New Year’s Eve on TV, 50 Years of AFI Life Achievement Awards, Dave Chappelle, Remembering Y2K

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest

SUNDAY: Traditionally the most-watched New Year’s Eve celebration, Rockin’ Eve goes global this year, with Seacrest and co-host Rita Ora holding court in Times Square, Jeannie Mai emceeing from Hollywood and a Spanish language countdown from Puerto Rico fronted by TV personality Dayanara Torres. The festivities, simulcast for the first time across 150 iHeartRadio stations, includes a performance by K-Pop group NewJeans from South Korea. On the New York talent roster: Megan Thee Stallion, Jelly Roll with Jessie Murph, Sabrina Carpenter and Tyla. Highlights from L.A. include Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Janelle Monáe, Ludacris, Nile Rodgers & CHIC and Renée Rapp with Coco Jones, plus a performance by Post Malone from Las Vegas. Earlier in the evening, Robin Roberts hosts The Year: Countdown to 2024 (7 pm/ET), an extension of ABC News’ The Year franchise with reflections on 2023 and what to expect in the year ahead.

New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash

SUNDAY: Elle King hosts (and performs), joined by Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith at Nashville’s Bicentennial Mall, where the Music Note Drop happens in Central Time, keeping the party going after the Times Square celebration. A who’s-who of country and country-rock talent includes Lainey Wilson, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion, Kane Brown, Brothers Osborne, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton, Trombone Short, Morgan Wallen, Trace Adkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more.

Next at the Kennedy Center

SUNDAY: Tony-winning powerhouse Cynthia Erivo (and future star of the film version of Wicked) is joined by fellow Tony winners Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) and belter Joaquina Kalukango (Paradise Square) on the Kennedy Center stage in a special New Year’s Eve edition of Next at the Kennedy Center. Their musical repertoire ranges from Broadway favorites to R&B, Motown, folk, soul and blues, with Erivo sharing personal reflections and stories about her favorite songs.

New Year’s Eve Live

SUNDAY: If campy banter rather than music is your thing, Bravo’s Andy Cohen teams with anchor Anderson Cooper yet again to count it down from NYC. Having recovered from what Cohen describes as last year’s “bungle,” the duo is ready to lift a glass to 2024.

The AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special

SATURDAY: This high honor, celebrating the life and career of Hollywood’s greatest stars and directors, was established in 1973, with a half-century of memorable moments to choose from in an anniversary retrospective hosted by TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz. In acknowledgement of the first recipient, the legendary John Ford, TCM follows the special with a screening of Ford’s 1956 classic The Searchers (9:45/8:45c). Among the many luminaries who’ve received the AFI tribute: Orson Welles, Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Bette Davis, and Henry and Jane Fonda. As they used to say about MGM, more stars than there are in heaven, and for those that have passed, a wonderful way to remember them.

Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer

SUNDAY: Pretty much all that’s known about the incendiary comic’s return to Netflix is that his latest set was filmed at the Lincoln Theatre in Chappelle’s Washington, D.C. hometown, and he’ll be riffing on events including the infamous Oscar slap and his own onstage attack at the Hollywood Bowl. History suggests he’ll say something before it’s over to shock and irritate someone.

Time Bomb Y2K

SATURDAY: Millions worried the sky was falling—or, more tangibly, feared a worldwide computer glitch—at the dawn of the 21st century. What was known as the “Y2K panic” is the subject of a stylized documentary told entirely through archival footage and home video. We hear from computer experts, survivalists, militia groups and religious alarmists, reflecting a free-floating anxiety about technology that hasn’t exactly subsided in our AI-obsessed present.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• The Twilight Zone (Saturday, 8 am/7c, Syfy; Sunday, 8 pm/7c, H&I Network): If you often felt like you were living in the Twilight Zone the last year, maybe a deep dive into Rod Serling’s unequaled sci-fi/fantasy anthology will get you ready for 2024. Syfy’s marathon goes through Tuesday at 4 am/3c, H&I’s “A Toast to Twilight” airs through Tuesday at 6 am/5c. Dip in and out at will, the allegories never disappoint.
• NFL Football (Saturday, 8:15/ET, ESPN and ABC): The Detroit Lions face the Dallas Cowboys in a special Saturday prime-time game.
• Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter (Sunday, 8 am/7c, Sundance TV): Modeled after the trade publication’s renowned roundtables, editors gather celebrities for wide-ranging conversations about the industry and their craft. The opener, “Songwriters,” features Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Dua Lipa, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Batiste and Julia Michaels. Followed by “Actress,” with Barbie’s Margot Robbie joined by Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone, Annette Bening, Carey Mulligan and Greta Lee. Insecure’s Yvonne Orji hosts the series.
• Sunday Night Football (Sunday, 8:15/ET, NBC): The Green Bay Packers take on the Minnesota Vikings in the calendar year’s final NFL match-up.