NBC's New Year's Eve

Since the 1940s, NBC had broadcast coverage of New Year's festivities from Times Square anchored by Ben Grauer on both radio and television. Its coverage was later incorporated into special editions of the network's late night talk show, The Tonight Show, continuing through Johnny Carson's tenure as host.[1] Beginning in 1972, NBC aired the first two editions of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, before it moved to its current home of ABC.[2] Beginning in 1992, The Tonight Show's new host Jay Leno continued this tradition when New Year's Eve fell on a weekday, broadcasting a special live episode with coverage of the ball drop.[3] For 2000, NBC aired special coverage hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw and Today anchor Katie Couric, with Leno presenting a monologue segment at 11:35 p.m. ET.[4] Conan O'Brien also provided a more tongue-in-cheek complement on Late Night for most of that show's run, with his night's episode featuring a countdown for the Central Time Zone, usually involving jokes and gags specific to Chicago and the Midwest, and depreciation about network specials never offering countdowns for that time zone.

Following his arrival at the network from MTV (where he had also hosted New Year's specials), Carson Daly had personally expressed an interest in participating in other ventures for NBC alongside his new late night program Last Call with Carson Daly, including the idea of producing a New Year's Eve special for the network. The first edition of the special, known as New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, premiered for New Year's Eve 2004-05. Discussing the special, Daly said that New Year's Eve with Carson Daly would be "a little smarter than MTV, yet cooler than Dick Clark".[5] Daly hosted the first edition of the special from Rockefeller Center, averaging a total of 4.5 million viewers; by contrast, ABC's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve pulled in 7.9 million, and Fox's New Year's Eve Live with Ryan Seacrest pulled in 5.7 million.[1] The special featured performances by Avril Lavigne, Duran Duran, and Maroon 5, along with special guest appearances by Brian Williams and Donald Trump.[5] The 2004-05 edition only featured a primetime segment, with The Tonight Show airing in its regular time slot.[6]

For the 2005-06 edition, Daly began hosting the show from directly from Times Square; the program also moved into late night, allowing it to cover the ball drop. Daly said that the program would showcase the atmosphere of the event and not be a "giant mishmash of pre-produced things."[1] A primetime segment returned for the 2008-09 edition, which aired in addition to the late-night segment.[7]

The 2013-14 edition featured performances by Mariah Carey and Blake Shelton, and was co-hosted by Jane Lynch. Guest Natasha Leggero' faced controversy over remarks regarding a controversial tweet made by SpaghettiOs on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack (which featured a cartoon SpaghettiO with a flag captioned "Take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us"), quipping that "it sucks that the only survivors of Pearl Harbor are being mocked by the only food they can still chew." Her remarks were met with an immediate backlash over social media; in response, Leggero stated in a blog entry that she would not apologize, arguing that "the amazing courage of American veterans and specifically those who survived Pearl Harbor is [not] in any way diminished by a comedian making a joke about dentures on television", and that "I have more respect for Veterans than to think their honor can be impugned by a glamorous, charming comedian in a fur hat." She also called on those offended by the remarks to donate to Disabled American Veterans.[8][9][10] The 2013–14 edition marked ratings gains for the special; while it was still beaten overall by New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, the primetime segment (which had an NBC News special, A Toast to 2013 as a lead-in) brought 50% higher ratings than the previous year, and the midnight coverage was up by 6%.[11]

For 2015-16, New Year's Eve with Carson Daly was co-hosted by Andy Cohen, and shortened to only consist of the late-night portion airing at 11:30 p.m.; the 10:00 p.m. ET/PT hour was replaced by New Year’s Eve Game Night—a special live episode of Hollywood Game Night hosted by Cohen.[12] Mel B of the Spice Girls and America's Got Talent co-hosted the 2016–17 edition, which included performances by Alicia Keys, Blake Shelton, and Pentatonix. The 10:00 p.m. ET/PT hour was occupied by a special primetime edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers, with guests Arnold Schwarzenegger (The New Celebrity Apprentice), Leslie Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence.[13][14]

There was no 2017-18 edition, as NBC had provisionally scheduled Sunday Night Football for the final day of the regular season. The NFL eventually chose not to schedule a primetime game at all, since there were no games that presented a clear "win or go home" scenario not affected by earlier games.[15][16] NBC scheduled reruns of Dateline and The Wall in place of the game, and did not provide any national New Year's programming.[17][18]

The special returned for the 2018-19 edition as NBC's New Year's Eve 2019, with Daly and Chrissy Teigen as hosts, and comedian Leslie Jones and NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt as guests. The special featured performances by Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Clarkson, Andy Grammer, John Legend, Diana Ross, Blake Shelton, as well as Keith Urban and Brett Young from Nashville. The 2019 edition restored the primetime hour at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, which was seen by 5.41 million viewers (including its lead-in, A Toast to 2018, NBC sustained an average of 4.85 million in primetime overall). The late-night portion received a 4.8 rating in metered markets.[19][20]

The 2019-20 edition featured Julianne Hough and Stephen "tWitch" Boss (of The Ellen DeGeneres Show) as correspondents, and performances by Blake Shelton, Brett Eldredge, Leslie Odom Jr., Gwen Stefani, Ne-Yo, The Struts, X Ambassadors, and Keith Urban from Nashville.[21] The program was seen by a total of 7.83 million viewers, approximately 2 percent less than from the year prior, and saw a decline in its demographic rating to 2.1.[22] For the primetime hour, the program was seen by 5.31 million viewers, with 4.38 million watching its lead-in, A Toast to 2019.[22]