NOTEBOOK

By LESLIE DICKSTEIN, TAM GRAY, NADYA LABI, JAMIE MALANOWSKI, MICHELE ORECKLIN, ALAIN SANDERS AND JOEL STEIN

THE WINNERS & LOSERS OF 1997

[WINNERS]

ELLEN DEGENERES Some year: leaves the closet, raises her ratings, finds a girlfriend and is hugged by Al Gore. Too bad the show is still weak

MARS PATHFINDER Live pictures from Mars. Another amazing triumph for good old American nerd-how

DA BULLS Neither Alan Greenspan nor an October shudder halted momentum. And Michael Jordan's team also did well

TONY BLAIR The man led a Labour landslide, then helped humanize the royal family

HANK HILL From the creator of Beavis and Butt-head comes a middle-class hero. What in the hell?

GEORGE SOROS Speculation has its rewards, one of which is saving the world for democracy. His latest gift: $500 million to Russia.

MICHAEL MOORE Mississippi A.G. led the posse that reined in Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man

SISTER WENDY Americans love their nuns--singing nuns, flying nuns, even television nuns who discuss sex and Botticelli

LOUISE WOODWARD The tension, the turmoil, the despair, the reprieve. What a tale! Too bad it was real

BILL CLINTON A year of embarrassments, but people like him. And he has a new puppy!

[LOSERS]

MARV ALBERT The punishment was apt, but why lose his job? You mean he's not worthy to describe the play of Latrell Sprewell?

MIR All America knows at least one Russian word, and it makes us chuckle. Is that so bad?

THE BOULDER AUTHORITIES Maybe there will never be an arrest in the Ramsey case. Should Ace Ventura get involved?

RON CAREY The reformer who was a big winner in the UPS strike no longer looks like a reformer at all

FRED THOMPSON His hearings promised much and delivered little. Forget the presidency. Can he still go back to Hollywood?

CAMILLA PARKER-BOWLES On the verge of recapturing her true love, tragedy strikes. No soap opera would dare make a character as unlucky as she

WILLIAM WELD Some people can't avoid fighting with Jesse Helms. This guy quit a good job to provoke it

REDUX Great for taking off pounds, but heart-valve damage is a lot to pay for cheekbones

JAMIE TARSES ABC let this exec twist in the wind, but she got revenge--those stupid yellow ads were hers!

AL GORE "No controlling legal authority." Buddhist monks. Toasting Jiang. Oliver Barrett IV never had problems like these

THE YEAR IN BEEF

Prospect of mad-cow disease in the U.S.

McDonald's sales down

Beef spokesman Robert Mitchum dies

J.F.K. Jr. appears nude in George

Hudson Beef sold after E coli bacteria is found

FDA approves irradiation of beef

THE YEAR IN TOUPEE

Senator William Roth of Delaware chairs hearings exposing IRS abuse

Marv Albert cops a plea

Burt Reynolds wins award for his work in Boogie Nights

THE YEAR IN FERTILITY AND AGING 70S TV STARS

Scots clone a sheep

Suzanne Somers' diet book falls off the Publishers Weekly chart

63-year-old woman reports birth

77-year-old Tony Randall announced 27-year-old wife is pregnant--again

Farrah Fawcett appears in Playboy

Septuplets born

The Tony Danza Show is canceled

CHARLES SPENCER'S YEAR

Delivers moving oration at sister Diana's funeral

Ex-mistress supports ex-wife's bid for divorce

THE YEAR IN WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE

Madeleine Albright confirmed Secretary of State

Pamela Harriman dies

Katharine Graham's memoir a best seller

Queen responds to Di tragedy, but late

Clare Boothe Luce's LSD diaries published

Don Johnson dates 60-year-old woman

THE YEAR IN SHORT-LIVED IDEAS

Boxer Riddick Bowe joins the Marines

Kenneth Starr to go to Pepperdine

Jerry Springer becomes news commentator

G.O.P. legislators to dump Newt

Hideki Irabu, Yankee star

NUMBERS

1.4 billion: Estimated number of hits on www.ClubLove.com an adult entertainment Website, in 1997

91 million: Estimated number of hits on www.Whitehouse.gov in 1997

18: Reported number of people in the U.S. bitten by sharks in 1997

3: Reported number of people in the U.S. bitten by celebrities in 1997

684: Number of minutes the three network evening news shows devoted to the Oklahoma City bombing trials (since Jan. 1)

344: Number of minutes the three network evening news shows devoted to the death of Princess Diana (since Aug. 31)

$216 million: Estimated production costs for the movies on UPI's list of the 10 best of 1997

$571 million: Estimated production costs for the movies on UPI's list of the 10 worst of the year

Sources: Internet Entertainment Group; the White House; Int'l Shark Attack File; The Tyndall Report; UPI; Box Office; Daily Variety; Entertainment Weekly; Hollywood Reporter; L.A. Times; Sony Pictures Classics