Daly to ring in ’08

by Joshua Maloni
Niagara Frontier Publications, December 27, 2007

The stockings were hung, the halls decked and St. Nick did in fact make an appearance. Christmas may be over, but there’s still one thing left to do this holiday season: Watch the ball drop. Carson Daly hosts his fourth annual New Year’s Eve special on NBC beginning at 11:30 p.m. Monday. The “Last Call” host and former MTV “Total Request Live” VJ spoke recently about New York’s biggest party of the year and about Dick Clark, the man who began TV’s ultimate countdown. Producer David Friedman joined him on the conference call. Joshua Maloni: In terms of the audience … it’s New Year’s Eve. You’re going to have families watching. You’re going to have people, you know, in various, I guess, stages of revelry. People at bars, people at home and all that. How do you guys prepare to present the show? What kind of a format do you want to offer the various kinds of viewers? Carson Daly: “I’ll let David talk a little bit about this. But I can tell you that early on, you know, we’re equally as excited – or at least I am to be hosting it – as I am to produce it. “I mean it’s such a wonderful annual event. And we’re excited to be doing it in a new long-standing tradition at NBC.

Carson Daly of “New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly” (NBC photo: Mitchell Haaseth/Copyright NBC)

“And I think that Dave and I spent a lot of time the first couple of years – I mean this has been an organic growth for this show, this production, at NBC starting from being in Rockefeller Plaza in the first year and then sort of moving it into Times Square.

“And the ratings have gotten better every year. And we feel like we’re developing that audience.

“But one of the things that we’ve always talked about – and then I also say, because we get the question all the time. That there’s never been any counter programming measurements on our part. We simply don’t worry about what other networks do that night.

“We felt like there were a lot of families watching. There were a lot of our friends in bars watching.

“And ultimately that means sometimes the TV on that night with the sound off until the ball drops. And we thought the image that’s on that screen is the most important thing.

“And we felt that New York is that image.”

David Friedman: “I think, yes Carson hits it on the (head) – I think the only thing to add to that is the most important thing for us when we sort of format and produce this show, is to make sure that we are living in the moment. And being sort of a vehicle for anyone who’s not lucky enough to be in Times Square.

“Because again, you know, as cliché as it does sound, it is an amazing experience when you’re in Times Square. And when Carson is standing in the middle of that sea of madness, which is – it’s just – you can’t really explain it.

“So we try every year to do our best to try to give viewers, whether they’re in a bar, on a living room couch – wherever they are – to give them sort of the sensation that we’re sort of experiencing live.

“And that’s a challenge. But that’s what we live to do.

“So it’s a combination of giving you some visual stuff, some great music (Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz will perform). And, then, really trying to make you feel like you’re there with us.

“And that’s – I think we do it pretty well. And every year we try to do it better.”

JM: Carson, Dick Clark is the competition. But he is also the man who sort of started this whole ball rolling. So what, if anything, do you take from him in preparing for the show?

Daly: “You know … I’ve never made any bones about my admiration or respect for Mr. Clark. I always have.

“You know, there’s been a long-standing … comparison to the profound effects that an afternoon teen show called ‘Total Request Live’ had in it’s hey day.

“And there’s another show called ‘American Bandstand.’ And he and I were sort of particularly linked.

“My old sort of quote that (I) say is it’s – the comparison has been great for me and it sucks for Dick Clark.

“This night and this broadcast is not the singular thing I sort of try and take something from Dick Clark. It’s his history. It’s him as a broadcaster, him as a person, the achievements he’s had in front of the camera, behind the camera. All of it. His natural abilities on air; his personality. It’s, if I could obtain a morsel of that, I would consider myself successful.”

JM: Carson, what were some of the highlights of the past year for you?

Daly: “Just the whole thing. I mean this is – I felt like, you know, this – that last year was the first full year for me to be back in Los Angeles after, you know, I don’t know 12 years. I had been in New York for almost 10. And San Francisco prior to that. And New York for a – or LA for a (minute).

“But this is my first full year back. And I think for me the real highlight – it wasn’t any one particular thing.

“My sister just had a kid who’s 2 years old. And to spend as much time as I did in the last year with my – I have one sister. And her first kid. And my parents are close by.

“All of the family time that was tough for me in New York, you know. I was there with my mom who’s a breast cancer survivor. When she was diagnosed I was in New York.

“You know, there’s just so many things that have happened that I felt like I wasn’t around for.

“And so the last year for me just family wise is just the most important thing. So there’s been a lot of that.

“And as far as on the entertainment side. I mean just the sheer growth of ‘Last Call.’ I mean what we’ve been able to do. What’s been given to us. And the way in which we’ve done it has been really exciting and, been a lot of great moments on the late night show.”