2 posts tagged “new years”

Well, I tried to write this before, but I was dumb and went away from the compose post page before I was done composing, so I lost everything.  I'm pretty smart sometimes.  But yeah, happy hew year!  What I wanted to talk about before was New Year's Eve coverage on TV, so that's what I'll do now, too.

This New Year's is very special for me for one reason.  I ... watched Fox News longer than I ever have before.  Ever!  I don't typically like Fox News so much, but you know, they pulled it off tonight.  They did.  They were far and away my choice for best broadcast from Times Square for 2007/8.  I don't want much from these broadcasts, you know?  All I need is live footage from Times Square, with a minimal amount of interruption from musicians and special guests.  I think the music thing that the networks love so much is fine as long as we're before 11:30 or after 12:15 or so, but when we're right around midnight, all I want is Times Square. I want to see the spectacle of it.  I want to see the crowd, hear the noise, feel the atmosphere.  I want to pretend I'm there.  I don't wanna watch a band I hate performing in Las Vegas or Los Angeles.  I just want New York, and I want only hosts that are decent and unobtrusive, and maybe a reporter or two in the crowd.  Last year, CNN won the night with Anderson Cooper and Erica Hill.  Anderson hosting, Erica in the crowd.  SImple, good, I liked it.  This year?  UGH, we got Anderson with ... Kathy Griffin!  Kathy decided to make it her own personal unfunny comedy showcase, so pretty much the whole show turned into a shrill, annoying disaster.  Blech.  Meanwhile, the other networks were busy with their music.  Alicia Keys is fine and all, but again, I just want Times Square.  Fergie?  Bleh.  I was somewhat interested to see Carrie Underwood, so kudos to ABC for that, and kudos to them again for Dick Clark, but yeah, I'd have preferred just one singer and more live crowd coverage.  SO, yeah, I'm back to Fox News.  They brought the goods for me tonight.  It was just Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, both of whom seemed good to me, reporting from a perch above times square, with a few others down in the crowd talking to people.  And no commercials at all for at least half an hour around midnight.  That's all I need.  It was great, and they earned my viewership.  I feel like I got the Times Square experience, and I was satisfied.  So yeah, it's rare that I say this, but Fox News was the best tonight.  Thanks, guys.  See you ... next year, ha.  Not likely before that.

So after watching lots and lots of New Year's TV this evening, I think Anderson Cooper, as always, wins top prize for best Times Square host.  Maybe I just like Anderson Cooper, I don't know.  But his show was, for my money, easily the best of the bunch for yet another year.  He focused on the things I wanted to see.  That is, we got to see the ball dropping, and we focused on the events in Times Square and around the country.  It was all nicely produced, and there wasn't much crappy filler (ahem, bad musical acts).  And yes, Anderson's dry delivery works for me.  So, congrats to CNN.  First prize.

After that, I don't know.  It's all kind of a draw for me after CNN.  I actually really kinda like Cat Deeley, but she was saddled with sooooo much lame stuff on Fox tonight.  So yay for Cat, not so much for the show she was stuck hosting.  On ABC, Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark gave me what I expected.  Not bad, I guess.  Over on the NBC networks, it was all Carson Daly.  And yeah, I got what I expected from him, too.  No one was as good as Anderson Cooper, but nothing was too terrible.  So let's talk music.

I have to go ahead and admit it.  I like Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" song.  Ha.  I do.  And I like some songs from her latest album enough that I actually find myself thinking about buying the CD(s).  Yes, I seriously do like ALL kinds of music, it's true.  I enjoyed her performance tonight, actually.  The top of the musical heap for me this New Year's.  After that?  Hmm.  Nothing stands out, except WTF is Chris Daughtry doing, dropping his first name?  "Daughtry" is all we're supposed to call him now?  I have a better name.  "Lame Ass."  Thank you very much. I'll be here all week.  Sadly for the world, what Daughtry gives us is the second coming of Nickelback.  We didn't even need the first coming of that, so no thanks, Chris.  You know, I suspect Christina could kick Daughtry's ass in a fight, ha.  As far as OTHER music goes, I seem to have forgotten most of it.  That one guy from Panic! at the Disco is slightly frightening to me.   I dig the exclamation point, though.   Props to Fox News for airing Crystal Gayle at about 1:30am.  They truly do have their finger on the pulse of America.  CNN gave us Lionel Richie!  Woo.  But they pretty much gave us everything tonight.  From the Goo Goo Dolls to Montgomery Gentry to The Killers.  And ... yeah, I forget who else sang.  Oh!  I remember one more.  Toni Braxton.  I totally didn't recognize her.  Is it just me, or is she much weirder than she used to be?  And ... Rihanna?  I kinda changed stations when she came on.

So anyway.  Yeah, it was a big evening for me.  Gosh, I love New Year's (but not really).  Happy 2007, everybody.  Wooooo.  (You can feel my excitement, can't you?)