Best-bets for Jan. 1: Year begins with parade, bowls, more

1) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, NBC and ABC. Every year should start with the giddy flash of a parade. The Rose Parade (shown here in a previous year) was canceled last year, but now it expects 20 bands, 40 floats and lots of horses. LeAnn Rimes does an opening song; LeVar Burton – who was a University of Southern California student when he got the “Roots” lead, 45 years ago – is grand marshal. It’s the 95th year NBC covers it on radio or TV; Chrissy Metz and Susan Kelechi Watson (“This Is Us”) do commentary. Read more…

1) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET, NBC and ABC. Every year should start with the giddy flash of a parade. The Rose Parade (shown here in a previous year) was canceled last year, but now it expects 20 bands, 40 floats and lots of horses. LeAnn Rimes does an opening song; LeVar Burton – who was a University of Southern California student when he got the “Roots” lead, 45 years ago – is grand marshal. It’s the 95th year NBC covers it on radio or TV; Chrissy Metz and Susan Kelechi Watson (“This Is Us”) do commentary.

2) Bowl games. ABC has three big ones. The Fiesta Bowl, 1 p.m. ET, has Notre Dame (ranked No. 5) and Oklahoma State (No. 9) … the Rose Bowl, at 5, has Ohio State (No. 6) and Utah (No. 11) … and the Sugar Bowl, at 8:45, has Baylor (No. 7) and Mississippi (No.8). Other games have Arkansas (No. 21) and Penn State at noon ET on ESPN2 and Iowa (No. 15) and Kentucky (No. 22) at 1 p.m. on ABC.

3) “Great Performances,” 8 p.m., PBS, rerunning at 9:30. Here’s the annual New Year concert from Vienna, with Strauss waltzes and classical tunes. Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) hosts. The conductor is Daniel Barenboim, also an esteemed pianist and a global figure. He speaks five languages, is a citizen of four countries and has led orchestras in Chicago, Paris, Milan and Berlin.

4) “9-1-1: Lone Star,” 9 p.m., Fox. Does Austin, Texas, ever have nice weather? In this rerun of the season-finale, it has a dust storm; in the high-octane season-opener coming up Monday, it has a blizzard. This rerun also is a pivotal one for Owen (Rob Lowe), setting up the multi-week opener.

5) “Saturday Night Live,” 11:29 p.m., NBC. Kieran Culkin – an Emmy-nominee for “Succession” – hosts this rerun, with Ed Sheeran as music guest. Culkin even shows a rerun of his previous “SNL” stop – 30 years ago, when he was 9 and his big brother Macaulay was the host.

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