The Whole World Is Watching] BIYf~~:H:~~I~~outon V10ur Dill-mal-.</p><p> New Year's Eve, it may " '. have nothing to do with ::~~:r;~~r:~: ::'u~~:~~f . . . ' : . '~~~~~~ ,.VI-·e" . · w' . ~-e'-":'rs" 'Gu" 'I-,'d'" e .. :··~;:'~:,; abOut to take put iA, the greatest coi'nmu- h~;~;;.ntinreoorded 10 Y2K Day We're all going to watch TV at the same time, The most watched televi- sion event in history was . once the moon landing.</p><p> Then it was -by some accounts -"Who Shot J.R?" Later it was the O.J, Simpson verdict.</p><p> JUter next weekend , the most watched television event in history will be the massive coverage ofY2K the first sunrise, the first birth, the first ATM failure and every other millennial event TV crews can capture on vidl.'Otape.</p><p> Literally billions of peo ple wi II watch some (or all?) of the three days of coverage starting Friday morning and.running -if that is the right word - through Saturday night.</p><p> Bringing that sometimes exhilarating, sometimes tendentious mix of news and entertainment ("Yes, Papua, New Guinea, has JUST hit midnight!') is the most ambitious undertak ing in TV history.</p><p> ABC and PBS are the most zealous, with round the-clock coverage from all over the world.</p><p> ABC says it's been planning this event for 10 years; PBS for three.</p><p> But every TV station around the world -from local affiliates in Indiana to TV Asashi in Japan -will put every available reporter on the streets to grab whatever the magic moment offers.</p><p> Camera crews will be nium.) At the pyramids in flown to the South Pole 80 Cairo, composer Jean PBS can watch how the Michel Jarre will perform new millennium may effect his New Age music for a the penguins . new age.</p><p> Cameras will be rolling ~ d 70 camera crews on a microscopic island in will be stationed at the South Pacific, Kiribati, aternity wards where the BBC says the throughout New Zealand first sunrise will occur. in hopes of glimpsing the . (CQ!pP;«lting news organiza- . first official baby of the tiojul·. '. have declared I new era, (Repeat that scene CMt~m: .'s lonely piece of ! at practically every hospi-. .</p><p> New zealand, the offic",l tal· i" ·every -to ..... " around ~tarti n~ linfO for th(-' millen-the world. ~io..c.p f'Ovnrvnnt'> else will also want to coo over their local tyke for 2000.) How many camera crews will be roaming the world? Count how many there are and you'll have your answer.</p><p> Satellite feeds will bounce back and forth in an unprecedented ' sharing of live coverage .</p><p> ONG~~-TV in Mexico, SABC in th Africa, and the CB in Canada -ar" : i:r; ;t~e-•. ix; ~t"'''''+"T ... ;.,..</p><p> On...... to ................ · Easter Island, and any other spot on the globe you can name.</p><p> The coverage will make the landing at Normandy seem like a sale at Loehmann's.</p><p> The live feed from Kiribati is a remarkable technical challenge in and of itself: the BBC! i& lilli" ging in two and a ·half to,l\8 of equipment (inclu<!ing;~O generators and a OJ~bi.l,e , ........ 11: •.. ~ __ .L ._.: '. to broadcast from a coun try that doesn't have tele vision.</p><p> Surely the Kiribatians will be the only people with an excuse for missing the TV hoopla.</p><p> ABC is putting to work almost every employee in its stsble -with Peter J'q..Q\ngs.himse.Jf on air fa! l!9lJle .. ~6 h'1urs straight, • .9B!?, ! ~ , broadcasting ~~ric~:a ~iJ1,enniu~ : A ·1 Millennial TV action will Include updates from the Y2K briefing room In D.C., penguins at play at the South Pole and scenes from Easter Island.</p><p> Washington D.C. from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.</p><p> It's hosted by Will Smith (who cannily called his latest album "Willennium ") and fea tures a short film by Steven Spielberg celebrat ing the American century.</p><p> Every network will fea ture news updates from the Y2K briefing room in D.C. -the governm ent's ...... "..,... .... f ,,. • ...: •• _ ..... _1 ••••• ~ __ squelch any wild rumors.</p><p> Reporters will camp out at the FAJ\, just in case planes really do begin tum· bling out of the sky.</p><p> Fox will even have someone on hand at Roswell, New Mexico. (You never know.) And you can be certain if just one ATM machine fails to spit out $100 on demand at 12:01 a.m. on lI.f_ ••. • •• v ___ T'I_ ••• t. ... ' _ NEW YORK POST, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1999 TVSundav .., The last Elvis sighting of the millennium ... and other really important stuff Tv is ready to cover Y2K meltdowns, riotli in the streets and even the Second Coming.</p><p> But unlike the rollover from 1999 to 2000, net works can't really COUll t on any of those excitingly newsworthy events actual ly taking place.</p><p> So, just to be safe, they've lined up proven ratings grabbers : musical super stars, marathon s of classic TV shows, and of course Dick Clark in Times Square for ABC's "Rockin' New Year's Eve." Here are some of the other highlights channel surfers can catch during the three-day fest. -Jay Leno may be ahead in the ratings, but it's David Letterman who's being treated like a VlP this year.</p><p> Leno's "Tonight Show" is reduced to just his mono logue and a sketch before NBC cuts back to Times Square and well-known funny man Tom Brokaw.</p><p> Letterman, on the other hand, gets his own lavish, two-hour primetime spe cial. -The cleverest mara thon idea has to go to the Discovery Channel, which is hosting round-the-clock specials devoted to bugs - but not the Y2K kind, just the squishy, there-are-a lot-more-of-them-than-us kind.</p><p> Other familiar marathon standbys include "Andy Griffith" on TBS, "Twilight Zone" on Sci-Fi and the Three Stooges on AMC. -MTV's reckless young audience apparently has no fear: Lucky contest win ners will jump on a "Fly 2K" plane to jet over to Cairo, Paris, Rome and London when their parents are nervously avoiding air line travel like the plague.</p><p> MTV will also host an eight-hour Times Square bash from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., featuring Puff Daddy, Bush, Blink 182 and oth ers. -Nickelodeon's even younger audience is being treated more thoughtfully : They1l watch a commer cial-free 24-hour documen tary with kids all over the world discussing their hopes for the new millenni um. -A similarly weighty tone will pop up on Pax (with its quietly religious tone perfect for focusing on the spiritual celebrations in Rome and elsewhere) and PBS (where composer Tan Dun's "2000 Today - A World Symphony for the Millennium" serves as the official theme song). -The History Channel is a safe haven for the pop star-weary.</p><p> It will broad cast the "Mega Millennium Marathon ,' 37 hours of episodes from series like "The Century: America's Time" and "The Times Capsule.' -Anyone who can't wait for new episodes of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" should tune in to the Game Show Network: It's focwt iog on the last day of the century by rebroadcasting the final episodes of shows like "Double Dare," "Super Password" and ·Card Sharks." -Finally, there's certain to be at least one Elvis sighting: Hell be on TCM, swiveling his hips through flicks like "Jailhouse Rock" and "Viva Las Vegas'" -Michael Giltz
