Best Live 4th of July Fireworks Shows in the U.S.

Just in time for tonight's festivities, here’s a list of the 20 best live fireworks shows in the U.S., courtesy Digital City. 

Three of the entries were last night (Mount Rushmore; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee) so if you’re in those three areas you’ll have to seek out alternatives for tonight.

And, interestingly, the No. 1 live venue to watch fireworks tonight is not any of the obvious choices, such as New York or Washington, D.C., or Disney World. It’s Nashville.

Here’s the entire list. If  you can’t see a fireworks show live, here’s some that are on TV tonight.

Enjoy the show wherever you live, and have a safe 4^th!

Best July 4th Fireworks on TV

Basically, besides whatever coverage of local fireworks you have in your city tonight, there are three choices on national TV networks.

First choice of TV Critic Robert Bianco of USA Today, is A Capitol Fourth (8 ET/PT), on your local PBS station. The 90-minute show from Washington, D.C. features Aretha Franklin, Michael Feinstein, Barry Manilow, the casts of Jersey Boys and Sesame Street, and the National Symphony Orchestra. The host is Jimmy Smits. 

After that choice, Bianco likes both the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (9 ET/PT) on your local NBC station, or the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular (10 ET/PT) on your local CBS station. The Macy show has singer Kenny Chesney, the Pops show has singer Neil Diamond.

--Chuck Ross

E! Will Air Jackson Memorial Live on TV and Online; Ticket Demand for Service is Massive

Demand for the memorial service for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday hit more than half a million requests in the first seven hours fans were allowed to register for the lottery for the 8,750 pairs of tickets that will be available, according to a Jackson spokesperson. Each lottery winner can order up to two tickets, though some of the seats will be in the Nokia Theater to see the service on giant TV screens.

For those who don’t win tickets to attend in person, E! has said it will air the memorial live on its network and online.

—Chuck Ross

Obama Finally Comments On Michael Jackson

President Obama finally comments about Michael Jackson, praising him, CNN reports.

--Chuck Ross

Comcast, Time Warner Cable to Test Expanded Video-on-Demand

In what Multichannel News is calling an "Internet Acid Test," Comcast and Time Warner Cable are going to allow 5,000 subscribers to see new episodes of TV shows on the Internet.

Cable TV executives have talked about a concept they call TV Everywhere, but they want to make sure that only paying subscribers have access to TV shows in non-traditional TV venues.

--Chuck Ross

Fox Stations to Test Warner Bros. Syndicated Show

This week Fox TV stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Phoenix, and Minneapolis-St. Paul will test Warner Bros. new syndicated program "Beyond Twisted," B&C reports.

Testing new syndicated shows has become more and more popular. Debmar-Mercury has especially been successful with testing its shows. 

--Chuck Ross

Report: TV Stations Degrading Main HD Signals in Favor Multicasting

TV stations are increasingly "degrading their hi-def picture quality. The culprit is multicasting, i.e., transmitting digital subchannels alongside the primary HD stream within a station's 19.4 Mbps digital TV pipe," according to B&C. The reason is to increase revenues through the subchannels.

--Chuck Ross

Katie Holmes to Perform on 100th ‘Dance’ Episode in Judy Garland Tribute

“So You Think You Can Dance” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe confirmed Katie Holmes will be performing on the Fox dancing competition in a tribute to Judy Garland to help celebrate the show’s 100th episode, People.com reports.

Lythgoe made the confirmation during Wednesday night’s “Dance” performance episode.

Holmes’ performance, scheduled for the July 23rd episode, will also help kick-off the Dizzy Feet Foundation, a charity co-founded by Lythgoe, Holmes and “Dancing With the Stars” judge Carrie Ann Inaba and “Hairspray” director Adam Shankman, who also serves as a guest judge on “Dance.”

--Sergio Ibarra
 

‘American Idol’s’ Crying Girl Rejected During Audition

Ashley Ferl, the young girl most known for crying during a performance from “American Idol” finalist Sanjaya Malakar during the competition’s sixth season, auditioned for the Fox series and was rejected, Access Hollywood reports.

Ferl, who recently turned 16 and was able to compete in the show, auditioned in Pasadena, Calif. According to the show’s site, she did not make it beyond the first round.

--Sergio Ibarra

Conan Scores Another Late Night Win, Beating Dave in Viewers and Demos; MJ and Obama Boost 'Nightline'

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" continued to dominate the late night ratings, notching its fourth straight demographic victory over "Late Show David Letterman" during the week ending June 26.

O'Brien also regained his lead over CBS's "Late Show" among total viewers, according to Nielsen. Letterman's broadcast, boosted by the host's Sarah Palin squabble, had squeezed by O'Brien's show a week earlier.

"Tonight" averaged a 1.4 in the adults 18-49 demo for the week of June 25, compared to a 0.8 for "Late Show."

In overall viewership, "Tonight" averaged 3.69 million viewers, while "Late Show" drew 3.46 million.

ABC's "Nightline" actually had the biggest average audience of any latenight show for the week, with 3.89 million overall viewers. However, direct comparisons are unfair since the ABC newsmagazine signs off at 12:05, while the other shows are an hour.

"Nightline" was boosted by its exclusive town hall meeting with President Obama and, of course, two nights of Michael Jackson coverage.

--Josef Adalian