The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, December 24, 2010 2 coverstory New Year’s nation Networks share party programming The event will comprise the usual live performances from New York as well as taped ones from Los Angeles and will continue well into the early hours with a post ball- drop party, which will feature additional musical acts to keep the night going. Also reporting from The Carson Daly will host NBC’s New Year’s Eve party By Isabel Jarvo TV Media Square. With all the lights, the music, the crowds and, of course, the lowering of the fa- mous ball at the stroke of mid- night, revellers usher in the newest year with all the pomp and circumstance it deserves. For those who cannot make it all the way to the Big Apple, three major networks are ready to help partiers let loose from the comfort of home. Viewers can join Dick Clark in his annual celebra- tion, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest,” on ABC. At the same time, the peacock net- work offers “NBC’s New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly.” But it doesn’t all go down I in New York. Fox offers a western alternative as Nancy O’Dell hosts “New Year’s Eve Live” from Las Vegas. f there is one place to be on New Year’s Eve, it has to be New York City’s Times While Clark might be syn- onymous with New Year’s cel- ebrations, having first hosted his namesake special in 1972, his co-host, Ryan Seacrest, has made a name for himself hosting another beloved American television institu- tion, “American Idol” on Fox. Though they are a few de- cades apart in age, the host- ing duo share a surprisingly similar resume. Both have worked exten- sively in radio broadcasting and television, but the com- parison runs deeper. Both have been hosts of a long list of specials and award cere- monies, as well as game shows, contests, talk shows and assorted variety series. With such similar back- grounds, it seems only fitting that Clark is said to have hand-picked Seacrest to one day replace him as sole host of “Rockin’ Eve” when the living legend finally retires. Seacrest joined the special in 2005, taking on a majority of the hosting duties as Clark was still recovering from a de- bilitating stroke suffered in 2004. This year, they’ve brought in another -- comedian/ac- tress Jenny McCarthy -- to help Seacrest report from Times Square, while Clark will hold down the fort in the ABC studio. As the position has been held mostly by musi- cians and actors in the past years, McCarthy’s co-hosting turn is likely to bring a little additional humor to the party. ”Jenny is a great addition to this year’s show,” said Lar- ry Klein, producer of the spe- cials. “She is funny, relatable and high energy, and she will be great with our New Year’s crowd, Ryan and Dick.” Seacrest has also vocalized his support, saying: “I was re- minded how great Jenny is at live broadcasting when she recently stopped by my radio show. That day, with Dick’s blessing, I invited her to join us in Times Square.” City That Never Sleeps is late- night funnyman Carson Daly. First hitting the air as a host of MTV’s teen hit “Total Re- quest Live,” Daly has been hosting his late-night talk show, “Last Call With Carson Daly,” on NBC since 2002. His New Year’s special has been airing since 2003. Daly’s special had the dubi- ous honor of being caught in a television political crossfire this past year. When Conan O’Brien took over for Jay Leno to host “The Tonight Show,” the network included a clause in O’Brien’s contract allowing them to shift “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m. to ac- commodate “New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly.” Eventually, NBC tried to make this change permanent, effectively shov- ing the host out of the way to make room for Leno’s newest nightly venture, “The Jay Leno Show.” As we all know, that didn’t turn out so well. While Daly, Seacrest and McCarthy will be shivering in New York’s biting winter, veter- an host Nancy O’Dell will be enjoying the heat of Nevada. ”I am so excited to ring in New Year’s Eve from Las Ve- gas on Fox,” said O’Dell. “This experience will be an anoma- ly of sorts for me. For more than 10 years I’ve missed the countdown to midnight be- cause I’ve had to be up so early on New Year’s Day to host a parade. So I am beyond happy to see 2011 come in and to celebrate with the na- tion. You’re going to see a very enthusiastic host.” Chirstopher’s Coins 2 x 2 hollywoodQ&A By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Is it true that Pat Sajak had a talk show ? A: Not just one. Game show great Pat Sajak has proven that he knows his way around a game show wheel, but he’s been given quite a few spins at the talk show wheel, too, without much success. The aptly named “The Pat Sajak Show” premiered on CBS in 1989 and was gone a little more than a year later. The for- mat -- monologue, guests and then a musical or comedy act to wrap up -- was pretty similar to that of Johnny Carson’s show, his direct competition over at NBC and a longtime king of late night. Sajak returned to the game-hosting game afterward, and made that his full-time job again, this time doing appear- ances on other people’s shows for variety. He hadn’t abandoned his talk-show dreams entirely, though, and by 2003 he was giving it another go, albeit with a more modest time commitment. He premiered “Pat Sajak Weekend” in 2003, a Sunday night chat show on an upstart cable channel called Fox News. This time he was pulled after just a few months, though, and he hasn’t tried again since. Have a question? E-mail us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. Crazy Tom's 2 x 3