Memorex?

January 1, 2006 9:50 AM

Was Dick Clark's appearance on the "Rockin' Eve" pre-taped?

I would have expected ABC to have stuck a huge "LIVE!" bug onscreen if it had been live. Also, Dick didn't interact directly with any of the other hosts, at least as long as I watched.

I'd imagine a man in his condition would be home in bed at midnight, so the pre-taping would make sense. It would also allow for retakes on the segments.

(Live or taped, it was both sad and inspiring to see Clark struggling to speak, and you could even hear some of the old spark and intonation under the often-slurred speech. A stroke isn't a death sentence, but it often takes even the most capable people and drops them back at the beginning of the game, forcing them to relearn basic functionality.)

posted by baltimore to media & arts (11 comments total)

I'm having a hard time finding a post-New Year's article, but according to this Reuters article from 12/30:
A spokesman said Clark will be in the studio for the entire live 90-minute show, which runs from 11:35 p.m. to 1:05 a.m. EST, including the countdown to midnight and the descent of a giant illuminated ball over Times Square. And he plans to share roughly equal screen time with Seacrest.

I agree it was amazing to see him on screen.
posted by jdl at 10:13 AM on January 1, 2006

Oh one second later, I found this article which describes him as staying at his desk past 1 a.m. as the crowds thinned out. So indeed, I believe it was live.
posted by jdl at 10:15 AM on January 1, 2006

Based only on listening to his countdown, I was pretty sure that it was live. If it had been prerecorded wouldn't he have gotten the times correct? I found the combination of his voice and his screwed-up countdown to be a pretty depressing start to the new year.
posted by Xalf at 10:29 AM on January 1, 2006

I agree with Xalf. I think next year we will tune into another channel. Although it is an awesome personal triumph, it is depressing to see "America's Teenager" acting like a....76 year old man.
posted by TheLibrarian at 10:36 AM on January 1, 2006

I was outside for the countdown and missed that. Sounds certain that he was there live.

Good for him.
posted by baltimore at 10:37 AM on January 1, 2006

Ditto on it being both amazing and sad to see him on TV again.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:42 AM on January 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

it was really depressing--i think this will be his last.

slurred speech from being drunk on nye is one thing, but...

i wondered the same thing at first, baltimore, but i think he was practicing and doing therapy for months to be able to appear. His brain seemed ok tho.
posted by amberglow at 11:10 AM on January 1, 2006

From Friends
Janine: Well actually they're taping tomorrow. I don't really understand why.
Ross: Oh, well, you see, how it works is: The part with Dick Clark in Times Square is actually live, but they tape some of the party stuff ahead of time. Yeah, not a lot of people know that.
Janine: Yeah, well, do you guys wanna come too?
Ross: Are you serious?
Monica: We are there!
posted by seanyboy at 11:17 AM on January 1, 2006

Finally caught the post-midnight portion on TiVo. It's clear that he's live, but it's still odd that he and Seacrest were across the studio from each other but never in the same shot. Can't imagine that was the director's first choice.

Anyway, happy 06. Sorry to burn my question on something that turned out to be so obvious. Resolution: no more stupid questions.
posted by baltimore at 2:00 PM on January 1, 2006

i think this will be his last

Interestingly, I was thinking the same thing when the news-people were talking about how this particular ball is being retired this year.
posted by whatzit at 3:43 PM on January 1, 2006

His brain seemed ok tho.

It's what you'd expect. Clark was definitely live, and he reminded me of an uncle whose speech is more badly affected by a stroke. He's always been one of the family story-tellers, and can still manage it when everyone chips in to prompt and fill in the details, leaving him with the punchline. It's all there; it's just a struggle to vocalise it. And it's something we don't see often enough on TV. There was more eloquence in Clark than in Hilary bloody Duff.
posted by holgate at 1:05 AM on January 2, 2006