Fox New Year's Eve specials

From December 1991 to 1992, and again from December 2004 to 2013, Fox aired New Year's Eve specials under the blanket title New Year's Eve Live, with rotating hosts and formats, and coverage of the Times Square ball drop. Fox New Year's Eve Live was first broadcast on December 31, 1991; it was hosted by Penn and Teller and featured performances by Guns N' Roses, Sam Kinison, and Southside Johnny.[1] A second edition was broadcast in 1992, featuring coverage from New York, Chicago, and Orlando's Walt Disney World, and appearances by Martin Lawrence, Elton John, Bobcat Goldthwait from the Mayfair Theatre, and an escape act by Penn and Teller.[2]

For 1994, Fox aired New Year's Eve '94, hosted from Times Square by Richard Jeni and featuring Bobcat Goldthwait, George Carlin, Penn and Teller, the cast of the Fox sitcom Living Single, and Sinbad.[3]

For 1996, Fox shifted its specials to Las Vegas with New Year's Eve in Vegas, which was hosted from the Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas by Kim Fields Freeman and John Henton of Living Single. The special featured comedy performances by Carrot Top, D.B. Sweeny, and Sinbad, as well as musical performances by Bonnie Raitt, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Van Halen, and "Auld Lang Syne" performed by the cast of Forever Plaid. The hosts mocked the predictability of the ball drop, commenting that "there is nothing going on in Times Square that you haven't seen exactly before."[4][5]

The 1997 special, Sinbad's Dynamite New Year's Eve was hosted by Sinbad from The Mirage, and featured performances by the Cirque du Soleil, the Doobie Brothers, Hootie and the Blowfish, Salt-N-Pepa, and Siegfried & Roy. The special culminated with live coverage of the implosion of the former Hacienda hotel and resort (which began approaching midnight Eastern Time, 9 p.m. local time), with boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer making a special guest appearance to deliver a variation of his famous catchphrase—"Let's get ready to crumble!"—for the occasion.[6][7][8]

The 1998 special, When New Year's Eve Attacks!, was hosted from the Rio by David Alan Grier, and featured performances by Chumbawamba, Sugar Ray, and Third Eye Blind, as well as a car dropping stunt.[9][10]

For 2000, Fox broadcast special coverage from Times Square hosted by Fox News Channel anchors Brit Hume and Paula Zahn.[11]

In 2003 and 2004, Fox broadcast America's Party: Live from Las Vegas, which was hosted by American Idol's Ryan Seacrest. The 2003 edition was broadcast from The Venetian Las Vegas, and featured Ashanti, Dru Hill, Ja Rule, Sheryl Crow, Sugar Ray, and pre-recorded performances by Bon Jovi (from Melbourne, Australia on the Bounce Tour) and The Rolling Stones.[12][13]

In 2005, the special moved back to Times Square under the title New Year's Eve Live, with Seacrest remaining as host. For 2006, Regis Philbin replaced Seacrest as host, as he had become the new main host of ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve due to the lingering effects of Dick Clark's December 2004 stroke (incidentally, Philbin served as guest host of the 2004-05 edition of New Year's Rockin' Eve due to the stroke).[14] Various personalities, most of them affiliated with Fox programming, would host New Year's Eve Live from 2007 through 2011.

The 2012 edition featured a country music theme co-branded with Fox's American Country Awards (American Country New Year's Eve Live),[15] and the 2013-14 edition was hosted by The X Factor's Mario Lopez.[16]

From 2014–15 through 2016–17, Fox broadcast Pitbull's New Year's Revolution, which was created and produced by hip-hop artist Pitbull. It was broadcast from Bayfront Park in Miami, and featured live performances by Pitbull and other musicians (with the 2015–16 and 2016–17 editions having a particular focus on hip-hop and R&B acts).

Pitbull in 2012

The new special was announced in May 2014, and would be co-produced by Endemol North America and Pitbull's production company Honey I'm Home; the studio had signed an exclusive development deal with Pitbull in January 2014. New Year's Revolution marked the first production of a new Endemol division, Endemol Live; Endemol North America co-CEO Charlie Corwin explained that the new division "reflects a larger plan to continue to evolve Endemol North America into a studio for next-generation success and profitability". Fellow CEO Cris Abrego felt that New Year's Revolution would be "unlike anything else you have ever seen on television" and would mark "the start of a new tradition".[17][18]

In October 2014, it was revealed that Pitbull had been negotiating for the use of Bayfront Park as part of the special's associated festivities. Mayor of Miami Tomás Pedro Regalado supported the proposed events due to the amount of publicity it would bring the city, arguing that it would be "extraordinary" to "have three hours on live television, on [Fox], competing with Times Square. The only difference is they have a ball and we have an orange."[19] Portions of the special were taped at the Thompson Hotel on Miami Beach, including performances by The Band Perry, Becky G, Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, and Fifth Harmony.[20][21] The inaugural broadcast culminated with a free,[20] live concert by Pitbull at Bayfront Park leading into the new year.[22][23]

In October 2015, Fox confirmed that Pitbull's New Year's Revolution would return for 2015–16. The public festivities for the 2016 edition were expanded to include a two-day food festival, the Norwegian Worldwide Food & Wine Party, whose ticketed attendees were given priority seating for the concert at the Klipsch Amphitheatre at Bayfront Park.[24][25] Terry Crews and Wendy Williams co-hosted the special,[26] which featured appearances by Austin Mahone, Camila Cabello, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jussie Smollett, Sean Combs, Shawn Mendes, Prince Royce, R. City, Pia Mia, and Timbaland with Yazz of Fox series Empire.[27] John Hamlin, the former senior vice president of music events and talent at CMT, was also brought on to serve as a producer for the special under his Switched On Entertainment banner. Hamlin promised that unlike the 2015 edition, the 2016 edition would be entirely live with no pre-recorded content.[28][29]

The 2016–17 edition was co-hosted by Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg, and featured Biz Markie, Coolio, Naughty by Nature, Rob Base, Salt-N-Pepa, Tone Loc, and Young MC. Unlike previous editions, the 2017 edition did not include a primetime segment (Fox scheduled drama encores in the timeslot instead).[30][31][32]

The Fox telecast was not renewed for 2017–18; Pitbull has continued to organize New Year's Eve concerts at Bayfront Park in the years that followed.[33][34][35] He also appeared during Univision's Spanish-language New Year's Eve special ¡Feliz 2018!.[36]

On November 16, 2017, Fox announced that it would air a new special hosted by television personality Steve Harvey, known as New Year's Eve with Steve Harvey: Live from Times Square, for New Year's Eve 2018. The new special would be produced by IMG, who was also the producer of Harvey's eponymous syndicated talk show.[39][40][41][42]

The inaugural edition featured performances by the Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, Flo Rida, as well as Neil Diamond—who led a live performance of "Sweet Caroline" in Times Square.[43][44] Keven Undergaro and Maria Menounos were also married on-air in a ceremony officiated by Harvey (who was only ordained two days before the event).[45]

The special was renewed for 2018–19, with Menounos added as co-host, performances by Florence + the Machine, Jason Aldean, Juanes, Sting, Robin Thicke, and Why Don't We, and appearances by Ken Jeong (The Masked Singer), Kenan Thompson, and the Fox NFL Sunday panel.[46][47][48]

The 2020 edition included performances by the Backstreet Boys, The Chainsmokers, Florida Georgia Line, The Killers, LL Cool J and Z-Trip, The Lumineers, Tyga, and the Village People (which included an attempt in Times Square to set a world record for the largest "Y.M.C.A." dance).[49] It also featured appearances by Will Arnett (Lego Masters), Jenna Dewan (The Resident), Rob Gronkowski (who spiked a Lego bust of Harvey's face on-stage),[50] and Gordon Ramsay.[49]

To promote WWE SmackDown on Fox, WWE wrestlers Elias, R-Truth and Mojo Rawley also made appearances in Times Square (with the latter two briefly exchanging the 24/7 Championship),[51] and the special included the premiere of a match between Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler (filmed after the live SmackDown broadcast in Detroit the preceding Friday).[52][53]

On December 2, 2020, Fox announced that it would air a new special hosted by Ken Jeong and Joel McHale, Fox's New Year's Eve Toast & Roast. It was produced from Los Angeles and featured a retrospective of the previous year, honoring "those that helped to make the world a better place this past year." The special was produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment, and divided into primetime and late-night segments.[58][59]

It featured performances by David Guetta and Raye, Gabby Barrett, Mayim Bialik and Cheyenne Jackson (Call Me Kat), Gloria Estefan, Elvis Francois, Green Day, Jane Krakowski and Randy Jackson (Name That Tune), John Legend, Ava Max, and LeAnn Rimes.[60] Kelly Osbourne acted as correspondent from Times Square, while Craig Robinson and The Nasty Delicious served as house band.[61]