Happy 500th Anniversary of America. I’ll be celebrating with you from the couch – it’ll be around 100 degrees in here and there are plenty of TV specials for you to watch.
A (very) short list: Netflix The American experience Topically worth overeating, and history makes its debut in a new wayRalph Lauren American Icons. Of course, PBS is doing what it can, and so are the news stations. Pluto has compiled 250 “hand-selected films that celebrate the people, places, and stories that shaped America” — all free, of course. ABC and ESPN2 will share Nathan’s Men’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at 12:30 PM ET; ESPN Apps will stream the women’s event live at 10:45 a.m
Macy’s Fireworks (live on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, 8 p.m. ET – 10 p.m.) is always a crowd pleaser and the most-watched television event of the day. But it might be the coolest piece of content Another thing Live on NBC (and Telemundo) on the 4th.
America 250 (7 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET), NBC’s coverage of the 4th Sail 250, will be covered by 23 of the network’s anchors, anchors and correspondents stationed throughout New York and New Jersey. today Anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin will host coverage from Governors Island; They will be joined by colleagues Al Roker, Carson Daly, Willie Geist, and Jenna Bush Hager. (Rooker actually covered the Tall Ships’ last big Fourth of July parade—the Bicentennial Sail—as a cub reporter from Syracuse.)
If you’re thinking that’s a lot of talent, it is, but there will be twice as many cameras — air, land and sea — capturing this thing, with nine hardtop cameras, 15 handheld cameras, six drones, a helicopter, a balloon, and additional cameras aboard several ships.
This year’s Sail 4 event (get it? “Sail Forward,” but on our nation’s birthday) is expected to be “the largest sea and air gathering in U.S. history with (48) tall ships, naval ships, and aircraft from 46 countries,” according to NBC.
Sail4th 250 is the successor to the Sail, Inc. operation. – An organization authorized by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to use tall ship pools “to promote international friendship and maritime heritage and to support sailing training.”
Yes, “tall ship” is the official name of the ship class. Kind of stupid, yes, but perfectly descriptive.
“The name is so simple, the ships are so complex — it’s an oxymoron,” admitted John Slobotkin, senior vice president of live events for NBC Regional Sports Networks.
“You can’t really find the words until you’re standing in front of one,” said Maggie McCarthy Baxter, vice president of programs and community. Hollywood Reporter. “You just see the grandeur and the awe — it’s really amazing. So, I don’t know if there’s a word for it.”
The fourth sail boats will go under the Verrazano Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty, and down the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge. The tall ships will depart from Sandy Hook, New Jersey at 7 a.m. and enter New York Harbor at 9:30 a.m. The Queen Mary 2 will be there, as will the US Coast Guard’s Eagle, known as the “American Tall Ship.”
And don’t forget to look up — even higher than the masts — the display will include 200 planes and helicopters, including the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels. Together, it would be quite the scene.
“I’m really looking forward to the moment the lead boats pass Governors Island as the air review begins, the synchronized moment [with] “The screaming planes are up there,” Slobotkin said.
Baxter, Slobotkin and Matt Carluccio, executive producer of today Weekends and special events, you’ll be among the NBC executives braving the heat and potential thunderstorms for that first ship to the last ship. Fingers will be crossed.
“We don’t have a plan for inclement weather here,” Carluccio said. “We never did that.”
Well, he has one idea for the NBC/Telemundo teams — and the viewers — to beat the heat.
“Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate,” he said.
And if I may add: from your living room, with the air conditioner running.
