4th of July Fireworks & Celebrations, Hot-Dog Eating Contest, Syfy Gets in the ‘Zone’
If you’d rather stay inside to watch fireworks from across the nation, TV has plenty of options. But first, there’s the annual spectacle of a hot dog-eating contest. Syfy offers escape with a 24-hour Twilight Zone marathon.
Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular
The splashiest (in a manner of speaking) of the holiday celebrations takes place on the East River, with New York City’s iconic skyline as a backdrop to a 25-minute climax of pyrotechnic wonders (60,000 shells in all). Rutledge Wood (Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge) and Zuri Hall (Access Hollywood) are the hosts, as entertainers including LL Cool J, Lainey Wilson, Ashanti, Bebe Rexha, Ja Rule and Jelly Roll perform. Team USA gymnasts make a special appearance, and a U.S. Navy flyover comprised of an all-female flight crew soars above California’s Pebble Beach Golf Links course, host of this year’s U.S. Women’s Open tournament.
A Capitol Fourth
A more traditional ceremony unfolds on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., where fireworks over the monuments make for stirring pictures. Dancing with the Stars’ Alfonso Ribeiro hosts, with an eclectic roster of talent including Chicago, Boyz II Men, Belinda Carlisle, Babyface, Nashville’s Charles Esten, Tony winner Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) paying tribute to the late rocker, and the cast of Broadway’s Neil Diamond musical A Beautiful Noise. Muppets including Elmo and Cookie Monster are on hand, with uplifting segments highlighted by soprano Renée Fleming (a 2023 Kennedy Center Honors recipient) saluting the military, America’s Got Talent finalists the Northwell Nurse Choir honoring the nation’s nurses, and a message from NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg aboard the International Space Station.
The Fourth in America
With coverage continuing through 1 am/ET (10/PT), CNN anchors and correspondents present performances and firework displays from across the country. New York City and Washington, D.C. are featured, once again, but also Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Jacksonville, Nashville, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Diego and Seward, Alaska. Music is provided by the likes of Alanis Morrissette, Darius Rucker, Demi Lovato, Duran Duran, Flo Rida, Leon Bridges, Post Malone, Sheryl Crow and more.
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog-Eating Contest
Keep your Pepto close at hand should you choose to observe this peculiar and gut-busting spectacle of Americana, as hot-dog hogs gather to consume as many franks as is humanly (or inhumanly) possible in a 10-minute, all-you-can-eat contest. Defending their titles: World Champ Joey Chestnut (63 dogs and buns in 2022) at noon on ESPN2, with top-ranked female winner Miki Sudo (40 dogs and buns in 2022) at 10:45 on ESPN3.
The Twilight Zone
The annual 24-hour marathon of the spooky anthology takes on a new look this 4th of July. After spending the first few hours with episodes from Rod Serling’s classic 1960s series, the bulk of the day (through 3:30 a.m.) is comprised of episodes from Jordan Peele’s 2019 reboot that originally streamed on CBS All Access (now Paramount+, which has since dropped the series). Highlights include a new twist on the classic “Nightmare at 30,000 (formerly 20,000) Feet” starring Severance’s Adam Scott as the paranoid passenger (at 9:40 am/8:40c) and the extremely meta “Blurryman” (9 pm/8c) starring Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz as a Twilight Zone screenwriter encountering a ghost from the past.
INSIDE TUESDAY TV:
- Shark Attack Files (8/7c, 9/8c, 10/9c, National Geographic): SharkFest continues with three episodes investigating new theories concerning shark attacks. In the first, “Testing the Limits,” experts try to figure out the “why.” Then, “Superpowers” explores sharks’ extraordinary adaptability. Finally, in “Fishing for a Bite,” the series poses the question: Can sharks and spear fishers co-exist?
- Tom Segura: Sledgehammer (streaming on Netflix): Pause for some laughs with the podcaster-author-comedian in his fifth stand-up special for Netflix, filmed in Phoenix. Segura riffs on parenthood and unusual domestic situations including sharing gummies with his mom.
- How I Met Your Father (streaming on Hulu): Sophie (Hayley Duff) schemes to “Parent Trap” her own parents. Given that they’re played by the always appealing Paget Brewster and Clark Gregg, we can see why. But doesn’t she know that only works in the movies?
