IN MY LIFE- NEW YEAR'S EVE

I rarely go out anymore on New Year's Eve- too many crazies out, especially when the weather is bad. So, after a nice dinner in the afternoon at Maggiano's in King of Prussia ( a New Year's Eve tradition), we settled in for the evening at home.

New Year's Eve has never been a big TV night. I remember watching Guy Lombardo as a kid, and later, Dick Clark. I usually managed to stay awake to watch the ball drop in Times Square in New York City. Last night was no different.

I didn't know many scheduled guests on ABC's celebration, titled " Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve with Ryan Seacrest." Nice that they keep Clarks' name on the billing. Let's face it- these shows are now geared to the milinnials if not even younger.

So we switched to CNN, where Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen were hosting. They seemed like a fun couple, chatting away in the pouring rain about nothing in particular. At once i thought, "Wow, they are gettingpaid for just shooting the breeze for four-and-a-half hours, but then I thought, that is a long time to keep the topics fun, fresh and interesting. Even though Cooper and Cohen didn't make much sense, and their goal of having a whiskey shot on the hour all night was catching up to them soon, it was all harmless fun, until..

They had interviews and skits dispersed in-between the chatting and shots of the crowd in Times Square. For instance, they had a remote with Patti LaBelle from her Philadelphia home, a ten minutes of my life I'll never get back. She didn't sing or really promoted anything, so I wondered why she was on the air. As LaBelle babbled on and repeatedly introduced her family to the viewers ( like we care), I switched back to ABC, only to hit a pre-recorded segment filmed in California of some milinnial singing.

Back to CNN. More useless stuff, such as Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin in new Orleans with a choir of 8-year-old kids doing "Respect" by the late Aretha Franklin. Then there was some lady on a billionaire's yacht, skulking around like she didn't belong there, yet the beefy bouncer didn't toss her off the boat, instead taking her for a tour of the boat.Then there was a silly British guy dressed up a s"new York food" on the streets of Times Square, making a fool of himself in the rain ( sorry, a soft pretzel is a  Philadelphia food, not New York City!).

So, for the entire 4 1/2 hours, it was pretty much wasted television.

The good part was near midnight, when the traditional song "Imagine" was sung to the crowd. Wisely, Cooper and Cohen kept quiet  as the new Year was counted down, and the celebrations went on for a good ten minutes or more, with "Auld Lang Syne", "New York, New York" and "What A Wonderful World" blaring, as couples kissed.

That was worth staying up for and never gets old. knowing we survived yet another year in this journey of life and have starting a fresh one, full of promise and the unknown.

I will admit that New York does have the better song. Nothing like hearing Sinatra belt out "New York, New York" on New Year's Eve in the middle of Manhattan- the crosswalk of the world.

Maybe the whiskey got to the weary hosts because then Cooper went into a teary-eyed solemn speech about how great it was to be gay in 2019 and be allowed to host and act abnormal on worldwide TV. Cohen cried too, as did the British guy who was once a human pizza. Cooper kept saying "I don't mean to bring this down" but that's exactly what he did as I shut-off the set, mumbling "That's enough!"

Maybe Trump is right about CNN? Maybe next year we will go out? Or watch old movies, like the old days.