STORY:
Alternate TV choices for New Year’s Eve

Bugs, not the Y2K type, cartoons and horror movies an option to homebodies this New Year

If you don’t want to watch the ball fall, if millennium madness isn’t your type of show-- not to worry there’s plenty of television options out there. From bug marathons to Andy Griffith and the Jetsons you can spend New Year’s on your couch with a remote control and you sure will have a variety of programs at your fingertips.

The majority of Americans have cable TV, which means more than 20 channels to surf this holiday and every one of those channels has come up with what they think will be winning New Year’s Eve lineup. While the networks for the most part will be carrying New Year’s Eve party celebrations, the other stations have gotten a bit more creative.

The Discovery Network decided to go with the Y2K bug theme. They will be doing round the clock shows on bugs—the creepy, crawling kind of bugs. You can watch documentaries on ants, tarantulas and locust swarms. When New Year rolls around at midnight Discovery will be airing a show about how bugs found on corpses can reveal when a person died. What a way to bring in the year 2000!

If bugs aren’t your thing, how about scary movies? The Movie Channel's ``Y2K Go Away'' marathon presents starts at 6:00 PM and features eight movies in the ``Friday the 13th'' series consecutively. The last one, ``Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan,'' begins at 4:50 a.m. Or you can contemplate the armageddoen with Showtime's ``End of the World Marathon'' includes the movies, ``Hard Rain'' and ``Deep Impact.'' At midnight, the 1998 remake of ``Godzilla'' airs.

If you want something lighter than bugs and Jason you may want to tune into TBS or the Cartoon Channel. TBS will air 33 consecutive episodes of ``The Andy Griffith Show'' starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending at midnight, when the station loses the rights to broadcast the program that's been on its schedule for 22 years. Or you can look to the future with the Cartoon Network.

It will air every episode of ``The Jetsons,'' starting at 10 a.m. on Dec. 30 and finishing at the stroke of midnight, the dawn of a new millennium.

Choices, choices, choices, and if none of those are up your alley then there’s the traditional network New Year’s Eve parties. ABC will have Peter Jennings, NBC will have Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric and CBS will air a David Letterman special.

Then there are the marathon shows-- CNN has 100 hours of consecutive Y2K coverage and PBS and PAX-TV will air a 25-hour special that features reports from around the world.

So grab your remote, your champagne and your recliner and bring in the New Year American style...in front of the television.

Source: Associated Press

DATE: 12/21/99

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