New Year’s Celebrations on Times Square, Nashville and Beyond, Shudder Celebrates ‘Horror’s Greatest,’ Michelle Buteau at Radio City

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

For those who’d rather avoid the crowds on New Year’s Eve, there are plenty of options, with the traditionally highest-rated celebration carrying on the Dick Clark tradition. Ryan Seacrest hosts from Times Square, with Dayanara Torres co-hosting from Puerto Rico. On either side of the iconic ball drop, Carrie Underwood closes out 2024 with a performance just before midnight, and the Jonas Brothers mark their 20th anniversary with a medley of hits in the first minutes of 2025. TLC also performs before the captive New York crowd, with highlights including Alanis Morisette rocking the West Coast party, joining a guest roster including Reneé Rapp, Fat Joe, Kesha, Natasha Bedingfield, T-Pain, and Blake Shelton performing from Las Vegas.

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

If your tastes lean more toward country, Keith Urban hosts a five-hour party with Entertainment Tonight’s Rachel Smith from Nashville’s Bicentennial Park, with performers including Luke Bryan, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Post Malone, Lainey Wilson, Shaboozey, Chris Stapleton, and more, with Parker McCollum at Music City’s Brooklyn Bowl. The party continues past the East Coast’s countdown with Nashville’s Music Note Drop an hour later at the Bicentennial Mall stage.

Next at the Kennedy Center

The singer-songwriter, who has dabbled in comedy (Girls5Eva) and musical theater (Waitress), headlines an evening of her greatest hits alongside the National Symphony Orchestra. She’s joined onstage by fellow artists Rufus Wainwright, Emily King, and David Ryan Harris.

Horror’s Greatest

And then there are those (like me) who can’t think of a better way to wind down than with a good jump scare. In that vein (so to speak), Shudder gathers experts in horror to celebrate the best of a bad thing. The season opens with a survey of “Animal Attacks,” from killer sharks to crazed chimps and all manner of sinister species in between. I still can’t believe 1972’s Night of the Lepus tried to make giant rabbits look scary.

Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind at Radio City Music Hall

The comedian, whose Netflix series Survival of the Thickest is set to return in 2025, knows how to work a room. Even one as massive as New York’s nearly 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall, where she regales the audience with riffs on motherhood, marriage, being followed on social media by Lenny Kravitz, and so much more.