2001 is fast receding into the mists of our collective past, yet many questions still linger over how the year will be remembered, and judged, by posterity. Of course, the year's tragic and momentous events have left their scar on history, and it's certain that there are figures from the last year whose legacies will live on and loom over future generations. But the real question is: where does Kelly Ripa factor in to all this?

To answer this perplexing query, one must turn to that ultimate arbiter of noteworthiness: People magazine. Thankfully, rather than sprinkling profiles of the year's most inspirational, awe-inspiring, and, aw shucks, intriguing people throughout several issues, People packs the year's 25 most intriguing personalities into one double-size, year-ending, staff vacation-facilitating issue. And, even more thankfully, we at Fametracker have condensed that two-day toilet read into a handy one-or-so page chart, for your quick and easy digestion and disposal.

And so, here, in no particular order, is our somewhat belated look at People magazine's 25 Most Intriguing People of 2001:

1. Nicole Kidman

Why she's intriguing: Divorced her famous, tiny husband; starred in two movies

Special points for: Resilience. This is the theme of all the year-end Nicole Kidman coverage: Resilience. Which, in Hollywood, can roughly be translated as: Went toe-to-toe with Pat Kingsley-created ex-husband, Tom Cruise, and is not only still breathing from all the right holes, but actually had a hit or two, which is a hit or two more than she's had the last decade or so.

Mitigating factor: It's Nicole Kidman! Subtracting "is married to Tom Cruise" from her celebrity dossier makes her less interesting, not more -- doesn't it? We can think of a lot of words for Nicole Kidman, but "intriguing" has never been one of them. "Redheaded Mimi Rogers," on the other hand, are now three of them.

2. George W. Bush

Why he's intriguing: He's the president in this time of near-unprecedented turmoil

Special points for: 90% approval rating

Mitigating factor: Is not actually the real President, but is third in command behind Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. (Dick Cheney, the ostensible Vice-President, has disappeared altogether. Now that's intriguing!) Also, Bush continues to insist on using words like "misunderestimate," except now no one can step up and tell him he's a moron.

3. The Firefighter

Why they're intriguing: Hey, they're heroes

Special points for: Heroes don't really need special points, do they?

Mitigating factor: Before 9/11, was anyone really anti-firefighter?

4. Julia Roberts

Why she's intriguing: Now legally rules Hollywood

Special points for: Running through men like she's sand and they're fingers

Mitigating factor: As long as there are video stores, we can never fully forget I Love Trouble

5. Mariah Carey

Reason she's intriguing: Went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

Special points for: Glitter!

Mitigating factor: Cuckoo celebs aren't usually that intriguing. And we notice Anne Heche didn't make the list. What? Jesus's sister doesn't pique your interest?

6. Gary Condit

Reason he's intriguing: Well, he's not really

Special points for: Personifying both America's pre-9/11 obsession with trash scandal and America's post-9/11 shame at previous obsession with trash scandal

Mitigating factor: Probably not guilty, unfortunately

7. Barry Bonds

Reason he's intriguing: Hit a lot of home runs

Special points for: Being a notorious prick

Mitigating factor: Given the current state of baseball, his record could well be broken within two years by a one-armed child.

8. John Edward

Reason he's intriguing: Apparently, he talks to dead people or something. What can we say? He's not so big up here in Canada

Special points for: Not being big in Canada

Mitigating factor: If you are intrigued by a man who hosts a show in which he channels the spirits of people's dead relatives, please stop reading this now. There are so many other websites that are more appropriate for your areas of interest.

9. Dennis Tito

Reason he's intriguing: First space tourist

Special points for: It's fun to say "Tito"!

Mitigating factor: Would have been ten times more intriguing if, instead of just a rich guy who paid his way up into space, he was a rich guy who paid his way up into space, caught a strange space virus, and was held in solitary quarantine for the rest of his life.

10. Kim Cattrall

Reason she's intriguing: Because America's national media is on a relentless campaign to stuff Sex and the City down the throats of every man, woman, and child on the continent.

Special points for: Not being Sarah Jessica Parker, last year's instrument of choice for said campaign

Mitigating factor: Yet another older actress praised because she's "still sexy," as if this is some kind of feminist triumph, when in fact her face has been tucked in more times than a kid visiting Grandma

11. Jonathan Franzen

Why he's intriguing: May well have written the Great American Novel

Special points for: Pissing off Oprah

Mitigating factor: What? People magazine isn't known for peddling schmaltz? All of a sudden Mr. High Art doesn't mind a plug in the official magazine of the supermarket check-out line?

12. Lisa Beamer

Why she's intriguing: She's the widow of a man killed in the 9/11 attacks

Special points for: Appearing on Oprah

Mitigating factor: Would be more intriguing if she'd accepted Oprah's invitation, then told her local radio host that she never watches the show because she finds it too schmaltzy. Also, Larry King called her an "extraordinary lady," but then again, Larry King calls everyone an extraordinary lady. Larry King would call Melanie Griffith an extraordinary lady.

13. James Thomson

Why he's intriguing: First researcher to reproduce embryonic stem cells

Special points for: Touching off a massive moral controversy

Mitigating factor: Boring! What's Kelly Ripa up to?

14. Kelly Ripa

Why she's intriguing: Stepped in as the new co-host of that Regis Philbin morning show

Special points for: Sassitude!

Mitigating factor: If there really had been a sea change in American's attitudes to the frivolity of pre-9/11 life, this is exactly the kind of show that would be nuked. Also, may be leaving for her own show! You go, girl!

15. Condoleezza Rice

Why she's intriguing: First black female National Security Advisor

Special points for: Condoleezza -- say it loud and there's music playing. Say it soft and it's almost like praying.

Mitigating factor: "She works out to Led Zeppelin, cooks a mean shrimp gumbo and loves to shop." If that's intriguing, than People missed a whole bunch of fascinating folk in the personals of the local free arts weekly.

16. Katie Couric

Why she's intriguing: She's the face America loves to wake up to!

Special points for: Being really fucking rich

Mitigating factor: It's only a matter of time before she's hosting an afternoon show called Katie, sitting in an armchair with a look of concern on her face and her hand on the knee of a guest on the verge of tears.

17. Reese Witherspoon

Why she's intriguing: Starred in surprise gumball hit, Legally Blonde

Special points for: Not actually blonde

Mitigating factor: If you can sit through all of Legally Blonde twice, you deserve to wear a crown

18. Diana Krall

Why she's intriguing: America needs one jazz musician to love, so it can feel sophisticated and grown up. No, Kenny G doesn't count.

Special points for: She's pretty! And she can sing! And it's jazz!

Mitigating factor: Jazz divas used to bring people to tears and swear and drink heavily and go nuts and die of a heroin overdose. Now they provide the background music while you're waiting for the hygienist to come back with a new spit cup.

19. Mel Brooks

Why he's intriguing: The Producers

Special points for: Redeeming himself for Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Mitigating factor: Sure, it's a big hit. But most people have never seen this show. Most people will never see this show. Most people in New York can't even get in to see this show. We don't live in Indiana, or Idaho, or Minnesota, but we can't help wondering what people who do live there make of the New York media's bizarre fixation on this musical. After all, it's not like they can make a movie version of it to roll out to middle America.

20. Harry Potter

Why he's intriguing: He's the magical British moppet who's stolen the hearts of the world!

Special points for: Giving Richard Harris more work

Mitigating factor: What ever happened to that woman who claimed she'd written those Larry Potter books? Did they pay her off? Or kill her off?

21. Prince Harry

Why he's intriguing: He's the other magical British moppet who's stolen the hearts of the world!

Special points for: "This year it was Harry's turn to scrape the ceilings at an even 6 feet -- with no sign of stopping. Says a friend: 'He's like a beanstalk.'"

Mitigating factor: In an effort to include at least one Royal, People resorted to young Prince Harry, even though nothing of note happened to him last year except that he grew a bit and displayed a character that the magazine calls "mischievously impish." As opposed, we guess, to being earnestly impish. Now that would be intriguing.

22. David Letterman

Why he's intriguing: Helped the nation laugh again after 9/11

Special points for: Crankiness

Mitigating factor: Is described as possessing a "flip, the-world-is- but-a-toy- xylophone-I-play- with-my-funny-bone air of detachment." Oh, that. My cousin has that exact same air.

23. The cast of Friends

Why they're intriguing: When America needed comfort, Friends lived up to its promise to "be there for you"

Special points for: Entertaining weight fluctuations

Mitigating factor: Aging thirtysomethings are less funny than aging twentysomethings, but still funnier than Ed or Fools Rush In

24. Madonna

Why she's intriguing: Finally tied the knot and became a mother. Well, okay, she'd already been married and was already a mother, but still.

Special points for: Being so damn controversial! Talk about mischievously impish!

Mitigating factor: Someday, future anthropologists will look back and conclude that our society followed a calendar based on the cycles of the times when it's okay to think Madonna is cool again.

25. Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Why he's intriguing: Because he was America's mayor

Special points for: Going out on top

Mitigating factor: Before 9/11, was anyone really anti-Giuliani? Oh, wait a second. Never mind.