1) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. ET, NBC, ABC and RFD-TV (which repeats it at 1 p.m.). The new year starts with bursts of color and sound. The parade (shown here in a previous year) has a music theme today. It includes 19 marching bands and (as grand marshal) Audra McDonald; she’s a Broadway star with 10 Tony nominations and six wins, half of them in musicals. There are also 18 horse units and about 39 floats.
2) Bowl games, ESPN. Here are the two big ones, setting up the national championship game. At 5 p.m. ET, top-ranked Michigan faces Alabama (ranked No. 4) in the Rose Bowl; at 8:30, Washington and Texas (No. 2 and 3) are in the Cotton Bowl. The winners collide a week later for the title.
3) More bowls. Before those two, there are three more bowl ganes. At noon, Louisiana State (No. 13) and Wisconsin are in the ReliaQuest Bowl on ESPN2. At 1 p.m., ABC has Iowa and Tennessee (No. 17 and 21) in the Citrus Bowl; ESPN has Oregon and Liberty (No. 8 and 23) in the Fiesta Bowl.
4) “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League” debut, 8-10 p.m., NBC. This starts with 40 acts from “AGT” and from irs companion shows in Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Japan Mongolia and the Ukraine. Thereare singers and dancers, plus an animal act, a sand artist, a contortionist, clairvoyants and hand balancers. As things begin, the judges – Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B – will draft acts for their teams.
5) Music, 8 p.m.,, PBS and ABC. Opposite genres collide. PBS has its annual New Year’s Daty concert, with the Vienna Philharmonic and soloists from the Vienna Ballet; that repeats at 9:30. And the Rock Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony gets a three-hour chunk on ABC. In the performer category, the new inductees are Sheryl Crow, George Michael Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Kate Bush, the Spinners and Rage Against the Machine.