.|thumb|right Planning for what would become
ABC 2000 started in late 1998.
Dick Clark shared preliminary plans during the December 31, 1998–January 1, 1999 episode of ''
New Year's Rockin' Eve'': In March of 1999, ABC announced their official plans for the
ABC 2000 program. It was to feature 27 hours of coverage, anchored by Peter Jennings (it was later reduced to 23 hours and 10 minutes). For the first time since 1970, ''
New Year's Rockin' Eve'' would not air. However, according to ABC News president
David Westin, Dick Clark would "have some role in the New Year's special". Originally, the name of the broadcast was
ABC 2000, but it was officially and formally retitled as
ABC 2000 Today because
ABC joined 60 other nations, all celebrating the dawn of the new millennium. The network was part of the
2000 Today consortium that included: •
PBS /
WGBH in the United States •
BBC in the United Kingdom •
ATV in Hong Kong •
CCTV in China •
RCTI in Indonesia •
RTM in Malaysia •
TCS,
STV12 and
CNA in Singapore •
ABC in Australia •
TV Asahi in Japan •
MBC in South Korea •
SABC in South Africa •
TVE in Spain •
Rede Record in Brazil •
GMA Network in the Philippines •
RTL in Germany •
RTP in Portugal •
TV3 in New Zealand •
Televisa and
Once TV in
Mexico •
TVN in Chile •
CBC and
Radio-Canada in Canada •
TF1 and
France 2 in France •
RAI in Italy •
RTÉ in Ireland •
ORF in Austria •
NRK and
TV3 in Norway •
SF in Switzerland •
SVT and
TV3 (Swedish TV channel) in Sweden •
ČT in the Czech Republic •
RCN in Colombia,
DR •
TV3 in Denmark •
ERTV in Egypt •
ERT in Greece •
IBA and
ICP in Israel •
TVP in Poland •
Antena 1 in Romania •
YLE in Finland •
TV3 in Estonia •
TV3 in Latvia •
TV3 in Lithuania •
MTV in Hungary •
VGTRK in Russia •
Televise Samoa in Samoa •
Canal 13 in Argentina •
TRT in Turkey •
Doordarshan in India •
RCTV in Venezuela •
Channel 3 in Thailand •
PTS in Taiwan •
VTV in Vietnam The program was nonetheless consistently promoted and broadcast under the
ABC 2000 title, possibly to avoid confusion with the U.S. morning show
Today, which airs on rival network
NBC. The theme music for
ABC 2000 (which was also used for
ABC News' election coverage that year) was from
Epcot's
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth live show. The music was composed by
Gavin Greenaway, who won an
Emmy award for the work. Taped footage of the
IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth show were shown in the opening and closing sequences. Along with the multitude of celebrations, the news division was also prepared to report on any
Y2K problems.
Sam Donaldson and James Walker headed up those tasks. Walker was stationed in
New Zealand, which would be the first industrialized and highly-populated nation to see midnight; it was expected to serve as a "litmus test" for the rest of the
developed world. Coverage signed on Friday, December 31, 1999 at 4:50 a.m.
eastern standard time (
UTC 9:50), ten minutes prior to the first midnight on the globe at
Millennium Island in
Kiribati (
UTC+14:00). Peter Jennings anchored the coverage for the entire duration, using commercial breaks, affiliate breaks, correspondent pieces, and pre-taped segments to rest, eat, or change outfits. He changed his wardrobe five times. He opened the broadcast wearing a brown
business suit and
tie. He changed to a black suit at 12 noon, followed by a dark gray suit around 4 p.m., and a dark blue suit and red tie around 7 p.m. for the primetime portion. He then wore a
tuxedo and
bow tie during the midnight hour in Times Square, followed by a more casual green sweater for the final three hours of the broadcast. Midnight was specifically shown in 17 time zones, including three
30 minute offset time zones, and one
45 minute offset time zone. ABC correspondents covered 14 of the midnight milestones in-person, while the rest were simulcast from one of the other
2000 Today networks. The final midnight celebration shown was that of the
Pacific Time Zone (
UTC−08:00), which included
California. Once the culminating celebrations in Times Square settled down, the final three hours covered the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones, but were also filled with several concert look-ins (whether live or pre-taped), live performances, and pre-taped highlight segments. The broadcast signed off Saturday January 1, 2000 at 4:00 a.m. eastern. No coverage of midnight was shown of the remaining three time zones, which included
Alaska,
Hawaii,
American Samoa, and parts of
Polynesia. While ABC ended their coverage in the United States, other
2000 Today networks continued for an additional two hours. A
digital on-screen clock was used in the bottom-right corner of the screen through much of the broadcast, showing local time and/or a countdown to midnight during each correspondents' report. Live chats were organized on ABCNews.com. Breaks were taken near the top and bottom of each hour to allow the local ABC affiliates time for local coverage, which varied from
local news and weather to full-scale coverage of local countdowns and possible
Y2K bug effects (which were minimal).
Follow-ups ABC News also used the
Times Square Studios for ABC News's
2000 election coverage ABC 2000: The Vote, with the studio set up very similar to that of
ABC 2000. The large video screen was used to show the
Electoral College map of the United States with the
red and blue states indicated. On December 31, 2001 (leading into 2002), ABC preceded the primetime hour of ''New Year's Rockin' Eve
with a follow-up special titled ABC 2002''. The three-and-a-half-hour special featured a "meaningful and reflective" view on New Year's celebrations from around the world (especially in the wake of the
September 11 attacks), and performances by
Arlo Guthrie,
Sting, and
U2. It was hosted by Jennings from the
Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City.
Reception ABC 2000 was by far the most comprehensive New Year's coverage of any of the three major broadcast networks in the United States, and was named one of the best television programs of the year. By contrast,
CBS aired only 30-second news updates each hour throughout the day with
Dan Rather, a special 8 p.m. edition of the
Late Show with David Letterman and from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, Rather and
Will Smith hosted ''America's Millennium
live from Times Square and Washington D.C. respectively. NBC had an extended edition of The Today Show, Dateline NBC'' at 8 p.m. and from 9 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. ET,
Tom Brokaw and
Katie Couric anchored NBC's millennium coverage, which included a special edition of
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, from Los Angeles.
PBS, meanwhile, aired
Millennium 2000, which was a basic simulcast of the worldwide
2000 Today consortium footage. Cable network
CNN had all-day news coverage, and highlighted several smaller celebrations. With the lack of
Y2K problems, ''ABC 2000's'' coverage shifted largely to "more party than news". The primetime portion of the broadcast registered a 10.6 rating, and average of 18.6 million viewers. The broadcast peaked from 11:15 p.m. to midnight (eastern) with a 16.1 rating/30 share. At least 175 million viewers tuned into some portions of
ABC 2000, and ABC easily defeated both CBS and NBC for the night. The broadcast won two
News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a
Peabody Award, a
TCA Award, and was nominated for a
DGA Award. Highlights of the telecast were released on
VHS titled
ABC 2000 The New Millennium Highlights. ==
ABC 2000 Hour-by-hour overview==