Big Picture
Good Morning, Nicki! Plus, Daniel Radcliffe works his magic and Bruce Jenner blasts to the past. Get the latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (698)
- Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Photos Galore! New Pics From Their Post-Twilight Flicks! (606)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (504)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (398)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (396)
- Twitter Name Change: Introducing @Ted_Casablanca (267)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
- Morning Mail! Céline Dion Talks Whitney Houston's Tragic Death (222)
Top 10 Stories
- Jennifer Lopez Tweets, Then Deletes, Steamy Casper Smart Shot—Check It Out!
- Bobby Brown Rejoins New Edition Tour—Which Touches Down Near Whitney Houston's Funeral
- Gary Busey's Stuff Detailed for Bankruptcy Filing: VHS Tapes, Tepees and Tambourines
- Whitney Houston Remembered by Sparkle Producer: "Almost a Magic About Her"
- Miley Cyrus "Better Watch" Hunger Games, Says Liam Hemsworth
- Colbert Report Mystery Shutdown: Production Suspended Due to "Unforeseen Circumstances"
- Kevin Costner? Aretha Franklin? Bobby Brown? Latest Details on Whitney Houston's Funeral
- Diddy Remembers Whitney Houston: "She Was So Full of Life"
- Royal Feud Shocker! Sean Penn Slams Prince William's "Unthinkable" Deployment
- Real Housewives' Michaele Salahi & Journey's Neal Schon: Tareq Salahi Is the One Tormenting Us!
Fashion Police
Our Partners
Dick Clark's Ball-Dropping Bummer
The eternal teenager's perennial holiday special, Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve (serving shut-ins since 1972), has been asked by ABC to take a backseat to millennium madness.
Imagine: No Kool and the Gang. No American Bandstand-esque countdown parties. No 90 minutes of fun, confetti and cheeseball celebrity guest hosts.
Instead, Clark will be around for a mere 20- to 30-minute TV segment, counting down the ball drop in New York's Times Square.
The impetus behind the format change? No room. ABC's pouring $5 million into a live, 24-hour, news-based millennial special, hosted by Peter Jennings. The night is so jam-packed, Rockin' New Year's Eve isn't being allowed to rock out.
"Dick's happy that he's going to be in Times Square, as usual. He's viewed as Mr. New Year, and he's glad to be there. This is a programming decision that we have no control over," says Paul Shefrin, Clark's publicist for the ABC millennium coverage. "Is Dick jumping up and down ecstatic that there's no show? Of course not."
For its part, the network thinks a full-blown news program is the only option for a milestone such as the year 2000.
"If all we did was cover fireworks and balls dropping, it wouldn't be a very useful enterprise," Tim Yellin, executive producer of ABC's Y2K coverage, told Associated Press. "But if we use it as a chance to take a snapshot of the world at this particular time--where we've been and where we're going--then we're journalists again. And we view this as a huge journalistic opportunity."
ABC's night will hardly without entertainment, though. Some may even argue the stellar lineup crushes Clark's usual fare. The network is set to televise worldwide music performances from the likes of Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, The network also will air live news reports from locations around the globe--with Diane Sawyer in New Zealand, Barbara Walters in Paris, Charles Gibson in London, Cokie Roberts in Rome, Sam Donaldson in Washington, D.C., and Connie Chung in Las Vegas.
Other networks also will be vying for New Year's Eve ratings. Among the highlights: CBS is taking the entertainment-based route with a David Letterman Y2K special, an hourlong music special, and live coverage of the White House's millennium gala, hosted by Will Smith and featuring a Steven Spielberg-produced documentary on the 1900s. Fox will be airing a Brit Hume- and Paula Zahn-hosted news program, featuring live entertainment and breaking news reports from New Orleans, Miami, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Roswell, New Mexico, New York, London, Rome and Moscow. NBC is planning a news-based program as well, but complete details aren't yet available. For those still reeling from the Dick Clark news, don't lose hope.
"What's going to happen a year from now? Dick's going to be back doing New Year's Rockin' Eve," says Shefrin. "It's just one particular year that ABC decided to take on this huge project, and as such, it changes things--plain and simple."
0 Comments
Now loading...