Music on TV - Week of 12.26.11: New Year's Eve with Coldplay, Drake, Lady Gaga

New Year's Eve: Coldplay on Austin City Limits / Drake with Carson Daly / Lady Gaga for Dick Clark/Ryan Seacrest

With every New Year's Eve comes the pressure to ring in the new year with a bang, but for most, the evening generally ends up at somebody's house (usually your own) with a TV that gets turned on to mark the countdown.* With that in mind, there are a few decent options to have on the tube in the background of wherever you find yourself inching towards 2012.

*That is usually it goes down for me -- but not this year.

As a music-only option, for the first time in Austin City Limits nearly 40 years, the program is broadcasting a New Year's Eve special, and they've called upon Coldplay for their first. ACL executive producer Terry Lickona said in a press release, "We decided to go big with Coldplay — really big. So we came up with the idea of celebrating New Year’s Eve with a 90-minute special. All the hits plus their brand new songs. It’ll be a great way to kick off 2012!" There's probably bigger and better they could go with, but NYE requires a vanilla-like reach, so Coldplay is the ticket for 2012.

Elsewhere, you have the usual suspects, firstly with the Dick Clark's Rockin' NYE (ABC) annual tradition (torch still slowly being handed over to co-host Ryan Seacrest), this year featuring Lady Gaga as the featured music act, but a who's who of Billboard chart toppers chime in with a song: Nicki Minaj, Florence + the Machine, Blink-182, Justin Bieber, LMFAO, Pitbull, Will.i.am, OneRepublic, Taio Cruz, Gym Glass Heroes, the Band Perry, and Hot Chelle Rae. Meanwhile, NBC has New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, which usually gets the slight music edge, but this year is they've gone a tad more MOR, with Drake, Jessie J, Cee Lo Green, The Roots, and the legend himself, Tony Bennett.

UPDATE: Spin Magazine has an extensive guide out now that covers live NYE shows in major cities across the country. So go rock 2012.

Picks for the week
Monday, December 26
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Paul Anka (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Lenny Kravitz (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Jimmy Cliff (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Thievery Corporation (REPEAT)
Tuesday, December 27
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Pink Martini (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Coldplay (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: We Were Promised Jetpacks (REPEAT)
Wednesday, December 28
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Yelawolf (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Rufus Wainwright (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (REPEAT)
TBS: Conan: Pitbull (REPEAT)
Thursday, December 29
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: My Morning Jacket (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Shelby Lynne (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Cake (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Young the Giant (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Paul Simon (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Wye Oak, Butch Walker (REPEAT)
TBS: Conan: Seether (REPEAT)
Friday, December 30
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Young Jeezy (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: My Morning Jacket (REPEAT)
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Foster the People (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Kylesa, Cliff Martinez (REPEAT)
Saturday, December 31
ABC: Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest: Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Florence + the Machine, Blink-182, Justin Bieber, LMFAO, Pitbull, Will.i.am, OneRepublic, Taio Cruz, Gym Class Heroes, Hot Chelle Rae
NBC: New Year's Eve with Carson Daly: Drake, Jessie J, Cee Lo Green, The Roots, Tony Bennett
PBS: Coldplay New Year's Eve: An Austin City Limits Special: Coldplay

Ear on TV: The week of June 23

This weekend marked the beginning of Summer, and so let the "there's nothing on TV" exclamations begin. Here's where I'm supposed to tell you to get off that couch, go outside and enjoy the great outdoors, but the hell with that. Between the mosquitoes, skin cancer and allergies, I'd just as soon eat grass. Instead, why not point your dial to the plethora of live music performances happening this week. Actually, when you think about it, most are happening at night anyway, and besides that, you're going to tape it via TIVO/DVR anyway, right?

The highlight for me, might just be Coldplay playing The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Wednesday,) even though I'm not a huge fan of the britpop band. I'm looking forward to Jon Stewart's interview with Chris Martin, not only because Stewart's a big fan, but also to see whether they revisit Gwyneth's awkward last visit to The Daily Show a couple years back, when Jon asked: "You think my son... could... bang your daughter?" Gwynneth laughed it off, saying "her father's going to kill you." A few days later, Billy Bob Thornton came on and Jon offered up the same proposition. Thornton, scratched his head for a second and said "Hell, why not," as they shook on it. So, will Jon pose the same question to Chris? That's a question I guarantee he won't hear from Matt Lauer, when they play The Today Show on Friday.



Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, June 23
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: N.E.R.D. (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Amos Lee
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Black Angels
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Drive-By Truckers
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Grizzly Bear (REPEAT)
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Ne-Yo
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Angie Stone
Tuesday, June 24
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Billy Idol
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Mötley Crüe
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Phantom Planet
NBC: The Today Show: Alejandro Escovedo
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Serj Tankian (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Billy Bragg
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (REPEAT)
Wednesday, June 25
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Tift Merritt
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Three 6 Mafia
COMEDY CENTRAL: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Coldplay
NBC: The Today Show: Natasha Bedingfield
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Priscilla Ahn (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Flobots (REPEAT)
Thursday, June 26
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Damien Jurado
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Brett Dennen (REPEAT)
SUNDANCE: Live From Abbey Road: Rascal Flatts, Kate Nash, Herbie Hancock, Corrine Bailey Rae
SYNDICATION: Live With Regis and Kelly: Lenny Kravitz
Friday, June 27
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Wild Sweet Orange
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Briggs
NBC: The Today Show: Coldplay
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Raconteurs
PBS: Tavis Smiley: Carly Simon (REPEAT)
RAVEHD: Later with Jools Holland: The Cure, Jackson Browne, Anita Baker, KT Tunstall, The Futureheads, Embrace (REPEAT)
Saturday, June 28
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Freemasons
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Wilco (REPEAT)
PBS: Austin City Limits: Blues Traveler, Café Tacuba
Sunday, June 29
A&E: Private Sessions: Carly Simon