1) “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” 8-11 p.m.and 11:30 p.m. to 2:13 a.m., ABC. The Times Square viewing area will be smaller – 15,000 people, masked and fully vaccinated – but the music continues. Live at the Square, Ryan Seacrest (shown here) will have LL Cool J, Journey, Chloe and Karol G. There’s Billy Porter in New Orleans, Daddy Yankee in Puerto Rico and a taped Los Angeles party with Ciara, Macklemore, Avril Lavine, Walker Hayes, OneRepublic, French Montana, Big Boi and more.
2) Bowl games, all day, ESPN. Remember when all the top games were packed into New Year’s Day? Now the two biggest – semi-finals for the national campionship – are today. At 3:30 p.m. ET, the Cotton Bowl has Alabama and Cincinnati; at 7:30, the Orange Bowl has Michigan and Georgia. The day’s other two bowls have been transformed by COVID: In the Gator Bowl (11 a.m. ET, ESPN), Rutgers (with a 5-7 record) got a last-minute chance to face 17th-ranked Wake Forest. The Sun Bowl (noon, CBS) has two teams whose bowl opponents dropped out – Washington State (7-5) and Central Michigan (8-4).
3) “Nashville’s Big Bash,” 8-11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., CBS. Here’s the newcomer in the Eve flurry. It plans to count down both the Eastern and Central year, with more than 50 performances from multiple locations. That includes Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Kelsea Ballerini, Jimmie Allen, Darius Rucker, Carly Pearce, Sam Hunt, Gabby Barrett, Cole Swindell, Elle King, Breland, Lady A, Brooks & Dunn and the Zac Brown Band.
4) More Eve parties. The Fox network has dumped its plans for a New Year’s Eve celebration, but others continue. NBC has “A Toast to 2021” at 8 p.m., then (after news) has Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson in Miami, from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; CNN starts its far-ranging party, with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, at 8 p.m. ET.
5) More: CW reruns the second half of the “iHeartRadio Music Festival” from 8-10 p.m., with music by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Khalid, Journey, Nelly, Sam Hunt, Kid Laroi, Tate McRae, Lil Baby and more. PBS has a “United in Song” concert from 9-10:30, with David Archuleta, Sandi Patty, Cassadee Pope, Lea Saonga, Deborah Cox, the Washington Ballet and more. Others have movies, including “Black Panther” (2018) at 7 p.m. on TNT and “Wonder Woman 1984” (2020) at 7:24 on HBO.