Diana Ross Having a (New Year’s) Ball, Ringing in 2026 on TV, ‘Stranger Things’ Finale, a Carol Burnett Reunion on ‘Palm Royale’

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

Stop! In the Name of … celebrating the end of 2025 and the beginning of a new year, when the supremely legendary Diana Ross performs from Times Square as the ball drops to herald 2026. (Likely to be featured: her 1980 hit “Upside Down,” which is enjoying a renaissance thanks to Stranger Things — more on that later.) Ryan Seacrest hosts with Rita Ora from New York City, while Chance the Rapper leads the show’s inaugural broadcast from Chicago, with Dancing with the Stars‘ Julianne Hough and the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski holding court in Las Vegas, and Roselyn Sánchez from Puerto Rico. Among the dozens of performers scheduled: Ciara, Little Big Town and Maren Morris in Times Square; Mariah Carey, New Kids on the Block, OneRepublic, 50 Cent, Charlie Puth, Demi Lovato, Goo Goo Dolls, Rick Springfield and more from the West Coast, with reggaeton star Daddy Yankee in Puerto Rico, Jamila Woods in Chicago, and segments featuring Chappell Roan from Kansas City and Post Malone from Nashville.

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

Music City is the setting for a five-hour musical blowout hosted by comedian Bert Kreischer and country music’s HARDY, with social media star Haley Baylee reporting from New York City’s Ball Drop before Nashville’s own Music Note Drop at Bicentennial Stage. HARDY leads a roster of performers at Nashville’s Bicentennial Park, including Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Bailey Zimmerman, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Gretchen Wilson, and many more.

Other New Year’s Eve options:

• A Toast to 2025! (10:30/9:30c, NBC): Today‘s Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush look back at the year in a two-hour retrospective with NBC News, Sports, and Entertainment personalities. Guests include comedian Jim Gaffigan, Lil Rel Howery, Carson Kressley, Loni Love, Tom Papa, Wanda Sykes, and Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan.
• CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen (8 pm/ET, CNN): Following a full day of reports of New Year’s celebrations across the glove, the CNN and Bravo hosts team up to cut up once again, with guests including Stephen Colbert, Robyn performing from Times Square, Shakira in Hollywood, Florida, Brandy and Monica from their The Boy Is Mine Tour, Bryan Adams at Madison Square Garden, plus Florence + The Machine, Brandi Carlile, Aloe Blacc, Patti LaBelle and more.
• Who Can Forget 2025? (8 pm/ET, Fox News): Fox News personalities look back at the top stories and pop-culture breakthroughs of the years. Followed by A New Year With Kat and Tyrus (9 pm/ET), with FNC contributors Tyrus and Kat Timpf recapping their favorite stories and videos of the year, and at 11/10c, Jimmy Failla hosts an All-American New Year’s Bash with The Big Weekend Show‘s Tomi Lahren, Bar Rescue‘s Jon Taffer and comedians Aaron Berg and Charles McBee.

Stranger Things

One last time (for now) to the Upside Down, as the Duffer Brothers stage a final showdown between the heroes of Hawkins, Indiana, and the malevolent forces controlled by Vecna, aka Henry Creel, aka One (Jamie Campbell Bower). The series finale, like most things involving this nostalgic exercise in supernatural terror, goes big with a two-hour and five-minute runtime. You know you’re a superfan if this is how you’ll be spending your New Year’s Eve. For the rest of us, it will be an exciting way to start the new year — or perhaps nurse a hangover.

Palm Royale

The plot thickens to the point of congealment in a frenetic episode of the period comedy, providing a change of scenery for the Palm Beach society contingent as they travel to snowy Switzerland for more farcical intrigue in their search for the devious Norma (Carol Burnett) — or Agnes, if you’d prefer. Which she wouldn’t. Schemes pile upon schemes in a battle for the Dellacorte fortune, but what most TV fans will relish is a mini-reunion of The Carol Burnett Show regulars when Vicki Lawrence guest-stars and hams it up as Lotte, a former nun who now works at the chalet where everyone is staying and knows more than a few crucial secrets.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Sea of Monsters creates new challenges for demigods Percy (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) when they wash up at C.C.’s Spa & Resort — C.C. being a legendary mythical sorceress (Rosemarie DeWitt) who may hold the key to seeing them safely past the Sirens. But first, the young heroes will have to look within and find their fatal flaws, which the Sirens are all too eager to exploit.

INSIDE WEDNESDAY TV:

• Cotton Bowl (7:30 pm/ET, ESPN): Among the day’s many bowl games, the playoff quarterfinal pits No. 2 Ohio State against No. 10 Miami. The winner advances to the semifinals.
• The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling’s classic anthology is a great way to lose oneself for hours upon end. Syfy‘s annual New Year’s marathon begins early (5 am/4c) and continues through Friday at 6 am/5c. The Heroes & Icons Network’s eighth annual A Toast to Twilight features vintage episodes starting at 8 pm/7c and continues through Friday at 6 am/5c.
• Wicked: One Wonderful Night (8/7c, NBC): Can’t get enough Wicked? NBC presents an encore of November’s musical special, featuring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and other Wicked: For Good cast members from L.A.’s Dolby Theatre.
• Fallout (streaming on Prime Video): See what new adventures await Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) as they continue their bizarre journey through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.