Luke Russert and Amy Robach Join Carson Daly on New Year’s Eve

By Chris Ariens 

NBC News anchor Amy Robach and NBC News correspondent Luke Russert will be a part of this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration on NBC. Hosted by Carson Daly, this year’s show is also expanding into prime time. It will air live from 10-11pmET and return for an hour at 11:35pm. Robach and Russert will be giving live reports from Times Square.

The press release is after the jump…


LIVE PERFORMANCES BY CHART-TOPPING ARTISTS 50 CENT, LUDACRIS AND KATY PERRY RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH CARSON DALY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31 ON NBC

Advertisement

Fifth Annual Live “NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly” To Be Broadcast For the First Time With 1 Hour Airing in Primetime and 1 Hour in Late Night All in High Definition

“NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly” will once again feature the biggest names in music with this year’s performers Ludacris, 50 Cent and Katy Perry bringing their unique sound to New York City as Carson Daly rings in the New Year on Wednesday, December 31. The show promises to give viewers the experience of being in the middle of the world’s most famous New Year’s Eve destination, Times Square, and for the first time will be broadcast beginning in primetime from 10-11 p.m. (ET) and continuing in late night from 11:35 p.m. – 12:35 a.m. in high definition. The announcement was made today by Rick Ludwin, Executive Vice President, Late Night & Primetime Series.

“NBC’s Carson Daly New Year’s Eve tradition has increased its rating each year it’s been on the air,” said Ludwin. “Viewers clearly like what Carson is doing. The additional hour in prime time makes our audience even more a part of this New Year’s Eve party.”

Perry, whose smash hit “I Kissed A Girl” was the #1 single in 20 countries including the US where it dominated the Billboard charts at #1 for seven weeks, and whose follow up single “Hot N Cold” is Top 5 in both sales and airplay as well as the #2 most viewed video premiere of all time on MySpace, will perform songs from her RIAA gold certified album One Of The Boys. 50 Cent, who has sold more than 22 million albums and has received numerous awards and 11 Grammy nominations throughout his career, will perform songs from his upcoming fourth studio release, Before I Self Destruct. Ludacris is a multi-platinum Grammy Award winning rap artist and actor. He will be performing his single “One More Drink” featuring T-Pain from his long-awaited release Theater of the Mind, which comes out Nov. 25th. Theater of the Mind follows up Grammy-winning RIAA platinum Release Therapy #1 debut of 2006, with #1 singles “Runaway Love” featuring Mary J. Blige, and RIAA platinum “Money Maker” featuring Pharrell Williams.

In addition to the musical lineup, Carson will have help bringing the celebration to the home audience with Saturday “Today” co-anchor Amy Robach giving live reports from Times Square. Along with Robach, NBC News correspondent Luke Russert will join the broadcast this year.

“The network gave us a huge vote of confidence by asking us to expand into primetime,” said Daly. “We’ve got great music with 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Ludacris. It’s gonna be a huge show, bigger than the Beijing Olympics and if it’s not, I apologize.”

In 2007, 8 million viewers tuned in to watch “NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly.” It was the highest rated NBC New Year’s Eve special in six years, continuing the yearly upward trend for the special.

Advertisement