NBCUniversal’s WMAQ Chicago plans to ring in 2024 with A Very Chicago New Year!, a special originating from three locations with guest hosts including Smashing Pumpkins founder Billy Corgan and his wife Chloe Mendel.

Corgan and Mendel will be hosting from suburban Highland Park. The station’s Chicago Today anchors Matt Rodrigues and Cortney Hall will host from Bridgeport on the South Side and NBC 5 News anchor Evrod Cassimy and CMT host Marley Sherwood will host from the Palmer House in downtown Chicago. 

Musical acts Ivan Cornejo and Mt. Joy are scheduled to perform, in addition to Billy Corgan & Friends.

Also Read: Local News Close-Up: Chicago Is the City of Big Stories

Viewers will be able to plan Chicago Trivia for a chance to win $2,024 via an on-screen QR code. The winner will have to answer all 10 trivia questions correctly.

“New Year’s Eve in Chicago is one of our city’s most festive nights of the year and we can’t wait to spotlight multiple parties and celebrations for our viewers at home,” said Matt Knutson, VP of multiplatform content, NBCUniversal Local Chicago. “Our upcoming A Very Chicago New Year! special has something for everyone, including live musical performances, special guest appearances, and much more that will appeal to audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds.”

A Very Chicago New Year! will air starting at 11 p.m. local time and will be available via streaming on NBC Chicago News. The special can also be seen via NBCChicago.com and the NBC Chicago app.

The College Football Playoff leads the list of live television sports events heading into the New Year.

ESPN will televise the New Year’s Eve Fiesta Bowl between third-ranked TCU and second-ranked Michigan, as well as the Peach Bowl pitting top-ranked Georgia against fourth-ranked Ohio State. The winners of both games will meet in the College Football Playoff Championship game January 9 on ABC.

Other college football bowl games airing on Saturday include the Music City Bowl (Iowa-Kentucky) on ABC, and the Sugar Bowl (Alabama-Kansas St.) on ESPN. On Monday, ESPN2 will air the ReliaQuest Bowl (Mississippi St-Illinois), ABC will telecast the Citrus Bowl (LSU-Purdue) and ESPN will air both the Cotton Bowl (Tulane-USC) and the Rose Bowl (Penn State-Utah).

The NFL enters its penultimate week of regular-season play Sunday with regional coverage on CBS and Fox, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup between division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

On Monday night, ABC and ESPN will simulcast the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Premier League returns after a break due the World Cup with nine live soccer game telecasts over the three-day weekend across USA, NBC and streaming service Peacock. On the NHL ice, ESPN on Sunday will air the New York Islanders-Seattle Kraken, while TNT on Monday will televise the Pittsburgh Penguins-Boston Bruins contest. ■ 

Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Pete Hegseth of Fox & Friends Weekend host New Year's Eve festivities on Fox News. The All American New Year event goes from 10 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. ET on New Year's Eve and takes place at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville.

Outnumbered co-host Emily Compagno, Fox News Radio host Jimmy Failla and Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins co-host hour-long special Countdown to All-American New Year starting at 9 p.m.

Country star Brantley Gilbert performs live at the Wildhorse during the 10 p.m. telecast. Failla will do a comedy routine, and contributions also come from Compagno in Times Square, Jenkins in Key West, Fox Business' Madison Alworth at Steamboat in Colorado and FNC correspondent Christina Coleman in New Orleans. Fox Weather meteorologist Nick Kosir will be stationed at a polar plunge in Ocean City, New Jersey. ■

Meta said it is planning to stream a virtual reality New Year's Eve special hosted by former NBA great and TNT basketball analyst Shaquille O'Neal.

The Shaqtacular Spectacular will be available across Meta's properties including Meta Horizon Worlds, Meta Quest, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger's Watch Together.

The one-hour program will feature  Cardi B., Killer Mike, Ludacris, Lil Yachty, Rob Gronkowski and Camille Kostek.

“Virtual Reality has become such an exciting new way to experience and participate in and engage with entertainment and culture,” said Brad Haugen, president of Westbrook Media, one of the companies involved in producing the special. “We are thrilled to partner with Shaq, the team at Jersey Legends, Media.Monks and Meta and invite audiences to spend New Year’s Eve with some of their favorite performers and athletes in a way that truly allows them to feel like they are in the room too. The show has electrifying performances, hilarious and competitive games and it’s been so fun for us to explore all that we can do in this space.”

The special will be available starting at 6:30 p.m. ET and repeated on a loop all night.

“We’re proud to partner with Westbrook Media and Meta on this - just one example of how great teamwork can deliver boundary pushing, immersive entertainment at the highest quality,” said Eric Shamlin, executive VP, global head of entertainment at Media Monks.

During the show , Shaq and the performers will be on a center stage surrounded by a roller rink, basketball court and main stage, featuring a marching band, cheerleaders, skaters, hoopers and fans. Viewers will be able to replicate the dance-offs on the show on a virtual dance floor.

“This year we’re ringing in 2023 with new experiences and connections,” said O’Neal. “I’m excited to celebrate with some of my favorite artists and athletes in a way that you can enjoy with friends and family in VR across the world. From music, laughs and much more, we’re celebrating New Year’s Eve and welcoming 2023 with a spectacular party you won’t want to miss!” ■

On the heels of HBO Max's Thanksgiving day Love, Lizzo documentary, the streaming service announced a December concert special featuring the Grammy-winning artist.

The Lizzo: Live in Concert special will stream New Year's Eve (December 31) and will feature the Emmy and Grammy winner performing her hits, along with special guests Cardi B, SZA and Missy Elliott, said HBO Max. 

Also: ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Euphoria,’ ‘Squid Game’ Top Emmy Award Winners

The streaming service's Love, Lizzo documentary airing November 24 focuses on the life of the singer, songwriter, rapper, flutist and actress, and looks at her humble beginnings to her meteoric rise with an intimate look into the moments that shaped her hard-earned rise to fame, success, love and international stardom, according to HBO Max.■ 

Fox said it canceled its planned New Year’s Eve special because of the fast-spreading variant of the COVID virus.

“While we are confident in the health and safety protocols for Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2022, the recent velocity of the spread of Omicron cases has made it impossible to produce a live special in Times Square that meets our standards,” Fox said in a statement about not moving forward with producing the show in New York.

“The health and safety of our casts and crews has always been, and will continue to be, of the utmost importance.  Replacement programming for New Year’s Eve on Fox will be announced in the coming days,” Fox said.

 Fox’s special was scheduled to be hosted by Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, with special correspondent Kelly Osbourne.

The network was working with iHeartRadio to provide performances from Billy Idol, Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5 and Pink.

Trace Adkins, the star of Fox’s upcoming series set in the world of country music, Monarch, was also expected to perform.

National Geographic will bring back the images and sounds of the 1980s with a new countdown series, The 80s: Top Ten, which will stream first on Disney Plus New Year's Eve. 

Rob Lowe will host the six-part series, which will feature countdowns of the memorable moments, gadgets, toys, fast foods, commercials and streetwear made famous during the decade, said the network. 

Disney Plus will stream all six episodes on Dec. 31, with National Geographic launching the series in primetime on New Year's Day, according to the network. 

The 80's: Top Ten will feature interviews with iconic stars and industry mavens including Ridley Scott, Tony Hawk, Amber Riley, Kevin Smith, Joan Collins, Tiffani Thiessen and Meat Loaf, according to the network. ■ 

Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson host NBC’s New Year’s Eve telecast. Lorne Michaels will executive produce Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party Hosted By Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson.

The special airs live from Miami Dec. 31, starting at 10:30 p.m. and ending at 12:30 a.m. Peacock will stream the special live. 

Singer Cyrus got her start on Hannah Montana. She has a development deal with NBCU and has been the musical guest on Saturday Night Live six times. Comedian Davidson is in his eighth season of Saturday Night Live. 

“In what is sure to be an exciting and fun evening, we are looking forward to partnering with Lorne Michaels and ringing in 2022 with a night of incredible entertainment, led by Miley and Pete,” said Jen Neal, executive VP, live events, specials and E! News, NBCUniversal.

Carson Daly hosted last year’s new year’s event on NBC, with assists from Amber Ruffin and Stephen "tWitch" Boss.

Michaels and Cyrus executive produce this year’s event with Lindsay Shookus. It is produced by Den of Thieves with executive producers Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski. It is also produced by Cyrus’s Hopetown Entertainment. Joe DeMaio directs. ■

CBS offers New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash across primetime and beyond Dec. 31. Originating from downtown Nashville across multiple locations, the special will offer performances from Jason Aldean, Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Dan + Shay, Elle King, Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Cole Swindell and Zac Brown Band. Additional artists to be announced at a later date.

Paramount Plus will stream the event, which takes place 8-11 p.m. ET/PT, then 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. ET/PT.

Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band and Dan + Shay will play at Nashville’s Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. 

Nashville’s Big Bash is executive produced by Robert Deaton and Mary Hilliard Harrington in partnership with the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. The special will be directed by Sandra Restrepo.

Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve from Times Square in New York. The telecast begins at 8 p.m. ET and the duo hands over to Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon at 12:30 a.m. as the Central Time Zone prepares for the new year. 

The Times Square event will be closed to the public due to COVID.  

John Mayer, Snoop Dogg, Patti Labelle, Jimmy Buffett, Carole Baskin, Josh Groban, Leslie Jordan, Dulce Sloan, Desus & Mero, Kylie Minogue, Aloe Blacc, Goo Goo Dolls and Jon Bon Jovi will perform on the CNN stage.

Cooper is anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°. Cohen hosts Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Bravo. The pair also hosted New Year's on CNN last year. 

From CNN, Ana Cabrera, Stephanie Elam, Randi Kaye, Richard Quest, Gary Tuchman and Bill Weir will report from locations around the world.

Ken Jeong and Joel McHale will host Fox’s New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast 2021 (working title) live from Los Angeles. The hosts will look back at 2020 during the 3 ½ hour New Year’s event, and salute the year that awaits. Toast & Roast happens 8-10 p.m. ET live, MT/PT tape-delayed, and then 11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET.

The duo were in the cast on Community and host podcast The Darkest Timeline. 

“Ken and Joel together are one of the funniest duos out there,” said Rob Wade, president, alternative entertainment & specials, Fox Entertainment. “These two have been toasting and roasting each other on national television for years, so they were the perfect pair to ring in the New Year. Also, we love Ken so much, we wanted to squeeze in three more hours of him before the new year!”

Fox Alternative Entertainment produces the broadcast and Carol Donovan is executive producer. This is the first year that Fox’s New Year’s Eve special will be produced entirely by Fox Alternative Entertainment.  

Jeong is a panelist on Fox’s The Masked Singer and created and starred in ABC comedy Dr. Ken. He appeared in Crazy Rich Asians and The Hangover film franchise.

McHale hosts Card Sharks on ABC and was in CBS comedy The Great Indoors. 

The 2016-17 TV and movie awards season has hit high gear with the presentation of Critics’ Choice Awards winners as well as nominations for Golden Globe Awards, NAACP Image Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. While TV viewers and critics will undoubtedly cheer shows recognized by the major awards groups — and lament over their favorite shows that did not make the awards cut — The Wire saw three trends coming out of the awards blitz that could affect the television industry heading into the new year.

More love for diverse casting: A number of new scripted series with predominately multicultural casts won Critics’ Choice Awards in major categories or earned multiple Golden Globe, NAACP Image or SAG Award nominations. Established and more mainstream series like Empire and Black-ish continued to remain popular with awards judges, garnering numerous nominations. The most prominent and eye-opening nods, though, were for more niche shows like FX’s hip hop-flavored series Atlanta, as creator and star Donald Glover won a Critics’ Choice Award for best actor in a comedy series and Golden Globe nomination in the same category, and HBO’s comedy series Insecure, which nabbed eight NAACP Image Award nominations and a Golden Globe best comedy actress nod for Issa Rae, star of the freshman comedy series. Also, Golden Globe, SAG and NAACP award nominations for Thandie Newton’s performance as a newly sentient android in HBO’s Westworld, and multiple nods for FX limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson and actors including Courtney B. Vance and Sterling K. Brown (also nominated for an NAACP Image Award for NBC’s This Is Us) demonstrate that, when given a chance, actors of color can turn in award-defining performances.

Newbie series bring buzz: During every awards season there seems to be a new series that captures the zeitgeist of the viewer and the eye of judges. This season, several new shows have gained major award recognition. Half of the Critics’ Choice Awards winners in the major drama categories were from freshman series Westworld (HBO) and The Crown (Netflix). Four out of the five Golden Globes-nominated series in the drama category are from first-year shows (The Crown, Westworld, This Is Us and Netflix’s Stranger Things). Four of the five SAG Awards nominations for “outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series” were from new series, including two from binge-viewing favorite Stranger Things. With 400-plus scripted series for U.S. audiences to choose from, new shows are cutting through the clutter to build both audiences and critical acclaim.

Cable, streaming services dominate TV drama: Anyone who doubted whether the best and most critically acclaimed shows on television today are on cable networks and streaming services only has to look at recent award-winning and nominated shows in the major drama categories. Broadcast network shows were virtually shut out of Critics’ Choice Awards wins in all six drama categories and four of six comedy categories. On the nominations front, This Is Us is the lone broadcast entry in 15 Golden Globes drama category nominations and PBS’s recently ended Downton Abbey staved off a complete SAG Awards nominations sweep for cable and streaming services in major drama series categories. Shows from Netflix (The Crown, Stranger Things), HBO (Westworld, Game of Thrones), USA Network (Mr. Robot), AMC (Better Call Saul), FX (The Americans) and Starz (Outlander) have set the standard for quality among drama series that the broadcast networks will have to live up to if they are to be recognized during future awards seasons.

Reindeer Rundown: NORAD Set for Holiday

To ensure that cable operators and other media outlets can help prevent highflying grandmas from getting run over by flying reindeer and keep up with the lively and quick doings of the little man with the sack, NORAD, the joint U.S.-Canada aerospace warning and control operation, is inviting them to participate in this year’s Santa Claus tracking operation “in a variety of ways.”

NORAD, which annually charts Santa’s Christmas Eve/Christmas Day flights over North American airspace, is allowing media outlets to embed its “track Santa” logo, countdown clock and live tracking map on their websites.

Those outlets will also be authorized to tap into the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) system for live satellite interviews (6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 24) with senior NORAD command leaders (email requests to NORADTracksSanta@dvidshub.net). Various flight crews will escort the flight, per usual.

Starting at 2:01 a.m., the website will stream video of Santa preparing the flight and then from several locations en route. Those with OnStar can also press the button in their cars to locate Santa in his sleigh. No word on whether car-to-sleigh communications are mandated under the Department of Transportation’s new V2V “light duty” vehicles proposal issued last week, though Santa’s sleigh probably qualifies as heavy duty.

NORAD has tracked Santa since 1955. Before that, it was mostly word-of-mouth between siblings talking excitedly, snug in their beds, while they were supposed to be asleep.

— John Eggerton

Ball-Watcher Update: Times Square Hosts Set

Updating our item on the New Year’s Day festivities in Times Square, the talent, or at least most of it, has been named for the free, anchored, coverage of the ball drop that the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment are making available to media outlets.

Singers Gavin DeGraw (“She Sets the City on Fire”) and Rachel Platten (“Fight Song” and “Stand By You”) will be co-headlining the live, commercial- free feeds and the webcast. Platten also gets the honors of carrying on the tradition of performing John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Univision will provide “three star musical performances,” but they have yet to be named.

Returning as host of the Web coverage will be Spotify’s “global head of rock” Allison Hagendorf, joined by Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls, Cake Wars).

— John Eggerton

“So this is Christmas/And what have you done …”

AMC’s answer to that question, posed in “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is an all-star concert honoring the late Beatle, who would have turned 75 this past Oct. 9.

The show, produced with Blackbird Presents and emceed by Kevin Bacon, took place Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. A two-and-a-half-hour version airs Saturday, Dec. 19, as Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) on AMC.

The Wire assumed AMC’s corporate ties to MSG played a role, but programming executive Joel Stillerman said Blackbird’s Keith Wortman brought the idea to AMC, booked the building and got the performers (including Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson and The Roots) without any such help.

AMC, though, had put out the word earlier this year that it was on the lookout for nonfiction programming “against a filter of things that feel event-like,” either in the form of documentary series like The Making of the Mob or live happenings like concerts.

“We thought [Lennon] was the right artist to do this with, and it was the right time,” Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, told The Wire a few days after the show.

While under discussion for several months, the concert event was fairly recently greenlit, Stillerman said. The theater, though, was filled that festive Saturday night with Lennon fans who bought tickets and others, including The Wire, invited as guests.

The house band, led by Don Was and Greg Phillinganes, was tight and the performances felt spontaneous — sometimes very much so. Only one song had to be done twice, to fi x a lighting issue during Spoon’s lively “Hey Bulldog.”

Stillerman, who worked on many live shows at MTV and as an independent producer before joining AMC, said the whole thing was remarkably drama-free. “Everybody just felt like they seriously wanted to be there for one reason, which was to honor a guy that they loved and who was hugely influential on them.”

“Happy Xmas” is definitely on the menu — performed by Aloe Blacc, Sheryl Crow and Peter Frampton — and Stillerman thought it was a highlight of the show. The Wire also enjoyed Willie Nelson’s “Imagine,” Blacc’s “Watching the Wheels” and the Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) version of “Instant Karma,” among others.

“We’re happy we did this,” Stillerman said, asked if viewers should expect more concerts from the home of The Walking Dead. “We love sort of defying expectations at AMC and trying things that are a little out of our comfort zone. I really think we got very fortunate with a night that felt like it had the right spirit, that had some great moments, that had some great emerging artists step up and blow people away in a very unexpected way. If there’s an opportunity to try and replicate that, we will, but no plans right now.”

— Kent Gibbons

Keeping Eyes On the Ball

Old acquaintances may be forgot, but media outlets with bigger plans than budgets should not forget that there is a free feed — hosts included — of the New Year’s Eve festivities in New York’s Times Square.

The Times Square Alliance is again teaming with Countdown Entertainment to provide a “clean” uninterrupted, HD satellite/fiber feed for domestic and international television outlets, broadcasters, cable networks and websites.

The feed will be hosted by Allison Hagendorf and three correspondents will cover the action, from the ball-raising ceremony to stage performances to the dropping of the ball at midnight.

Why is it free? “This is a public-private partnership … No one pays a ticket to come into Times Square, and we want to make it available to the broadcasters covering the event for free, too,” Countdown Entertainment president Jeff Straus told The Wire. That extends to cable operators and webmasters as well.

— John Eggerton

Fox Sports will ring out 2014 and tip off 2015 with a five-pack of Big East college basketball games.

The quintuple-header will feature all 10 men's teams opening their conference seasons, with five back-to-back games airing live on Fox Sports 1 on Dec. 31.

The New Year's Eve hardwood festivities begin at 11:30 a.m.  (ET) with the Fox Sports 1 College Hoops Tip-Off pregame show hosted by Rob Stone with analysts Austin Croshere and Kevin O’Neill live from the Los Angeles studios. At noon,  Fox Sports’ lead college basketball broadcast team of Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery call the opener as No. 15 St. John’s travels to Seton Hall.

At 2:30 p.m., No. 6 Villanova hosts Butler with Tim Brando and Ron Thompson courtside, followed by Marquette at DePaul at 5 p.m. with Dick Stockton and Donny Marshall behind the microphone. Come primetime, Aaron Goldsmith and Tarik Turner are on the ball call for Creighton at Providence at 7:30 p.m., and Joe Davis and Bob Wenzel bring fans into the New Year with No. 25 Georgetown at Xavier, tipping off at 10 p.m.

Multiple coaches will wear wireless microphones, and coaches’ audio, plus dedicated coaches’ cameras, will be used within the games. Throughout the day, FS1 will also showcase pregame speeches and halftime coaches meetings and goes inside the huddle during timeouts. In addition, each game features at least one hyper motion camera, providing super slow video replays, and above-the-rim cameras.

Stone, Croshere and O’Neill are in studio all day with halftime and between-games analysis, along with special features, interviews and behind-the-scenes access at each team’s practices leading up to the day’s games. In addition, BIG EAST coaches and players share their New Year’s resolutions.