AMC, 9:00 p.m. ET
For years, I’ve called the week between Christmas and New Year’s a “dead week” for television – but I didn’t expect AMC to take the concept so literally. It's not as full a marathon as I reported originally, but at least we get the first half of season three. Don't kill me.
ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
Last year, ABC prefaced its New Year’s Eve show with a prime-time special devoted to 40 years of New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Dick Clark, the host from the start, was around to enjoy that – but since Clark died in 2012, ABC is prefacing this year’s countdown to the new year with a two-hour prime-time celebration of Clark himself.
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Dick Clark isn’t the only celebrity who died in 2012 who is getting a prime-time salute on the last day of the year. Also being honored, in a new Live from Lincoln Center concert tribute, is composer Marvin Hamlisch, who, among other impressive artistic achievements, wrote the music for Broadway’s A Chorus Line, cinema’s The Way We Were, and rekindled Scott Joplin’s legacy by using his ragtime music to score The Sting. And check out the lineup of performers gathering to honor him and sing his music tonight, all under the baton of Paul Gemignani: Audra McDonald (who also hosts, and is pictured here), Michael Feinstein, Kelli O’Hara, Megan Hilty from Smash, Joshua Bell, Raul Esparza and others. Check local listings.
ABC, 10:00 p.m. ET
After a two-hour salute to the late Dick Clark, ABC turns over prime-time hosting duties entirely to Ryan Seacrest. Scheduled to perform are Taylor Swift, Flo Rida and, just in case you needed to hear “Call Me Maybe” one more time in 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen. At 11:30 p.m. ET, after a break for local news, Seacrest returns to count down, for the first time, to the New Year – and the dropping of a ball that, for the first time, will have Dick Clark’s name engraved on it.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
Arguably, Carson Daly’s star has risen significantly since the late-late-late-night star has hopped aboard the Voice train. So it’s significant, if otherwise coincidental, that Daly’s NBC New Year’s Eve party – which, like Ryan Seacrest’s, broadcast live from Times Square – includes performances by the group Train, and by the most recent winner of The Voice, Cassadee Pope.