Forty years after the start of "New Year's Rockin' Eve," the show has its first Eve since Dick Clark's death. Here's the story I sent to papers. The previous blog profiles Greyson Chance, 15, one of this year's performers. The one that follows will be an overall list:

By MIKE HUGHES

For “New Year's Rockin' Eve,” the
start was quite modest. It was Dick Clark on a restaurant roof.

"New Year's Rockin' Eve" was already 25 years old when Greyson Chance was born. Tonight, he's on the show. Here's the story I sent to papers; right above this are two other stories, a TV-Eve overview and a list:

 By MIKE HUGHES

It might seem easy to plunk Greyson
Chance into a familiar category.

I came fairly close to nailing "American Idol" tonight. My prediction had Elise Testone, Hollie Cavanagh and Colton Dixon in the bottom three; they were.

I also predicted, alas, that Elise would go home. Instead, it was Colton. Two contestants (Cavanagh and Phillip Phillips) were reduced to tears; I was reduced to my usual stunned look. Here are a few comments about the show and about Dick Clark:

1) First, Clark. For the second straight night, Ryan Seacrest had an excellent mini-tribute.

Dick Clark was a master of many things, you know. That ranged from producing award shows to spotting and spotlighting pop talent.

And there's one more: Clark was an excellent game-show host. He was nominated for 10 daytime Emmys for best game host, winning three times. So it's logical that Clark tributes are coming from GSN (formerly Game Show Network).

OK, let's take one more advance peek at New Year's Eve.

The previous blog interviewed David Archleta, who will be on Fox; this one interviews Taio Cruz, who will be live on Times Square for ABC. Both are part of the New Year's Eve package I sent to papers, along with stories on Mike Posner and La Roux, plus an overview list.

You can get most of the listings in my TV column. (Hit "TV Column" above and scroll to Friday.) Here's the Cruz story:

By MIKE HUGHES