This year, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will be having their 45th anniversary. Even though Dick Clark passed away in 2012, Ryan Seacrest has taken up the hosting mantle since then. The show continues to have many traditional segments of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, primarily with the iconic countdown in New York City. This year Seacrest will be joined by comedian Jenny McCarthy for his annual Times Square party.
However, there is a first happening for the long-running New Year’s special: an inclusion of a Central Time Zone countdown. Deadline writes that this year New Orleans will be leading the Central Time Zone ticket, as the broadcast shows live footage from the Big Easy.
The live New Orleans segments are expected to include special performances via the Allstate Fan Fest, a massive blowout in New Orleans which gathers together both tourists and locals alike to celebrate New Year’s Eve and the upcoming Sugar Bowl, which is held in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. The New Orleans coverage will have its own spin of Rockin’ Eve, dropping a fleur-de-lis near Jackson Square at the stroke of midnight.
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will continue to follow its format of five and a half hours of nonstop reports, performances, and interviews. DNCE, Thomas Rhett, Mariah Carey, and Gloria Estefan have already announced that they will be performing for the broadcast.
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2017 airs Saturday, December 31 at 8pm ET.