a staple of radio airwaves. Follow-up singles 'Ordinary Day' and 'Pretty Baby' just couldn't go the distance.

Author: James Frey

Technically, author James Frey scored two bestsellers in the aughts with his gripping addiction memoir 'A Million Little Pieces' and its follow-up 'My Friend Leonard,' though the former eclipse the latter by leaps and bounds when it was dubbed one of Oprah Winfrey's book club picks. When it came to light portions of the work had been fabricated, Frey was dropped by his publisher and received quite the rebuke from Winfrey. Reemerging as a novelist, Frey recently published the fictional 'Bright Shiny Morning' and is reportedly working on a second novel based on the Bible.

Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Debut novelist Audrey Niffenegger single-handedly supported the facial tissue industry in 2004 with her weepy sci-fi romance 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' Though it became a bestseller, the film version starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana didn't fair so well at the box office. Her hotly anticipated and similarly fantastical follow-up 'Her Fearful Symmetry' also failed to garner the same reception as her stunning debut.

Documentarian: Morgan Spurlock
If you forsake Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets in the mid-00s, it likely had something to do with a little documentary called 'Super Size Me,' in which intrepid filmmaker Morgan Spurlock set out to see what would happen if he subsisted on a McDonald's-only diet for 30 days. Spurlock went on to produce a spin-off TV series called '30 Days' and film other docs like 2008's 'Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?' but neither left us with the McSweats quite like 'Super Size Me.'

Reality Show: 'Joe Millionaire'

Reality shows come and go, but nothing tickled the zeitgeist in 2003 quite like 'Joe Millionaire.' The show followed faux millionaire Evan Marriott-he was really a construction worker-on his search for love, wining and dining women who had no idea he wasn't loaded. The show's finale garnered 40 million viewers, but a follow-up 'The Next Joe Millionaire' didn't attract viewers quite like the original.

Reality Show Host: Brian Dunkleman
'American Idol''s youngest fans likely can't recall a time when Ryan Seacrest shared hosting duties for the wildly popular talent competition. But he did. And that co-host's name was Brian Dunkleman. The one-time emcee left after the show's first season and went on to appear on VH1's 'Celebrity Fit Club.' With Seacrest pulling in a reported $15 million a year hosting the FOX series, Dunkleman's gotta wonder 'What if?' every now and then.

Television Maid/Butler: Jane Leeves
Perhaps the poor economy is to blame, but hired help just isn't as de rigueur as it used to be. No one did it better in the aughts than Jane Leeves, who played quirky housekeeper/physical therapist Daphne Moon on the series 'Frasier.' We couldn't have been happier when her and neurotic Niles finally tied the knot.

'Friends' Star: David Schwimmer
Everyone's favorite Central Perk patrons have had mixed success since the end of their series in 2004. Courtney Cox has seemingly found a home in "Cougar Town," Jennifer Aniston's rife with movie roles (and tabloid covers) and Matthew Perry had a hit with "17 Again" (though we think Zac Efron might have had something to do with that one). Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc have had series of their own that didn't last, but it's David Schwimmer who's kept the lowest profile of the bunch, sticking largely to directing and stage productions. Could we be any more bummed the 'Friends' star hasn't become a fixture on our television sets?

Who are your favorite one-hit wonders of the 00s?

Comments

(96)

Saturday 26 December

By gobluespartyon

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Nope you got it all wrong Biff 1990 through 1999 was the 90's 1980 through 1989 was the 80's so get it right. Just like the New Millennium & 21st century began Jan, 1, 2000 and the new Decade begins in 6 days Jan, 1, 2010.

By Biff

goblue, obviously you can't be convinced, even though the fact that there was no year "0" as the beginning of the Christian era, which is the fact that can't be argued with. As someone has pointed out, the date of the most-recent turn-of-the-century was a "Final Jeopardy!" question way back in 1984, and ALL three contestants got it wrong when they all answered "Jan. 1, 2000." They have a multi-person staff to check facts before they put them on that show (after all, a lot of money is at stake, hence they've got to get the facts right), and I'm sure that this question got lots of fact-checking from guys like you after it appeared on "Jeopardy!" Check your history books and you'll find that a little over 100 years ago, all the hoopla for the beginning of the 20th Century AD occurred on Jan. 1, 1901, and not the year before. Even wikipedia--which I always caution people to read carefully, as it has MANY mistakes in it--is not wrong in this case. As several have said here, next Friday "feels" like it should be the end of the decade, because it seems like we are entering the teens, but the facts simply don't back up the perception. There already are a lot of articles and stories on the TV news about "decade wrap-ups," which is to be expected because of the way it "feels," but it doesn't make it technically correct at all. Hopefully you'll go check some really reputable encyclopedias or call the math department at a university so you can get the facts from the real experts

Friday 25 December

By kiwis

why are old people so bitter?

By Angela

I agree. We are going to be entering into the "10's."

By warrencoons

Actually,Nate is right about the 21st century,but a decade can be any span of ten years and the article specifically says the first decade of the 2000's so his argument is misplaced

By Marsha

You guys are funny.

By Pete

Yes Angela you are right, I stand corrected

By Oliver

Daniel Powter - Bad Day......good song, but the only known song

By Corey

For those that didn't realize it, there was never a ZERO year... for example, 12/31/01 BC ended, and 1/01/01 AD started, so the standard decade is xx01 to xx00, or 1 to 10; not 0 to 9. Or, a decade would be 1971 to 1980; 1981 to 1990; 1991 to 2000; 2001 to 2010. So the 2000's end on 12/31/10. Very simple... so we have 1 more year of the 2000s.

By Rian

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Apparently David Schwimmer has done such a good job laying low that the author of this article missed the fact that he is one of the stars in the Madagascar franchise (Two movies and a TV Holiday special), playing Melman the Giraffe.

Okay, I will give the author that we're not 'seeing' Schwimmer anymore, but in my book being a voice actor in a successful Dreamworks franchise tops a short lived TV series any day.

By dietcherry

Nate is right. The very first year EVER was year number 1, not 0. Therefore, the following century would start January 1st, 101. The new millenium started January 1st, 2001. Got it, kids?

dietcherry - you're close, but don't forget that the first year, A.D., was the year 1, but there were lots of years B.C. So the year 1 was not the first year ever, as you say. The calendar is divided by the birth of Jesus; hey, that's what we celebrated today!

Dietcherry you're wrong the new decade begins in Jan, 1, 2010 and the New Millennium & 21ST Century began Jan, 1, 2000.

By Kmo

Blues, chill. You need to get a life and not reply to every person's post that disagrees with you. As stated above, yes, the new millennium started on the first day of 2001. HOWEVER, I agree with one or two people above who say that a "decade" can start at any point, and the generally accepted idea is that it changes when the third digit of the year changed (i.e. from 2009 to 2010). This just says that this new decade of 1- is starting, not that the "second decade of the new millennium" is starting.

By kd columbus

honeycone: otis redding did not write satisfaction he just covered it and did his own take on the lyrics. its a stones song though. so, largely known fact... you are wrong.

By corpo

Hey Kevin how dare you put an actual talented actress like Sarah Jessica Parker with reality tv losers like Paris Hilton. I guess Pamela Anderson is what you consider real talent of this decade.

By MusicGuru

It really pisses me off that they put Vanessa Carlton on this list.

By MTM

They left Carter and Obama off this list!

I bet Brian Duckleman is kicking himself for leaving American Idol after the first season Ryan Seacrest is pretty big name. I was never a fan of Duckleman so I was happy that he left Idol after the first season.

By lindy

.... what ever happened to the original destiny's child singers???...

one hit wonders?

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