On the July 4 weekend, it seems, all Americans will simultaneously be:
— Partying outdoors, with music and fireworks and such; and
— Sitting at home, watching music and fireworks and such.
At least, that’s the plan, as networks set massive 250th-birthday plans.
— Fireworks? NBC will be in New York, as usual … CBS and Fox News will be in Washington, D.C. … ABC and its cable and streaming chanels will be in Nashville and Disneyland …PBS will be in Colonial Williamsburg — a day after many of its stations are at Mount Vernon.
— Music? You’ll find lots of country stars — Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins, Tim McGraw, Clint Black, etc. — plus others, including Post Malone, Bebe Rexha, Ne-Yo, Jon Batiste, Kelli O’Hara and Judy Collins.
Here are the plans, with details pending; all are for the 4th, except where noted. We’ll start with the networks that have been doing this every year:
— NBC will be in New York for the Macy’s mega-fireworks — 85,000 shells in 30 colors, paired with a laser show from the Brooklyn Bridge.
That’s fropm 8-10 p.m., also on Peacock. Performers will include Shelton, Rexha, Malone, Shaboozey, Noah Kahan and Salt-N-Pepa.
— PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth” is sometimes the network’s most-watched show of the year. This year’s edition won’t actually be on the Fourth and won’t have the Capitol fireworks.
It will air at 8 p.m. July 3 on many (but not all) PBS stations, with music — including a new song from Adkins — and the Mount Vernon fireworks.
The usual PBS spot at 8 p.m. on the Fourth instead goes to a mega-production: “America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together.”
That will include music — O’Hara, Collins, Michael Feinstein, opera star Ryan Speedo Green and Broadway’s “Adrienne Warren — and the Williamsburg fireworks, plus more.
There will be narration from Richard Thomas and actors will portray historic figures, with excerpts from the Declaration of Independence. Also included will be the Virginia Chorale, the Williamsburg Fife & Drums and the premiere of a piece by the Leah Glenn Dance Theatre.
— ABC will be part of a special (8-11 p.m.) sprawling across the Disney world. That includes cable (Freeform, FX, National Geographic) and streaming (Hulu, Disney+, ABC News Live).
Ryan Seacrest hosts from Nashville. The music includes country (McEntire, McGraw, Black, Brothers Osborne, Little Big Town), plus Boyz II Men, Nick Jonas, Lauren Daigle, The All-American Rejects and more.
The fireworks from Nashville will be supplemented by patriotic-themed ‘works in Disneyland
— CBS will have Tony Dokoupil and Nischelle Turner in Washington, D.C.,. but will also visit New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Charleston, Milwaukee, Fort Campbell, Ky., and the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, N.D.
That will be from 8-11 p.m. and will stream on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7. Performers will include Batiste, The War and Treaty, Goo Goo Dolls and the Zac Brown Band.
— Fox is tied up all day with sports. It has World Cup ganes at 1 p.m. ET in Houston and then at 5 in Philadelphia — a key place on any Fourth. Then it hss baseball at 8:08, with the Mets-Braves or the Cards-Cubs.
So it will leave the celebration coverage to the Fox News Channel.
That starts on the night of July 3, with the Times Square ball drop in New York. It will spend time in New Jersey (Liberty State Park, near the Statue of Liberty) and Philadelphia (before the Cup game), with correspondents in Los Angeles, Mount Rushmore, Charleston, Fort Campbell, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and more.
Then coverage will be at the “America 250: Celebrating Freedom” event in Washington, D.C., from 7-11 p.m.
BEFORE THE FOURTH
PBS has several specials, including:
— A “Firing Line” at 8 p.m. June 26. Margaret Hoover discusses historic principles with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and retired general Stanley McChrystal.
— “Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War,” 10 p.m., June 29.
— A”Nova” rerun, looking at Revolutionary War weapons, 9 p.m. July 1.
— And Ken Burns’ epic “American Revolution.” Stations will run the first episode from 9-11 p.m. on July 2 or 3 (the latter when they can also air the “Capitol Fourth” event). The other five parts are 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 4.
AFTERWARD
— Since baseball is (or once was) America’s national game, there’s a July 5 stunt: All 15 games will be on Peacock; two of them — Mets-Braves at 12:30 p.m. ET, Padres-Dodgers at 7:20 — will also be on NBC.
— And PBS has one more related special. “Breaking the Deadlock” goes for calm discussions of heated subjects. At 9 p.m. July 7, it will look at election-security issues.