Hollywood has all but given up on ringing in 2022. COVID’s highly transmissible Omicron variant, which has ripped through the country at a shockingly fast rate, has prompted a wave of New Year’s Eve entertainment cancellations. Fox scrapped its “New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast,” and Phish rescheduled their “New Year’s Run” concerts. Still, the annual mainstay event for the past five decades will endure: “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” hosted by master-of-ceremonies veteran Ryan Seacrest and Forbes ’30 Under 30′ alum Liza Koshy.
The ABC special is well-seasoned, with 50 years of experience hyping up the nation until the ball drops at midnight. But how will the network pull a multi-city spectacle with an immense cast of co-hosts, musicians and performers, as well as a production crew, in the midst of a COVID surge? Seacrest and Koshy spoke with PvNewto discuss their game plan, which involves following pandemic protocols and “rolling with the punches.”
“I think it’s safe to say you can expect a celebration — you can expect the ball to drop and you can expect that 2022 will happen,” Seacrest tells PvNew. “Other than that, we’re not quite sure, but we’re preparing for the best and we’re taking all of the precautions and protocols that we’re following to make sure that it’s safe and to make sure that we’re doing everything we can. But we’re still going to celebrate.”
Added Seacrest, “We’ve got Karol G live, we’ve got Daddy Yankee live in Puerto Rico, and we’ve got three different countdowns across different time zones. And we’ve got about a quarter of the people that would normally come into Times Square coming to see the show, so there will be a lot more action this year than last year.”
Notably absent from this year’s festivities is LL Cool J, who announced yesterday that he had tested positive with COVID and would no longer be able to take the stage on Dec. 31. Seacrest stated that everyone has been “kept at the correct distance,” and that all involved with the massive endeavor have been tested and re-tested again.
“He’s got to do what he needs to do, and we are wishing him the best,” Seacrest said. “Over the years there have always been challenges, whether it be a performer who says two hours before we’re going live that they aren’t sure if they can perform, or whether it is a performer that comes back and does the show twice in a row, you just never really know what is going to happen.”
Regarding the COVID safety measures “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” has taken, Koshy joked that she was “more than happy” to get a test “up her nostril daily” if it meant ensuring “good health and happiness,” which is at the forefront of her mind this new year.
“We have talent on and off-camera, and the entire crew and their families are taking all of these health and safety protocols very seriously,” Koshy tellsPvNew. “We have been in our own little bubbles and rooms, and we’ll come together Friday night to start the new year off right.”
“They may not be paying attention to what we’re saying and what we’re doing, and they may just have the TV on in the background, but that’s part of what this show is. That’s something that I always sort of think about — how exciting it is to be there and to feel that magical moment when you say ‘Happy New Year’ to America at the end of the countdown,” Seacrest said.
“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” will air live on Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
