ABC announced today that its yearly New Year’s Rockin’ Eve countdown will this year feature a tribute to Dick Clark, who died in April of this year at age 82.
A two-hour special will air at 8 pm EST before the yearly countdown show begins. Titled New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Celebrates Dick Clark, the show will be hosted by Jenny McCarthy from Times Square, and by Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie in Los Angeles. It will feature American Bandstand clips and other famous Dick Clark moments from the past half-century. The performances will reach back as far as Johnny Cash in 1959, Sonny & Cher in 1965, and The Doors in 1967. Other featured artists include ABBA, Beach Boys, Blondie, James Brown, Neil Diamond, Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Stevie Wonder.
Though Dick Clark rang in the new year on network television for four decades, a stroke in 2004 left him unable to perform his hosting duties as he had in the past. Just days after Dick Clark’s passing in April, ABC announced that Ryan Seacrest will be taking over as the host of the new year’s countdown. The news didn’t go over well on Twitter, though that didn’t deter ABC or Seacrest.
Following the two-hour Dick Clark tribute, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2013 will begin at 10 pm EST and run until around 2 am.