Roger Catlin | TV Eye

Tila, Chelsea and Other New Year's Hangovers

When the ratings came in for New Year's Eve coverage, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" again surpassed the competition with a 8.8 rating and 20 share, even though numbers were down 3 percent from last year's 9.1 rating and 21 share.

Elsewhere, "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" did about the same as last year with a 4.9 rating and 11 share. And, though by some accounts (namely mine),  "Fox's New Year's Eve Live" may have been the most entertaining Times Square show, it came in third with a 3.1 rating and 7 share.

On MTV, "Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade 2008" came with its own announcement: that the bisexual internet oddity will return for a second season of "A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila" come spring. Again, she'll choose from another group of gullible or desperate straight guys and lesbians over 10 more episodes.

Apparently, her choice of Bobby over Dani didn't last. But the night she made that choice, MTV boasted 6 million viewers for the first time in more than five years, getting a 5.9 rating in the 12-34 demographic (which raises the question: Was your 12 year old watching Tila Tequila when he said he was watching SpongeBob?). At any rate, those were the best numbers MTV had posted since Nov. 2002 and a random episode of the long-gone "Osbournes."

Therefore, MTV is branching out its oddball star the way its sister network VH1 did with Flavor Flav -- leading not only to a second season, but a spinoff of one of the losing candidates, the Italian would-be loverboy Domenico Nesci, who will get to choose among 15 women on the forthcoming "That's Amore," and take them back to Milan to meet his mother. The six episode series, to be capped by a reunion show, begins March 2. (There's no start date for the second "Shot").

Another outspoken cable woman getting another shot is Chelsea Handler of E! whose late night "Chelsea Lately" was picked up for a second season starting Monday. By then, both "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will both be back, joining the broadcast late night hosts returning tonight, so her exposure may be limited. Still, the network says, her audience is up 23 percent from its July premiere. Snoop Dogg, Bob Saget, Scott Baio and Finesse Mitchell are listed as her future guests.

Rose Parade's Appeal

I couldn't quite figure out why the first parade of the year was also the most covered. But it struck me this year that the Rose Parade gets coverage from NBC, ABC, HGTV and Travel because of innovations in the TV signal.

In years past, if the beautifully crafted floats were covered entirely with flowers and organic materials, we'd have to generally take their word for it. But with the advent of High Def TV, suddenly every detail of the floats, each rose and mum, every frond and seed, the texture of the blueberry powder suddenly is apparent.

Floats these days are more fussy than ever, with hydraulic moves, special effects and pyrotechnics. But it is the decoration that ultimately impresses. Expect another bump in coverage once smellovision is finally adapted and we can take a whiff of the sweet flowers as well.

It was NBC parade maven Al Roker doing the commentary with "Access Hollywood's" Nancy O'Dell. On ABC, it was a couple of people from the ESPN morning show (they're all part of the ABC family). But the real draw to HGTV is not only its instructive pre-show that demonstrated how long it takes to make these floats, but the fact that it's entirely commercial free.

Well, let's just say they don't break away for commercials. They spend plenty of time, though, plugging the number of other shows premiering on HGTV all day -- to the extent that the parade is reduced to a blip in the corner, as the promo plays all around it.

Wringing It In

Once, it was enough to show bleary half-frozen revelers in Times Square and do the countdown at midnight, play Guy Lombardo and be done with it.

Now, the many networks that cover New Year’s Eve as if it happened in one city intersection instead of whole time zones at once bring in their own big stars to perform. Not for everybody, but for viewers of their networks.

Like the featured host from each network, these performers are often perched on platforms or other temporary stages several stories above the riffraff. But then there are the lowly correspondents who have to trawl the street level for some of the most worthless interviews you’ll see on TV all year accompanied by a lot of background waving and unintentional promotional items (red hats from Pontiac and orange hot dog shaped balloons from who knows? Nathans?)