1) “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” 8-11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., ABC. Fifty years ago, Dick Clark hatched this idea – live coverage at Times Square, entwined with taped performances in California. Now Times Square (shown here) has its own performers, with Ryan Seacrest hosing; that includes Duran Duran, New Edition, j-hope (from BTS) and Jax. Billy Porter performs live in New Orleans; taped performers include Ciara, Shaggy, Ben Platt, Halle Bailey, Wiz Khalifa, Dove Cameron and more.
2) “Nashville’s Big Bash,” 8-10 p.m. and 10:30 p..m. to 1:30 a.m., CBS. More than 50 songs will be packed into these five hours, CBS promises. That includes hosts Jimmie Allen and Elle King, plus Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Kane Brown, Ashley McBrydem Darius Rucker, Riley Green and even some people from beyond country – Sheryl Crow, Steve Miller and Flo Rida.
3) More music. From 8-9:30 p.m., PBS has the American Pops Orchestra and three college choirs, backing a wide range of musicians, including bluegrass (Rhonda Vincent), folk (Raye Zargoza) and contemporary Christian (Natalie Grant). And from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., NBC has Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton hosting Sia, Latto, Rae Sremmurd and more.
4) Bowl games, ESPN. With New Year’s Day on a Sunday, bowls will be a day later (including the Rose Bowl and its parade) or a day early. Today has the national championship semi-finals, with the Fiesta Bowl (Michigan-Texas Christian) at 4 p.m. ET and the Peach Bowl (Georgia-Ohio State) at 8. That’s preceded at noon by bowls on ESPN (Alabama-Kansas State) and ABC (Iowa-Kentucky.
5) ALSO: CNN starts its Eve coverage at 8 p.m.; Fox News starts coverage in Nashville at 10. The CW reruns an “iHeartMusic” concert, stuffed with pop stars, from 8-10 p.m. And one of the best Christmas shows debuts today on the Acorn streamer, www.acorn.tv: The series-finale (after 10 seasons) of “Doc Martin” has warmth, wit, death, pregnancy, humor and two Santas.