Broadcast and cable networks delivered their annual live New Year’s Eve celebration specials last night, highlighted by the Ryan Seacrest-hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC.
One of the more notable moments of the evening occurred during Mariah Carey’s performance on the long running ABC program. Carey’s audio malfunctioned while she was lip syncing to some of her biggest songs on stage in front of millions. She ended up walking off the stage during the middle of her performance when it became apparent that the glitch wouldn’t be fixed.
Cable news got into the act as well. CNN televised the 10th annual New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin from Times Square. Cooper and Griffin each bring lots of energy and memorable moments to the broadcast, but it was one of their colleagues who may have stole the show this year. Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin were reporting from New Orleans, and the CNN Tonight anchor made the bold move of getting his ear pierced at a French Quarter bar live on-air.
“If this hurts I’m gonna be so mad,” Lemon said right before getting the piercing. “Don’t get blood on the jacket. It goes back to Brooks Brothers.”
This happened. #cnnnye pic.twitter.com/S3NgE2EJTk
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) January 1, 2017
Lemon looked to be having a lot of fun down in the Big Easy, so much so that at one point, CNN decided to cut off Lemon’s mic entirely. You can hear him say “2016 was awful,” before the feed abruptly ends. Fast-forward to 1:35 in:
Nevertheless, Cooper was impressed with his colleagues, as evidenced by this tweet:
It seems @donlemon, @BrookeBCNN got the #CNNNYE party (and the drinking) started a little early down in New Orleans https://t.co/vSI1sy9oXk
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 1, 2017
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Bolling of The Five hosted All-American New Year on Fox News. Bolling did not end up taking off his top during the broadcast, something he hinted he might do during our chat with him and Guilfoyle earlier in the week.
“This is the Fox News Channel’s All-American New Year. This past year, we saw plenty scandals, amazing moments caught on video, and K.G., I even think we had a presidential election, if I’m not mistaken,” said Bolling.
In addition to some of recalling some happier moments from the year, Bolling and Guilfoyle looked back at the presidential election cycle, showed a montage of “the top celebrity meltdowns,” and checked in with correspondents in Times Square and across the country.
Phil Keating had the fun assignment of reporting from The W hotel on South Beach, where German DJ Robin Schultz was performing.
Bolling’s wife made a cameo as soon as the clock struck midnight, and Guilfoyle was happy to keep the commentary going.
