ABC’s coast-to-coast New Year’s celebration is the highest-profile, but TV offers multiple options to ring in 2022 and say goodbye to the old year. Netflix has plenty to keep viewers busy in the meantime, including another award-worthy performance from Olivia Colman in the psychological drama The Good Daughter, new seasons of Cobra Kai and Queer Eye, and the latest European adaptation of a Harlan Coben thriller, Stay Close. A curated critical checklist of notable Friday TV:
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Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest
Not as small a gathering as last year, but not as packed as before the pandemic and the latest surge, the highest-profile of TV’s New Year’s Eve celebrations marks its 50th anniversary, with Ryan Seacrest clocking his 17th appearance as Dick Clark’s successor. Though everything is subject to change, the scheduled lineup includes Chlöe, Journey, and Karol G performing at the New York City crossroads. Other highlights include Billy Porter, co-hosting from New Orleans, performing from the Louis Armstrong riverboat, and Fantasy Island’s Roselyn Sanchez emceeing from Puerto Rico for the show’s first Spanish-language countdown. Ciara returns to host the L.A. party, where the roster includes OneRepublic, Walker Hayes, Avril Lavigne, and Travis Barker, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and many more.
Other ways to mark the new year transition:
- 2021: It’s Toast! (8/7c, NBC): Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager lead an upbeat look back at 2021, emphasizing humorous moments over those that were less fun to witness. Followed by Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party Hosted by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson (10:30/9:30c), airing live from Miami with performers including Brandi Carlile, Billie Joe Armstrong, Saweetie and Jack Harlow.
- New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash (8/7c, CBS): Bobby Bones and ET’s Rachel Smith host a five-hour celebration overflowing with country music greatness. The who’s-who lineup includes Lady A, Jason Aldean, Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band and many more.
- CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live (8/7c, CNN): Anderson Cooper is joined for the fifth year by Bravo personality Andy Cohen as they check in with correspondents from across the country, with Katy Perry headlining from her new Las Vegas residency. Other celebrity guests include William Shatner, Patti LaBelle, Earth, Wind & Fire, youth poet Amanda Gorman, Broadway diva Patti LuPone and the irrepressible Leslie Jordan.
Courtesy of Netflix
Cobra Kai
The fourth season of the popular Karate Kid spinoff brings former rivals Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) together as they unite against their nemesis: Cobra Kai owner John Kreese (Martin Kove). But Kreese has his own ally in returning disciple Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith), the villain from Karate Kid III.
The Lost Daughter
The Crown’s Olivia Colman adds another fascinating character to her award-winning portfolio in first-time director (and screenwriter) Maggie Gyllenhaal’s absorbing psychological drama based on an Elena Ferrante novella. Colman is Leda, a brooding divorcée trying to enjoy her solo vacation on a beach in Greece when her peace is shattered by a boisterous family that triggers her very conflicted memories of early motherhood (her younger self is played by rising star Jessie Buckley).
Netflix
Queer Eye
The sixth season sends the Fab Five to Austin, Texas, where the makeovers are, like the inhabitants, larger than life.
Netflix
Stay Close
The fifth Harlan Coben thriller to be adapted for the streamer transplants the action from Atlantic City to the British seaside town of Blackpool, where the fates of three people are intertwined, exposing dark secrets after a disappearance echoes another vanishing from 17 years earlier. Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) stars as a single mom, with MI-5’s Richard Armitage as a failed photographer and The Missing’s James Nesbitt as a detective obsessed by a cold case.
Inside Friday TV:
- A Toast to Twilight (starts at 6 am/ET, Decades): For the fourth year, the nostalgia channel turns over the weekend to Rod Serling’s classic The Twilight Zone, airing episodes both fantastical and allegorical (and sometimes terrifying) through Monday at 7 am/ET. Syfy’s annual Twilight Zone marathon starts even earlier, at 2 am/ET, continuing through Sunday at 5 am.
- United in Song: Celebrating the American Dream (9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): Broadway legend Chita Rivera hosts an inspirational musical program filmed at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, with a theme of unity and diversity. Performers include Judy Collins, Deborah Cox, Sandi Patty, Midori and Lea Salonga alongside the American Pops Orchestra, with a newly commissioned performance from The Washington Ballet.
- Gary Owen: Black Famous (9/8c, Showtime): Performing stand-up from his Cincinnati hometown’s Memorial Hall, the comic with a sizable Black following catches fans up with his post-divorce life.