Instead of analyzing the year that was or forecasting the year that will soon be, let's stay in the here and now to talk about a man whose every action seems to shake the foundations of popular culture as we know it. A man instrumental in shepherding that culture into its darkest age…and who now carries the torch of freedom lighting our way out of the shadows. A man who still found time to date Britney Spears in all her pre-Federline glory. That man, of course, is Justin Timberlake--pop idol, teen pin-up and herald of a new era in digital content.

Hear me out.

First let's go back to February 2, 2004, and Janet Jackson's notorious Super Bowl halftime wardrobe malfunction--almost certainly the defining pop culture moment of the decade. For starters, no other television event more succinctly validated the significance of digital video recording technology: To this day, Jackson's fashion faux pas remains the most replayed moment in TiVo history. More important, the event set in motion an FCC crackdown on broadcast decency standards that also continues to this day, severely limiting the creative latitude of terrestrial television and radio content. And whom do we have to blame for all this? Jackson's duet partner Justin Timberlake, who ripped the costume from the R&B diva's chest in the first place.

Fast-forward to December 16, 2006. Timberlake is now a guest star on NBC's long-running sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live," and appears alongside cast regular Andy Samberg in a three-minute digital film spotlighting an unbelievably raunchy holiday song performed by a fictional pop singing duo. NBC censors bleeped an offending word in the song's chorus no fewer than 16 times, but almost immediately after the network broadcast concluded, NBC posted an uncensored version of the short (variously titled "Special Treat in a Box" and "Special Christmas Box") on its NBC.com website as well as on video aggregator site YouTube. In doing so, "SNL" became the first scripted network comedy to employ the Internet as a means of circumventing the FCC, which maintains no jurisdiction over online content, further cementing the web as a safe haven for creative thought and expression. And once again, there was Timberlake at the center of it all, pointing the way out of the mess he created almost three years earlier.

It can't be mere coincidence that just days after "Special Treat" hit the web, "SNL" became the latest Hollywood property to enter the mobile content market, announcing [1] a deal to bring classic and contemporary clips to Cingular Wireless subscribers. Given their accessibility, brevity and static visual sensibilities, the old "SNL" skits should play reasonably well on handsets, assuming anyone still wants to revisit old Church Lady sketches. Far more exciting is the news that "SNL" is also planning to produce original mobile content.

Whatever you think of the current "SNL" cast and its collective skill at live sketch comedy--and frankly, I find the program almost unwatchable in its present incarnation--there's no denying its expertise with pre-taped content. Robert Smigel's weekly "TV Funhouse" cartoons are consistently hilarious and savagely topical, and just a year ago another Samberg music video parody, "Lazy Sunday," emerged as a viral phenomenon and one of YouTube's first breakout hits. Producing material for the mobile web will afford "SNL" similar opportunities to shine. The program has been in a creative tailspin for far too long to blame the FCC for its downturn, but the possibilities of mobile broadcasting, both as an uncharted creative medium and as a venue free from government censorship, could inspire the series to return to the cutting-edge comedy of its past.

That a program titled "Saturday Night Live" might experience a renaissance by creating pre-taped content available 24/7 on mobile handsets is a strange twist of fate indeed. But then again, looking back on N'Sync, who would have guessed Justin Timberlake would become the most influential man in contemporary media? I would have figured Lance Bass for sure… - Jason [2]

P.S. FierceMobileContent is entering a brief winter hibernation and will not publish next week--nobody do anything newsworthy, OK? Publication will resume on Tuesday, January 2, 2007. Have a happy and safe new year.