MTV_New_Year's
MTV New Year's Eve specials
American TV series or program
From 1981 through 2014, MTV aired New Year's Eve specials. The special was first held in 1981 as MTV's New Year's Eve Rock N' Roll Ball, which featured a concert from the Hotel Diplomat in mid-Manhattan featuring Bow Wow Wow, Karla DeVito, and David Johansen (a photo of which was used as the cover art for his subsequent live album Live It Up).[1] For its early editions, the Rock N' Roll Ball was hosted by MTV VJs; the 1986–87 edition would instead be hosted by Joe Piscopo and carry an Ancient Rome theme.[2]
Later specials were typically broadcast from MTV's One Astor Plaza studios in Times Square. They would initially be hosted by Carson Daly of Total Request Live until his departure to NBC (where he would go on to host New Year's Eve with Carson Daly),[3] and featured concert performances and coverage of the nearby ball drop at midnight.
During the late 1990s, 2000s, and part of the early 2010s, the special was heavily promoted and featured top musical acts and celebrities. By its final years, the specials had been downsized in comparison. The network decided not to carry a special at the end of 2015 leading into 2016, choosing to carry a marathon of the viral clip series Ridiculousness instead, and the cold opening of the next episode of Teen Wolf at midnight; the network and parent company Viacom in general went through a number of staff and budget cutbacks in 2015 due to declining ratings.[4]