page_title: ABC 2000 Today
section_title: Broadcast highlights
hierarchical_section_title: ABC 2000 Today / Broadcast highlights
caption_attribution_description: View of Times Square, New Year's Eve 1999. Originally captioned: "Looking at all the people behind us. Wut!?!? How did we get here? Read about how here".
context_page_description: ABC 2000 was an ABC News' coverage of the new millennium celebrations around the world from December 31, 1999, into January 1, 2000, as part of the 2000 Today programming in the United States. Peter Jennings anchored the 23 hours and 10 minutes of broadcast from Times Square Studios in Manhattan, New York. ABC temporarily converted the Good Morning America marquee broadcast studio into a type of "millennium command center" that included a desk, where a standing Jennings spent most of his time, two lounge chairs, where Jennings would interview guests, a large screen with a time-zone included map of the world, a wall of clocks, and a makeshift newsroom where ABC News staffers would follow the latest developments.
context_section_description: Originally, the name of the broadcast was ABC 2000, but it was officially retitled as ABC 2000 Today because ABC joined 60 other nations, all celebrating the dawn of the new millennium. The network was part of the 2000 Today consortium that included PBS, WGBH, the BBC in the United Kingdom, STAR TV, ATV, TVB, Phoenix Television, and CETV in Hong Kong, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, Anteve, Indosiar and MetroTV (test of transmission) in Indonesia, RTM, STMB, Mega TV and Astro in Malaysia, CCTV in China, TCS, CNA, TV12 and Singapore Cable Vision in Singapore, ABC in Australia, TV Asahi in Japan, MBC in South Korea, SABC in South Africa, TVE in Spain, Globo in Brazil, GMA Network in the Philippines, RTL in Germany, RTP in Portugal, TV3 in New Zealand, Televisa in Mexico, TVN in Chile, and the CBC in Canada. (The program was nonetheless consistently promoted under the ABC 2000 name, possibly to avoid confusion with the U.S. morning show Today, which airs on rival network NBC.)
  This was by far the most comprehensive coverage of any of the broadcast networks. By contrast, CBS had hourly updates throughout the day with Dan Rather, a special 8 pm edition of the Late Show with David Letterman and from 10pm-1am ET, Rather and actor and rapper Will Smith hosted America's Millennium live from Times Square and Washington D.C. respectively. It was the only time since 1996 that CBS offered live New Year coverage. NBC had an extended edition of The Today Show, Dateline NBC at 8 pm and from 9pm-3am ET, Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric anchored NBC's millennium coverage, which included a special edition of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which took part in the millennium celebrations in Los Angeles.
  Peter Jennings stayed on the air for the entire duration without a break using only commercial breaks and correspondent pieces to rest, eat, or change suits. He changed his wardrobe four times, including wearing a tuxedo when the ball was dropping at Times Square, and a sweater at the end of the ABC 2000 Today broadcast.
  At least 175 million Americans tuned into some portion of ABC 2000 Today. The broadcast won a Peabody Award.
  The theme music for ABC 2000 Today (which was also used for ABC News' election coverage that year) was from Epcot's IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth live show. The music was composed by Gavin Greenaway, who won an Emmy award for the work. Footage of IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth were shown in the opening and closing sequences.
caption: ABC News's stage in Times Square.
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