New Year's Eve Live is an annual New Year's Eve television special broadcast by CNN and CNN International. It primarily focuses on coverage of the ball drop festivities held in Times Square in New York City while also featuring coverage of events in other areas of the U.S. and around the world.
Anderson Cooper has been hosting New Year's Eve Live since 2002. From 2007 to 2017, comedian Kathy Griffin was Cooper's co-host, providing bawdy comic relief; Griffin was dismissed from the program and CNN in May 2017. Griffin was replaced by Andy Cohen beginning with the 2017–18 edition.
The program has become known for its sometimes raucous and controversial moments. For some reason, the CNN screen in Times Square did not show the CNN New Years Eve Live event on there ever since it was launched in Times Square in either 2005 or 2006.
Overview
On December 31, 2001, Miles O'Brien hosted informal, news-based coverage of New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. CNN correspondents provided reports of the festivities from the crowd, including the swearing in of incoming New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.
In 2002, Anderson Cooper took over as host from Times Square. He had volunteered to host New Year's coverage in response to his own personal ambivalence on the holiday.
The program was initially only 30 minutes long, beginning at 11:30 PM Eastern until shortly after the conclusion of the ball drop. The runtime was expanded to 90 minutes beginning in 2003, and was extended several times in the following years. As of 2022, the program runs from 8 PM until just after 1 AM Eastern, with the last half hour focusing on festivities in the Central Time Zone. This was in contrast with other nationally broadcast New Year's Eve programs until 2017, when ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve started observing a Central countdown. The Pacific Time Zone is covered only by tape-delaying the East Coast event coverage, and there is no coverage or countdown for the Mountain Time Zone. In addition to Times Square, the program has frequently broadcast from Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and Key West, where Gary Marion (a drag queen who performs as "Sushi") rides a ruby shoe down to ring in the new year.
Guest correspondents over the years include Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, Ed Henry, John Zarrella, and Gary Tuchman, the last of whom typically serves as a roving reporter covering various smaller or more eccentric New Year's celebrations (in recent years alongside his daughter Lindsay Tuchman). In recent years, musical performances inside Times Square and in other places have been shown.
On May 31, 2017, CNN cut its ties with Griffin after she had posted a photo depicting her holding a mock severed head of U.S. president Donald Trump. A CNN spokesperson described her photo as "disgusting and offensive", while Cooper himself condemned the photo by stating that it was "clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate".
On October 11, 2017, Andy Cohen was announced as Griffin's replacement.
Past editions
2003–2006
On December 31, 2003, Anderson Cooper hosted, joined by Jason Carroll (street reports), Hugh Hefner (at the Playboy Mansion), Cyndi Lauper, Wyclef Jean, Ben Stein, Amazing Kreskin, The Flaming Lips, John Zarrella (Key West), Kendis Gibson (Elma, New York, where a resident had won a write-in contest to have the show come to her New Year party, which in her case also was a graduation and going-away party for her son), and live look-ins at celebrations in other cities.
On December 31, 2004, New Year's Live with Anderson Cooper featured a performance by Celine Dion from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
On December 31, 2005, Anderson Cooper hosted from Times Square, with Erica Hill reporting from the crowd on the street. John Zarrella reported from Key West, Betty Nguyen was in Chicago, and Susan Roesgen was in New Orleans, which was recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Musical performances included James Brown at B.B. King's blues club in Times Square, John Mayer Trio in San Francisco, Barenaked Ladies at St. Pete Times Forum, Brooks & Dunn in Nashville, Fantasia at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, Kool & the Gang, and Wynton Marsalis. Harry Connick, Jr. did a special feature on New Orleans, while Chef Paul Prudhomme joined for a cooking segment also in New Orleans.
On December 31, 2006, New Year's Live with Anderson Cooper featured a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls in Anaheim, California, and Montgomery Gentry at Rupp Arena. James Brown was scheduled to perform a song live, but he died on December 25.