2012...two traditions no longer. Telethon and New Years Rockin' Eve.

[Board Editor]

MOVED: TIO: 2012...two traditions no longer. Telethon and New Years Rockin' Eve.

Some posts in this thread have been moved to Take It Outside.

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[unitron]

Regardless, isn't ABC going to air a pre recorded message or two of Dick Clark wishing us all a Happy New year? (with no year stamped, and most likely repeated year after year...)

And each year the hair gets thicker and darker and the face gets younger and smoother...

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

At least there will be a "New year's Rockin' Eve" this year.

After Dick Clark's death, I thought ABC might dump it, and replace it with reruns of "Nightline" and Jimmy Kimmel.

To answer FormerAA, CBS-owned WBZ-4 in Boston has broadcast for several years a local New Year's Eve special consisting of coverage of the city's First Night events, including Midnight fireworks. I don't know for sure, but I think WBZ will be doing so again this year......unless parent company CBS convinces David Letterman to do a live edition of his show on New Year's Eve with a live shot of the ball drop in Times Square.

 

[blackgold]

I'd like to see if Al Pierson brings back the Royal Canadians to TV this year. If he can, it'll be the biggest coup ever!

 

[Ultimajock]

There were only two more "Guy Lombardo New Year's Eve" shows after his death. By 1979/1980 CBS had pushed the Royal Canadians out the door for a new "Happy New Year America" broadcast which itself ran for another 16 years.

The main draw for "New Year's Rockin' Eve" was not Ryan Seacrest, it was Dick Clark. With Clark gone there is an opening for NBC to revamp their coverage or for CBS to restart their coverage and probably cut deeply into Seacrest's numbers. Play their cards right, and one of the other networks could own New Year's the way ABC has owned it since Guy Lombardo's death.

...it's worth noting that Ben Grauer, who had been the Times Square reporter for NBC-TV from 1951 to 1969, and then on Lombardo's CBS specials through 1976, also died in 1977 (about six months before Lombardo). Wikipedia says Grauer is still heard on the airwaves every week to this day, as the announcer who shouts "Here it is!" at the beginning of Harry Shearer's syndicated radio series Le Show (although that clip actually sounds to me more like another old NBC Radio legend, Ed Herilhy, than it does Grauer). Didn't Merv Griffin try his hand at producing and hosting a New Year's Eve show for a couple of years as well?...

 

[vchimpanzee]

I miss Guy Lumbardo

Me too. That's the only kind of music that seems appropriate on the occasion, and it's nice to hear in clips of the old specials. At least they keep his song and probably his version at midnight.

 

[crainbebo]

And here's a clip of 1976-1977 CBS New Year's Eve with Guy Lombardo, the last he would do, plus the last with Ben Grauer. Different people were used as reporters and announcers for '77-78 and '78-79, however the Royal Canadians performed Auld Lang Syne at 12:00 ET, but in 1979-80, yes they pushed away the Royal Canadians.
I think Daisy Duke was the host in 1979-80, and again 1980-81, before Donna Mills did a year or two starting in '81-'82.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBD1yHHgaEk

-crainbebo

 

[anotherguyTN]

That sounds like what CBS used to do with their Thanksgiving parades where they would use people from their top shows as commentators, usually at that time from their nighttime soaps or cop shows. Doing that on the New Year's Eve shows made more sense since that was mainly an adult audience. Doing that with the Thanksgiving parades never made much sense to me since a big part of the audience was kids.

 

[blackgold]

Okay, let's petition CBS to bring the Royal Canadians back! (Since Channel 4 carries their local First Night show, we can have TV 38 to carry it here in Boston.)

 

[1069_KIFR]

CBS had a Paul Shafer News Year Eve Special! What happened there?

 

[crainbebo]

I think Paul Shafer did only one NYE special IIRC, and that was 1994-95's version of "Happy New Year America" (was that the last edition of the show?)

-crainbebo