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Could Network New Year's Specials Become Victims Of New York's Transit Strike??

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
At this writing (11 P.M. December 21st), the New York City transit strike is about to enter it's third day.

But if the strike continues past Christmas and until December 31st, could New York be forced to cancel the annual New Year's celebration at Times Square??

An ongoing transit strike could force New York to cancel the festivities since blocking off a dozen (or more) blocks on Broadway in and near Times Square could make an already nightmarish automotive traffic situation even worse.

I am starting this thread to ask how a potential cancellation of the annual Times Square events would affect various network New Year's Eve specials.

I would think the network in the best shape is ABC, since most of Dick Clark's show (the musical performances) are usually taped in mid-December and are already "in the can" (usually, each year's show also features a couple of excerpts from concerts held across the country that evening, often shown on a tape-delay of a few hours).

If the New York events are cancelled, Dick Clark would likely end up making what is shaping up to be his triumphant return to television from another East Coast city with a major New Year's Eve celebration. My guess is that if New York has to cancel their Times Square events due to the transit strike, Dick Clark will be counting down to 2006 from Philadelphia. Not only does Philly have a major New Year's event (with fireworks along the Delaware River waterfront), but Dick Clark first became famous as a local radio and TV personality there. ABC could turn lemons (the cancellation of the Times Square celebration, should the city indeed cancel it) into lemonade (Dick Clark makes his triumphant return to TV by "going home" to the city where he first became a star).

I believe MTV will have a New Year's special with performances live from their studio, which is near Times Square. Even if the outdoor events get cancelled, they could still run the musical performances inside their studios.

After filling-in for Clark last year, Regis Philbin will host his own New year's show on Fox, but I don't know how much of it will be pre-taped. If, like Clark, Philbin's show (other than the live segments) consists of musical performances already taped, Regis could likewise broadcast from another East Coast city with New Year's festivities should the events in Times Square be cancelled.

As far as I know, the show in the worst shape should New York cancel the Times Square events is a 45-minute show (11:30 P.M.-12:15 A.M.) that Carson Daly will host for NBC. I read a few weeks back that all of the musical performances on that show would be done live from a stage in or near Times Square. Should the transit strike force the cancellation of the Times Square events, NBC will be in real trouble. Sure, they could fly Carson Daly to a city on the East Coast where there will be a New Year's celebration, but what could they do with the entertainment?? Could the performers scheduled to appear on that show be moved to Studio 8-H in Rockefeller Center (or perhaps even to Burbank??).

By the way (based on checking listings on Zap 2 It.com), CBS will have no special New Year's Eve programming. With New Year's Eve being a Saturday this year, the network's affiliates, as usual for a Saturday night after 11, will be filling the time. While a few CBS affiliates might broadcast live coverage of a local New Year's celebration in/near their cities, most will probably be showing old movies, off-network reruns, infomercials, or whatever else they usually run on a Saturday at that hour.

Incidentally, it's been several years since David Letterman has done a New Year's Eve show; the last few years when New Year's Eve has been on a weeknight, CBS has broadcast a Letterman rerun.

Hopefully, for all concerned, the transit strike will end well before New Year's Eve, so the city of New York will not need to make an agonizing decision as to whether to cancel the Times Square festivities.
 
> At this writing (11 P.M. December 21st), the New York City
> transit strike is about to enter it's third day.
>
> But if the strike continues past Christmas and until
> December 31st, could New York be forced to cancel the annual
> New Year's celebration at Times Square??
>
> An ongoing transit strike could force New York to cancel the
> festivities since blocking off a dozen (or more) blocks on
> Broadway in and near Times Square could make an already
> nightmarish automotive traffic situation even worse.
>
> I am starting this thread to ask how a potential
> cancellation of the annual Times Square events would affect
> various network New Year's Eve specials.
>
> I would think the network in the best shape is ABC, since
> most of Dick Clark's show (the musical performances) are
> usually taped in mid-December and are already "in the can"
> (usually, each year's show also features a couple of
> excerpts from concerts held across the country that evening,
> often shown on a tape-delay of a few hours).
>
> If the New York events are cancelled, Dick Clark would
> likely end up making what is shaping up to be his triumphant
> return to television from another East Coast city with a
> major New Year's Eve celebration. My guess is that if New
> York has to cancel their Times Square events due to the
> transit strike, Dick Clark will be counting down to 2006
> from Philadelphia. Not only does Philly have a major New
> Year's event (with fireworks along the Delaware River
> waterfront), but Dick Clark first became famous as a local
> radio and TV personality there. ABC could turn lemons (the
> cancellation of the Times Square celebration, should the
> city indeed cancel it) into lemonade (Dick Clark makes his
> triumphant return to TV by "going home" to the city where he
> first became a star).


He could host NYRE from First Night Wilmington (Delaware). :)

Seriously, how much notice of a Times Square cancellation would Clark/ABC need to accomplish the logistics of moving Dick and his crew to Philly? If the NYC celebration is cancelled Saturday afternoon, would Clark be ready in Philly by 11:30 Saturday night?

ixnay
 
If anything like this occurs the solution for ABC is simple. They are owned by the Mpuse...why not celebrate with him at Walt Disney World in Orlando? <P ID="signature">______________
In Harmony
From the Bop Shop,
Brian "BD Bopper"</P>
 
Ixnay wrote:

> Seriously, how much notice of a Times Square cancellation
> would Clark/ABC need to accomplish the logistics of moving
> Dick and his crew to Philly? If the NYC celebration is
> cancelled Saturday afternoon, would Clark be ready in Philly
> by 11:30 Saturday night?

Actually, the first part of Dick Clark's special will air from 10 to 11 P.M. EST. It's my understanding Clark will only appear twice during that first hour: at the start (likely to thank viewers for their get-well wishes) and at the end (to urge viewers to stay tuned for the second part of the show, beginning at 11:30 EST). Ryan Seacrest will host the rest of that first hour.

If the New York celebration gets cancelled on the afternoon of December 31st and ABC were to move Clark (and Seacrest) to Philadelphia (given Clark's history with that city, I think it's the most likely "alternate origination point" should the Times Square celebrations be cancelled due to an ongoing transit strike), I could see ABC going as far as renting a helicopter to fly them to the alternate origination point. A crew and equipment would be set-up at the alternate origination point as a standby (although if the Times Square events were to go as scheduled, and again assuming Philly was the backup location, the Philadelphia production crew could shoot footage of the fireworks over the Delaware River which could get included in the program).

Let's hope the transit strike ends before New York has to make such a decision.
 
Actually on second thought Philly would be more appropriate for Dick Clark. Then how about at least somebody from when Bandstand actually was shot from Philly. How about Dion? Not doing something he did back then but some of his new material. He's one of the only acts from that time that tries to stay fresh. <P ID="signature">______________
In Harmony
From the Bop Shop,
Brian "BD Bopper"</P>
 
> Actually, the first part of Dick Clark's special will air
> from 10 to 11 P.M. EST. It's my understanding Clark will
> only appear twice during that first hour: at the start
> (likely to thank viewers for their get-well wishes) and at
> the end (to urge viewers to stay tuned for the second part
> of the show, beginning at 11:30 EST). Ryan Seacrest will
> host the rest of that first hour.
>

[stage voice]I didn't know that! [/stage voice]. I hate being scooped.

> If the New York celebration gets cancelled on the afternoon
> of December 31st and ABC were to move Clark (and Seacrest)
> to Philadelphia (given Clark's history with that city, I
> think it's the most likely "alternate origination point"
> should the Times Square celebrations be cancelled due to an
> ongoing transit strike), I could see ABC going as far as
> renting a helicopter to fly them to the alternate
> origination point. A crew and equipment would be set-up at
> the alternate origination point as a standby (although if
> the Times Square events were to go as scheduled, and again
> assuming Philly was the backup location, the Philadelphia
> production crew could shoot footage of the fireworks over
> the Delaware River which could get included in the program).
>
>
> Let's hope the transit strike ends before New York has to
> make such a decision.
>

It just might. Per http://wcbs880.com/topstories/local_story_356112222.html .

ixnay
 
A Moot Point---Thankfully!!

Transit workers in New York have decided (I'm writing this at 2:35 P.M. December 22nd) to end their strike.

According to a report broadcast on the online stream of New York radio station WINS-1010, the transit union's 43-member executive board voted 36-5 (two abstained) to end the strike.

So Dick Clark's triumphant return to television will indeed take place in Times Square.

All appears to be right with the world.
 
No. As of 2:30 when I got home and switched on my television there was the usual coverage of the transit strike and there was news of the strikers returning to work as soon as possible. The transit system should be up an runnung by tomorrow evening's commute.

If I did not know that news, I still would have high doubts that the strike would last that long.

Things should be back to normal by the weekend.

New Year's Rockin' Eve is on!
 
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