Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Happy New Year: What's on TV?

Not everyone wants to be out celebrating on New Year's Eve. Don't worry; there's plenty to watch if you're staying in.

NBC: No "Jay Leno Show"; it's pre-empted for Carson Daly's annual extravaganza. Daly, usually seen in the wee hours of the morning, will get a chunk of prime time, kicking off at 10 PM, taking a half-hour break for local news, and then resuming at 11:30 PM. He'll feature musical guests Rihanna, Jay-Z and Green Day, as well as a performance from the cast of the Broadway musical "Hair."

ABC: "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest" will ring in the New Year with a massive three-hour show with Jennifer Lopez, Daughtry, the Black Eyed Peas, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Keri Hilson, Colbie Caillat, Orianthi and Robin Thicke. "Dancing with the Stars" finalist Melissa Rycroft will report live from Times Square, while Black Eyed Pea Fergie is the Las Vegas correspondent. The program kicks off at 10 PM, with a break at 11 PM for the nightly news. And, yes, Clark himself will be on hand for the midnight ball drop.

CBS: As usual, the Eye Network skips the festivities. Catch a David Letterman rerun from November with Robert Pattinson, stupid human tricks and musical guest Ray Davies, followed by a rebroadcast of Craig Ferguson with Morgan Freeman and Overtone.

FOX: If you're counting the days 'til "American Idol" returns in January, you'll want to join Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta for "Billboard New Year's Eve Live," starting at 11 PM. They'll be joined by Sean Kingston and Carmen Electra.

PBS: What's with all of this newfangled "rock music"? Turn it down! And, kids, get off my lawn!!! Public TV offers a "Live from Lincoln Center" special, "New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: Hampson, Gershwin, Copland & Broadway," with baritone Thomas Hampson, from 10 PM-midnight.

E!: "Chelsea Lately" offers a new program with guest Snoop Dogg and panelists Josh Wolf, Chris Franjola and Arden Myrin.

CNN: Despite, or maybe because of, the scandal she caused last year, Kathy Griffin will be back on the air this year with Anderson Cooper. (If you want to relive the magic of 2008, Bravo will rebroadcast the episode of Griffin's "My Life on the D List" that features the incident, along with a slew of Griffin stand-up specials.)

FOX News Channel: It's a red state New Year's Eve with country singer Lee Greenwood, U.K. pop star turned Vegas crooner Matt Goss, and the usual FOX suspects, including Bill O'Reilly, Shepard Smith, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren.

MTV: After broadcasting a live show starring Miley Cyrus last year, MTV is skipping the festivities this time around and will show a "Top 9 of '09" countdown at 11 PM, featuring "the year's biggest stories." My guess: heavy on the Michael Jackson and "Twilight," not so much on Afghanistan and health care reform efforts. Over on VH1, Chris Jericho will host "100 Most Shocking Music Moments."

1 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    And there's so much more on TV that night and the rest of the weekend...check out this list of 235 TV Series & Movie Marathons and Specials for New Year's Eve Weekend:

    http://tvtango.com/news/detail/id/136