Other things I wonder:
How many people will watch the parade live for the first time since it was last held on a Monday? I'm one of those. On the east coast the parade airs at 11:30 but here in the west it kicks off at 8:30. I'm usually asleep through it. Most people who were up late for New Years Eve sleep through it.
How come it rarely rains on the Rose Parade?
What are Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards doing this year?
Why does every float win some award?
And finally, is there an excuse to hold the Rose Bowl on Tuesday so everyone has one more day before having to return to work or school?
One year, in the late '70s, I was in New York for New Years Eve and January 1st fell on a Sunday. I went to a Broadway show on New Years Eve (SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM -- see it if it's still playing although it might have closed last month), and then walked through Times Square to get to the subway I needed. It's the only time I've been in that mob scene, and my question to those folks is: WHY???
Anyway, I flew home to Los Angeles on Sunday (on the same flight as Dick Clark -- guess he couldn't get out of there fast enough), and was in front of my TV on Monday to see the Rose Parade. It was weird. Usually the time gap between the ball dropping and parade is eight hours. Maybe the Flash could normally attend both events, but it felt like there was a suspension of time. I don't know about you, but I love when I can be in two places at the same time.
In any event, enjoy New Years Day 2.0.
According to Wikipedia, under the heading of the Rose Parade:
ReplyDelete"Members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club first staged the parade in 1890. Since then the parade has been held in Pasadena every New Year's Day, except when January 1 falls on a Sunday. In that case, it is held on the subsequent Monday, January 2. This exception was instituted in 1893, as organizers did not wish to disturb horses hitched outside Sunday church services.[6]"
Happy New Year!
Just to let Ken and everyone else know: Thursday, Jan. 5 will be the inaugural National Screenwriters Day, co-sponsored by ScreenwritingU.com and Stage 32. Why hold it? To give film and TV scribes such as Ken the credit they so often don't get.
ReplyDeleteLegend has it that Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin (who romanced both the lady in my avatar and Glenda Farrell, then later married Fay Wray), tired of Frank Capra getting all the publicity for scripts he'd written for him (e.g., "It Happened One Night"), once stormed into Capra's office with a folio of blank sheets, dropped it on his desk, and angrily told him, "Put the famous Capra touch on that!"
Learn more about the event at http://nationalscreenwritersday.com/#home
The "WHY???" Ken mentions reminds me of several SEINFELD episodes that involved marathons and parades. I don't understand the New Yorker fondness for gathering in bunches, and scenes left me puzzled (as well as lauughing).
ReplyDeleteWhy is everything moved to Monday? Because the NFL is more powerful than the Rose Parade Committee. Nobody screws with football.
ReplyDeleteStill miss Bob and Stephanie...
ReplyDeleteMonday Questions
ReplyDeleteKen has the first, and several:
Ken’s first question was answered by Al, thank you Al.
Next question: How many idiots … ?
The Pasadena Screwed News headline from Friday: “Camping Out Illegal on New Years Eve Before Rose Parade”. Factually correct, but obviously written to gain clicks. So, the intrepid few who did go really early to get the absolute best spot – a family tradition for many – were advised by Pasadena’s finest to come back the next day, they weren’t allowed to camp out for two nights.
Kicks off at 8:30?
Oops. You missed the flyover, though Channel 5 will replay it all day long for you. Parade started at 8:00.
How come it rarely rains on the Rose Parade?
Because this is Southern CA. The weather answer department (some other reader?) will advise that any specific date in SoCal has rain only approximately once every ten years, just like Jan. 1 (or 2) … more or less. (Last rainy day was 2006.)
Every float wins an award?
Does seem that way, therefore this responder will step aside to let the trolls chime in regarding participation recognition trophies.
Hold Rose Bowl Game on Tuesday?
Oh dear, first you’re late for the Parade, and now you’re missing the game. The game is on Monday, Jan. 2, following the Parade. I was surprised to see that all the New Years Day bowls are being played on Monday. So – as Blinky pointed out - we get all the pro games (albeit almost all non-events at week 17) without college viewing competition.
With Jan. 2 being the national holiday, when the White Suiters have managed the finite details, everything is factored in, all is said and done, at the end of the day, one wonders, like you, how many other team fans are enjoying a day between the festivities and their game?
Submitted with respect and thanks to our guru,
Happy New Year Ken.
These days no Broadway shows go on New Year's Eve. Times Square effectively shuts down in the afternoon and is barricaded by the NYPD. A few shows do matinees, but I suspect that will change too. It's too much of a crazy mob scene.
ReplyDeleteKen, Mark Hamill has written a guest column for Hollywood Reporter paying tribute to Carrie Fisher and their friendship. It's rather sweet and moving.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/mark-hamills-carrie-fisher-tribute-making-her-laugh-was-a-badge-honor-guest-column-96017
It still feels unreal that she's gone. It's going to make Episode VIII, her final appearance, very emotional to sit through.
Sitting around on Rose Parade morning I switched over to the m*a*s*h marathon on Sundance. The premise is it's movie night and they're actually showing long clips of actual old western movies . The film keeps breaking and they start singing songs and doing impressions. It seems like there's not really a story here but just filler to get through the last show of the season and go on hiatus. Is that what it was?
ReplyDeleteI see lots of people are wearing knit hats & jackets. Must mean temperatures are down in the mid-60's?
ReplyDeleteYou can't properly celebrate the new year without a bit of Eddie Murphy in Trading Places: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9K796cnJ5o
ReplyDeleteMerry new year, everybody!
Not every float wins, but all the Sponsor's do...
ReplyDeleteMark Evanier once wrote that ever since Dick Clark moved to Los Angeles, he wouldn't fly to New York until the evening of New Year's Eve. He'd get to Times Square with just a couple of hours to spare, do the show, get a few zzzzzz's in a nearby hotel room, then take the first flight he could get back to Los Angeles on New Year's Day. Not so much because he hated Times Square, he was just a workaholic who hated the idea of ever wasting any time not getting business done.
ReplyDeleteThat had to be 1977/1978 when Ken was in NYC on New Year's Eve in the late 70s, as Dec. 31, 1977 fell on a Saturday, and the parades & college football games were held on Monday, Jan. 2, 1978. This was the first time New Year's Day had fallen on a Sunday since 1967.
ReplyDeleteI missed Bob and Stephanie, I kinda wish someone had done a shoutout to them.
ReplyDeleteKen, the Hallmark Channel reruns the parade right after they air it, so if you sleep through it the first time like I did, you can see it again later.
Friday question:
ReplyDeleteLast night I ran across the Wings episode where Helen drives her Jeep through the Hacketts' airport office. It reminded me of similar scenes of destruction in other sitcoms: Frank driving his car through Ray's front door on Everybody Loves Raymond, Rebecca accidentally burning down Cheers, ALF causing an explosion in the family kitchen, etc.
In scenes like these, do shows generally build a replica to destroy so they can maintain the original set pieces, or do they destroy the original set for the episode and then rebuild it? I suppose either method would cost about the same.
Ken, the zoo atmosphere of New Year's Eve in Times Square ended with Sept 11th. Before then it was such a hot mess that the police were in riot gear, hanging out in the subway. Rampant drinking and whatever was rampant. It was 'general lunacy'.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards its been very organized, sanitary, with people caged in pens.
In otherwards, zzzzzz.
The most amazing thing is that the whole thing is cleaned up by 1 AM. Garbage, barricades, etc.
I think there was probably some deal like 'when you buy the 3-day holiday package you get spots on the run-up to midnight on New Year's Eve, a few sprinkled in various bowl games and we'll toss in some bonus spots during the parade on Monday...sure it's expensive but it's the only way you'll get any spots on for the weekend'.
ReplyDeleteWe DVR'd the parade and watched it last night. The floats were incredible! I mean, a long swimming pool with a wave machine and dogs surfing?...amazing! You can't see the float drivers anymore. How do they hide them? Eubanks and Ellis were a whole lot better than those 2 they used this year. They were so much more engaged with the parade than (I can't even think of their names--Willard Scott?...no, the guy who lost all that weight).