{"id":94590,"date":"2026-01-04T23:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T07:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=94590"},"modified":"2026-01-04T23:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T07:19:09","slug":"new-years-eve-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/01\/04\/new-years-eve-wrap-up\/","title":{"rendered":"New Years Eve Wrap Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh, I did sleep with Mick <\/strong>once or twice back in the day. 
\nBut not in a way that you\u2019d get pregnant\u201d <\/em><\/span>
\n\u2013 <\/em>Joanna Lumley<\/strong>\u2019s character on the UK Amandaland<\/em><\/strong> Christmas special. 
\nThis also was a reunion for Lumley and Jennifer Saunders<\/strong>,
\nwho played her sister.  It\u2019s a hoot!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tradition dictates that I should open this column recounting how I spent my New Year\u2019s Eve.  Longtime readers know I always spend it with two of my dearest lifelong friends watching selections from Lindsay Wagner<\/strong>\u2019s extensive oeuvre<\/em>.  This year, we decided to watch her two-part stint on the pilot of The Rockford Files<\/em><\/strong>.  However, just before the holiday, one of my friends did something unexpected.  Something she\u2019d never done before.  She died!  The lengths people will go to in order to avoid watching Lindsay Wagner.  Rest in peace, GLH<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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If there\u2019s something else I didn\u2019t expect on New Year\u2019s Eve, it was Anderson Cooper <\/strong>and Andy Cohen <\/strong>playing with puppets…of themselves!  These puppets look strikingly like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 if they didn\u2019t live such healthy lives.  Anderson\u2019s, in particular, looked like he had suffered an aneurysm \u2013 although if Andy\u2019s hand were that far up me, I\u2019d probably have a stroke, too!  As to the boys\u2019 puppetry skills, I don\u2019t think anyone at Avenue Q<\/em><\/strong> has anything to worry about.  Nor, I suspect, do the boys from Puppetry of the Penis<\/em><\/strong>!  A \u201crefreshed\u201d Cohen going off on Mayor Eric Adams<\/strong>?  Coop\u2019s dramatic reading of the lyrics to Taylor Swift<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cWood\u201d?  And CNN <\/em>lifting their ban on alcohol?  It\u2019s everything you\u2019d want in a New Year\u2019s Eve show.<\/p>\n

Just because Don Lemon <\/strong>is no longer on any network doesn\u2019t mean he wasn\u2019t broadcasting \u2013 even if it meant livestreaming himself!  I don\u2019t care what else happens in 2026, a toasted Lemon talking into the wrong end of a microphone will be pretty hard to beat.  Eventually, it was pointed out to him he was holding it upside down.<\/p>\n

\"colorbar1\"<\/p>\n

A perfect segue to Dick Clark\u2019s New Year\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Eve with Ryan Seacrest<\/em><\/strong>.  I know Dick owns the show, but could we just retire the name and start something new?  Nobody is still talking about Guy Lombardo<\/strong>.  Just as relevant \u2013 Miss Ross<\/strong>, who went in and out of singing along with her own track.  You could tell when she was really singing because it sounded…well, \u201cdifferent\u201d.  Most embarrassing was when she came in on the wrong part of \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain High Enough\u201d and had to vamp about being grateful and blessed.  I\u2019m grateful she got through the blessed song!  Ryan Seacrest<\/strong> had another take on it: \u201cThat performance ranks alongside her unforgettable concert in the rain in Central Park<\/em> as one of the most iconic performances of all time.\u201d  Yeah, an 81-year-old Diane lip-syncing for six and a half minutes ranks alongside 39-year-old Diane at the peak of her career risking life, limb, and possible electrocution for an hour \u2013 and then two more hours the next day!  Bitch, please.<\/p>\n

By the by, Dick Clark\u2019s ratings were up 35% from last year.  In contrast, the Kennedy Center Honors <\/em><\/strong>had their lowest ratings in recorded history.  I\u2019m not sure of the exact number, but I only had to slide one bead on my abacus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh, I did sleep with Mick once or twice back in the day.  But not in a way that you\u2019d get pregnant\u201d  \u2013 Joanna Lumley\u2019s character on the UK Amandaland Christmas special.  This also was a reunion for Lumley and Jennifer Saunders, who played her sister.  It\u2019s a hoot! Tradition dictates that I should open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94599,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94590\/revisions\/94599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}