TV Rings Out the Old, Rings In the New : Celebrations: Eleven New Year’s Eve galas, twelve bowl games, nine marathons are on tap.
In what may well by the most television-oriented New Year’s Eve and Day, broadcast and cable networks and syndicators will present 11 New Year’s Eve celebrations, 12 bowl games--including eight on New Year’s Day--and nine marathons. Also, three networks and three local stations will air 13 telecasts of the 104th Rose Parade, which features actress Angela Lansbury as Grand Marshal.
New Year’s Eve Celebrations: Nearly every style of music and demographic group will be represented from 7 p.m. on.
The Public Broadcasting Service will present the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with singers Cheryl Studer, Kathleen Battle and Frederica von Stade performing an all-Richard Strauss program (7:30 p.m., KCET Channel 28, 7 p.m., KVCR Channel 24, 10 p.m., KPBS Channel 15; 11 p.m., KOCE Channel 50.) Selections include “Don Juan,” “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” and the final trio and duet from “Der Rosenkavalier.” NBC’s Garrick Utley serves as the host. KUSC-FM (91.5) will air a radio simulcast at 7:30 p.m. as will San Bernardino-based KVCR-FM (91.9) at 7 p.m.
PBS also has more classical music on New Year’s Day with “From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 1993” (9:30 p.m., Channel 28; 8 p.m. Channel 24, 9 p.m., Channel 15). Walter Cronkite is the host as Riccardo Muti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera corps de ballet in music by Johann Strauss and a tribute to march master John Philip Sousa.
Merv Griffin will be joined by country music sensation Billy Ray Cyrus, the Pointer Sisters and Tony Bennett for “Merv Griffin’s New Year’s Eve Special,” from Atlantic City, at 8 p.m. on KCOP Channel 13 and 10 p.m. on KADY Channel 63.
The Nashville Network services country music devotees with “New Year’s Eve at Sea World Live,” at 8:30 p.m. Diamond Rio, named by the County Music Assn. as 1992’s Vocal Group of the Year, are joined by Suzy Bogguss and Lee Greenwood. The 90-minute program also includes fireworks and laser shows and Shamu the Killer Whale.
Fox (Channels 11 and 6) has “New Year’s Eve Live” at 11 p.m. Elton John performs his latest single, “Simple Life”; Martin Lawrence, star of Fox’s “Martin,” gives a comedic overview of 1992 and preview of 1993; Bobcat Goldthwaite heads a lineup of stand-up comics from the Mayfair Theatre in Santa Monica and Penn and Teller attempt to escape from what is billed as the world’s largest champagne glass. Along with the obligatory countdown from New York City, Fox will also have countdowns from Disneyland and Chicago.
Like most of television, New Year’s Eve celebrations are traditionally East Coast-oriented, forcing West Coast viewers to watch activity that is three-hours old, but billed as live. “New Year’s Live: West Coast Countdown” (11 p.m., KCAL Channel 9) is an exception. Siegfried and Roy, Cirque du Soleil and a Seattle laser show are among the acts, along with a Rose Parade preview. Jack Perkins is the host.
Teen-agers and young adults figure to opt for “MTV Drops the Ball ‘93” at 11 p.m. Bobby Brown, Alice in Chains, 10,000 Maniacs, Spin Doctors, Arrested Development and Extreme are scheduled to perform at New York City’s Roseland nightclub. Comedian Pauly Shore provides reports from Times Square.
Showtime opts for comedy to end 1992 with “Elayne Boosler’s Midnight Hour” at 11 p.m. Comedians Kevin Meaney, Susan Norfleet, Paul Rodriguez and Father Guido Sarducci are joined by soul singer Wilson Pickett at the Town Hall in New York City with a feed from Times Square at midnight.
ABC goes bi-coastal with New Year’s Rockin’ Eve ‘93” (11:30 p.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42). Dick Clark presides from Times Square in New York City. Mark Curry of ABC’s “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper” and Tori Spelling from Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210” will be at Universal Studios.
“Rockin’ Eve” also features a group from the 1970s--the Village People, who will sing “YMCA” and “Macho Man” from Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. Barry Manilow will deliver “Just Another New Year’s Eve.”
Other musical guests include Bell Biv Devoe performing “Gangsta” and “Boot Sneaka,” Jon Secada “Do You Believe In Us” and “Just Another Day,” Slaughter “Up All Night” and “Days Gone By,” TLC “Baby-Baby-Baby” and “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg.”
The Hard Rock Cafe and Academy Theatre in New York City are the sites for “Hard Rock Cafe New Year’s Eve Special,” (11:30 p.m., Channels 2 and 8). Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards and his band, the X-Pensive Winos, will be joined live by comedian Judy Tenuta. The B-52s, Bo Didley and Kids in the Hall are featured in taped segments. Jay Thomas of CBS’s “Love and War,” is the host and Nia Peeples reports from Times Square.
NBC mixes comedy, countdowns and promotion on a New Year’s Eve edition of “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (11:35 p.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39). Dame Edna, who has a special on the network Saturday, handles the Times Square countdown; Morris Day from the network’s “Out All Night” situation comedy performs as will Phil Hartman from “Saturday Night Live.”
Parades: KTLA Channel 5 will begin its Rose Parade coverage on tonight’s “News at Ten” broadcast, with Steve Lentz continuing to deliver reports on pre-parade activities approximately each half hour through 6:30 a.m.
The winner in the parade ratings race for 17 consecutive years, KTLA’s coverage will continue at 6:30 a.m. with “Backstage at the Parade,” hosted by Stan Chambers, Jann Carl, Robb Weller, Sam Rubin and Marta Waller. The quintet then handles “Parade Countdown” from 7-8 a.m.
Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards will again be hosts of the station’s commercial-free telecast beginning at 8 a.m. Chambers will report from the Bank of America float, “Awards Night,” where he will be among reporters waiting to “interview” Count Dracula, Wolfman, the Mummy, Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. This is the first time that Chambers, who has covered the parade since 1949, has ridden in it.
KTLA’s telecast will be rerun at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
KTLA will again provide closed-captioning for the hearing impaired, but for the first time, the captioning will be done on a real-time basis, simultaneously relaying Eubanks and Edwards comments.
KWKW-AM (1330) will provide a Spanish-language simulcast of KTLA’s coverage, with Diana Alvarado and Francisco Javier Elizondo.
KTTV starts its coverage with an hour-long pre-parade show at 7 a.m. In what it is touting as ground-breaking--but is actually the return of a scheme KTLA and KTTV used in 1953 to show the parade twice before the advent of videotape--KTTV is seeking to one-up KTLA with two live presentations of the parade.
Bill Welsh, who will be announcing the parade for his 46th consecutive year, will be joined by Sarah Purcell and Marc Summers at the start of the parade, just across from the Norton Simon Museum on Colorado Blvd., at 8 a.m. That telecast will be replayed at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
At 10:30 a.m., KTTV weatherman Mark Thompson and Dorothy Lucey will begin their coverage from near the end of the parade route on Sierra Madre Boulevard.
KTNQ-AM (1020) will have a Spanish-language simulcast of the first live telecast from 8-10:30 a.m. with news director Antonio Gonzalez and Maria Nava.
KMEX Channel 34 begins its live Spanish-language coverage at 8 a.m. Mexican television and film star Edgardo Gazcon, “L.A. al Dia” host Cristina Aceves and Pilar Garibotto report.
On the network level, Mark McEwen of “CBS This Morning” and actress Jane Seymour are the hosts; NBC has Joe Garagiola and Marsha Warfield and ABC sportscasters Lynn Swann and Julie Moran. All three telecasts start at 8 a.m.
For those who cannot wait for New Year’s Day for a parade, the Fiesta Bowl Parade airs at 10 a.m. today on KNBC Channel 4 and NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39) has taped-coverage of the King Orange Jamoree Parade from Miami at 8 p.m. NBC sportscaster Joe Namath and NBC talk-show host Faith Daniels are the hosts. Scheduled musical performers include Chubby Checker, Doug Stone, Shanice and Roz Ryan.
Football: The best is literally saved for last when No. 1 Miami (11-0) meets No. 2 Alabama (12-0) for the national championship in the USF&G; Sugar Bowl at 5:30 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42, capping an eight-game, 13-hour New Year’s Day Bowl schedule.
No. 16 Boston College (8-2-1) and No. 17 Tennessee (8-3) get the day underway at 8 a.m. in the Hall of Fame Bowl on ESPN.
The Mobil Cotton Bowl, with No. 5 Notre Dame (9-1-1) trying to deny No. 4 Texas A&M; (12-0) an undefeated season, begins at 10 a.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39.
No. 15 Ohio State (8-2-1) seeks its first bowl victory since Jan. 1, 1987 when it takes on No. 8 Georgia (9-2) in the Florida Citrus Bowl, 10 a.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42.
Bill Walsh coaches No. 13 Stanford (9-3) against Joe Paterno and No. 21 Penn State (7-4) in the Blockbuster Bowl, 10:30 a.m. Channels 2 and 8.
No. 10 Colorado (9-1-1) plays No. 6 Syracuse (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl (1:30 p.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39).
The Rose Bowl features No. 9 Washington (9-2) and No. 7 Michigan (8-0-3) at 1:45 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42.
The Federal Express Orange Bowl features a matchup between No. 3 Florida State (10-1) and No. 11 Nebraska (9-2) at 5 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39.
There are also four bowl games today. Unranked Oregon (6-5) and Wake Forest (7-4) meet in the Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl (9:30 a.m., ESPN); No. 22 Arizona (6-4-1) faces unranked Baylor (6-5) in the John Hancock Bowl (11:30 a.m., Channels 2 and 8); No. 14 Florida (8-4) and No. 12 North Carolina State (9-2-1) play in the Outback Steakhouse Gator Bowl (3 p.m., TBS) and No. 20 Mississippi (8-3) takes on unranked Air Force in the Liberty Bowl (4:45 p.m., ESPN.)
Marathons: Like the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, marathons are a prime facet of New Year’s Day programming.
Nickelodeon has the first marathon, beginning 12 hours of its top 25 reruns of 1992 at noon today.
TNT honors the Greek demigod Hercules, with a nine-movie, 17-hour, 10-minute marathon of Hercules movies from the early 1960s from 5 p.m. today to 10:10 a.m. Friday.
USA presents all three installments of the “Porky’s” trilogy in reverse order, beginning with “Porky’s Revenge” at 9 p.m. tonight, “Porky’s II: The Next Day,” at 11 p.m. and “Porky’s” at 1 a.m. Friday.
USA begins a second marathon at 10 a.m. Friday, running 28 of its made-for-TV movies, including, “Nightmare on the 13th Floor,” (6 p.m.) with Michele Greene and Kerry Noonan investigating a series of murders in a Los Angeles hotel.
KCOP Channel 13 begins a nine-movie, 22-hour marathon of uncut, commercial-free films, including several Academy Award winners, at midnight Friday with “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” Jack Lemmon won the best actor Academy Award for his role in “Save the Tiger” (2:15 a.m.). A nine-year old recalls life with his mother and family in World War II England in “Hope and Glory” (4 a.m.). “Chariots of Fire,” a look at the 1924 Olympics and the best picture Academy Award-winner in 1981, follows (7:45 a.m.).
Haing S. Ngor won the best supporting actor award in 1984 for his role in “The Killing Fields” (9:50 a.m.); Katharine Hepburn shared the 1968 best actress award as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in “A Lion in Winter” (12:15 p.m.); George Stevens took the 1956 best director for “Giant” (2:30 p.m.); Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman investigate misdeeds in a Republican Administration in “All the President’s Men” (5:50 p.m.); and baby boomers gather for a funeral in “The Big Chill” (8:10 p.m.).
TBS pays homage to several critically-panned but popular situation comedies Friday with “The Best of the Munsters” (7:05 a.m.); “TBS Remembers Gilligan’s Island” (9:05 a.m.); “TBS Remembers the Beverly Hillbillies” (10:50 a.m.); “The Andy Griffith Silver Anniversary Special” (12:35 p.m.) and “30 Years of Andy: A Mayberry Reunion,” (2:05 p.m.).
Also on cable, American Movie Classics begins an all-comedy marathon at 4 a.m. Friday; the Family Channel has 10 hours of “Bonanza” episodes, not placed in the original syndication packages, beginning at noon Friday, and Prime Ticket’s second marathon of “Baseball’s Greatest Games” in eight days starts at 4 p.m. Friday.
News: KCAL Channel 9 recaps the tumultuous and historic year, locally, nationally and internationally, in “Prime 9 ‘92” at 8 p.m. today and noon Friday.
Frank Deford of Newsweek, New York Times columnist William Safire and economist Arthur Laffer will again make their predictions for the coming year on “Nightline” at 11:30 p.m. Friday on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42.
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