1) “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” 8 p.m. Wednesday to 4 a.m., ABC. It’s the longest Eve show ever — eight hours (minus the news at 10). Ryan Seacrest (shown here in a previous year) is at Times Square, where Diana Ross sings live. Others are in Chicago, Las Vegas and Puerto Rico, with music (mostly taped) ranging from Mariah Carey to Post Malone, Chappell Roan and BigXthePlug.
2) More Eve music, Wednesday. CBS is in Nashville from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. (minus the 10 p.m. news), with music by Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, Riley Green, Dierks Bentley, Megan Monroney and more. Also, from 8-10 p.m. are reruns of music from “Wicked” (NBC) and a terrific Rodgers & Hammerstein concert (PBS).
3) Football, ESPN. The college championship has reached its quarter-finals now. At 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, it’s Miami and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Thursday has the Orange Bowl (Oregon-Texas Tech) at 9 a.m. PT, Rose Bowl (Alabama-Indiana) at 1 p.m. and Sugar Bowl (Mississippi-Georgia) at 5. The winners reach the semi-finals, Jan. 8-9.
4) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. ET Thursday, ABC and NBC. The year gets off to a colorful — and musical — start. It opens with Magic Johnson as grand marshal and music by Bishop Briggs. Then we see 19 bands, plus floats, horse units and more. The closing music is by Capital Cities and by Dek of Hearts, the trio that finished third in this season’s “The Voice.”
5) “The Year: 2025.” 8-10 p.m., today ABC. We’ve already had year-end pop-culture hours from NBC and CW. Now ABC takes two hours to catch both the serious side — wars, wildfires, domestic turmoil, a new pope etc. — and the pop side. The latter has interviews with the Jonas Brothers, Luke Bryan, Robert Irwin, podcasters, influencers and more.
6) “American Masters,” 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, PBS. Now that Dick Van Dyke has officially turned 100, we can savor a rerun of this fun profile. With ample clips and memories, we see him as a young man with an elastic face and body, doing a lip-sync act. He had a string of CBS failures, then the great “Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Mary Poppins” and more.
7) Music, 8 p.m. Thursday, ABC and PBS. Opposite genres share the night. On PBS, it’s the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year concert; on ABC, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony has performances by some of the inductees — (Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarten, Salt-N-Pepa) plus Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Stevie Wonder, Brandi Carlile, Elton John and more.
8) “Citizen Kane” (1941), 8 p.m. ET Friday, Turner Classic Movies; “Barbie” (2023), 8 p.m. Friday, TBS. Remember “Barbieheimer,” with same-day arrivals of films about a nuclear scientist and a plastic doll? Here’s a similar pair: “Kane,” No. 1 on the American Film Institute list, is brilliantly crafted and black-and-white; “Barbie” is smart, fun and ultra-colorful.
9) “TV We Love,” 8 and 9 p.m Saturday, CW. Long ago, TV had black-and-white comedies, shot in limited spaces. Many were awful; a few gave sharp scripts to gifted actors. Here are profiles of two of the best — “Lucy” (1951-57) was propelled by Lucilee Ball’s sight-gag mastery; “Honeymooners” (1955-56) had Jackie Gleason and blue-collar humor.
10) “The Pitt,” 11:30 a.m. to 11:41 p.m Sunday, HBO. In its first season, this won five Emmys, including best drama and actors Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa and Shawn Hatosy. Four days before the second season opens on HBO Max, here’s the entire first one. It’s a logical way to see a show that portrays 15 consecutive hours at a busy Pittsburgh hospital.