Exclusive: Jamie Kennedy Won't Be Celebrating This New Year's Eve on KDOC

Bad news, fans of live TV debacles. KDOC confirms that it won't be resurrecting last year's infamous "First Night 2013 with Jamie Kennedy," which went down in history as one of the most spectacular meltdowns in local TV history. (Read my coverage from Jan. 3, 2013: KDOC-TV's New Years Eve Jamie Kennedy Catastrophe)

KDOC producer David Marquez tells me that the TV station quickly decided trying it again would be a bad idea. Instead, they've been focusing on taped community specials. KDOC's next live TV experiment will be much more legit: In January, the independent TV station will begin airing an 8 p.m. newscast from KABC-TV, anchored by David Ono.

Marquez can laugh about the Jamie Kennedy mess now, but he says the show and the aftermath from angry sponsors and other affiliates (the show was syndicated to 11 other stations) got pretty hairy.

"First Night" started from a real place: The idea of throwing L.A.'s own version of the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration. KDOC partnered with Jamie Kennedy Productions on the special, and managed to shut down part of Hollywood Boulevard for the event. Rehearsals went fine, Marquez says, and guests including Bone Thugs-n-Harmony appeared fit for air. "On paper, it looked like a legit broadcast," he says.

But a funny thing happened on the way to a live broadcast. Things fell apart. A communication gap between Kennedy, co-host Stu Stone and the producers (including Marquez) back in the live truck quickly created a problem. Talent pulled out their ISBs -- the earplugs that producers use to give instructions -- and then had no idea what was going on. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, well behaved in rehearsals, kept cursing on live TV.

Part of the problem: Kennedy's team hailed from the film world, and weren't familiar with how live, local production worked. Here's how the New York Times -- yes, this made the New York Times! -- described the end result:

Presiding over the sometimes shaky-looking and decidedly seat-of-the-pants special, Mr. Kennedy and his co-host, Stu Stone, mixed it up with exuberant revelers (some of whom read directly from the teleprompters of the M.C.s), occasionally getting caught by surprise by their own live cameras and open microphones. Innuendos were made; obscene words were broadcast unbleeped; and Macy Gray gave a performance that had some viewers wondering if she’d started celebrating the arrival of 2013 well before midnight. The show concluded with Mr. Kennedy announcing from a crowded stage, “There’s a fight. It’s ending with a fight. It’s ending with a fight. Guys, please. God bless you, get out. Go to a cartoon.”

A video of the mess went viral. Marquez says the video didn't help: Sure, the broadcast fell apart, but some convenient edits by whomever uploaded the video (perhaps a frustrated former local TV employee, he suspects) made it look even worse.

The real issue came from the other stations that aired the special. San Diego's KUSI-TV pulled the special off the air after the first hour, but other stations in California, Oregon, Washington state and Hawaii aired it in its entirety. And they weren't happy. Ditto key sponsors.

Kennedy also fanned the flames by talking to press, including the New York Times, and proclaiming that the whole thing was planned: "It was totally supposed to be like that. We wanted to make almost an anti-New Year’s Eve show, and the recipe calls for unexpected. We had an open bar for our guests, we were unrehearsed. It was not glamorous. We shot at the apex of craziness on Hollywood Boulevard on New Year’s Eve, in front of one of the most highly visible places, the Chinese Theater, and it was more like a block party type of feel," he told the paper.

It was not totally supposed to be like that.

The legend of the special lives on -- it even has a Wikipedia page. Marquez says fellow pals in TV production around the country rib him whenever another local TV viral video pops up -- including, mostly recently, that Kansas anchor who cursed on the air. He's bracing for pals asking him on Facebook about this year's special.

Meanwhile, in case you forgot, here's the video of "First Night" that became a viral sensation:

KDOC-TV's New Years Eve Jamie Kennedy Catastrophe

You remember the Chevy Chase talk show? Magic Johnson's late night mess? All child's play compared to what may go down as one of the biggest broadcast fails in recent Los Angeles TV history. On New Year's Eve, scrappy independent KDOC-TV (Channel 56) aired a live broadcast that thankfully (for them) aired in the FCC "safe harbor" zone, where stations can't be fined for obscenities.

It was a mess. And the man responsible for the disaster, host and producer Jamie Kennedy, should probably keep it off his resume. I missed this travesty when it aired live, but thankfully a guy named Shaun Broyls (check out his Twitter here) taped it and uploaded it to YouTube. And comedian Patton Oswalt is spreading the word via his own popular Twitter feed. This thing is going viral.

Watch the video above. But here's a synopsis from Shaun:

On 12/31/2012, KDOC in LA aired a LIVE (NO DELAY) New Year's Eve show. ALL of the F-bombs, audio and video glitches, awkward pauses and drunk teleprompter mimics are 100% how the show aired. No tape doctoring necessary. Enjoy what probably is the last time KDOC will ever do anything live ever again. OH, and the best part...the info said "Featuring Mario Lopez, Eva Longoria, Joey Lawrence and Jennifer Love Hewitt". NONE of them showed up and instead they filled 90 minutes with Jamie Kennedy, a clearly high Macy Gray, and Bone Thugs N' Harmony who didn't get the memo not to curse. ENJOY.

One more piece of irony: "First Night" is the name of a series of New Year's Eve events across the country that tout themselves as alcohol-free. From the looks of this KDOC special, no one involved in this production was dry.

It seems like a time buy for sponsor Carl's Jr., perhaps engineered by Jamie Kennedy's production company, as the telecast is filled to the brim with advertiser mentions. But KDOC is credited with the show as well. Given the fact that it's live TV, that Kennedy is producing it and he has plenty of hosting experience, I'm amazed that he so cluelessly keeps swearing as he doesn't believe his mic is hot. Oops.

But then again, KDOC aired Wally George's crazy, low-rent talk show for years, so this is par for the course over there. They could very well be high-fiving themselves at "LA 56" today, especially now that this thing is indeed going viral. Below are two ads that KDOC had been running for the New Year's Eve special. I say at this point they embrace the badness. After all, I may have to watch it next year if it returns.

Retro Friday: Wally George vs. the Poorman

Don'tcha just miss 1980s and early 1990s late night TV staple Wally George? He seems rather tame, harmless and comical in an age of Glenn Beck and company. You can't even take his stupid taunts seriously -- like here, where he insinuates that former KROQ DJ Jim "Poorman" Trenton has lost a lot of weight because he has AIDS. (Like I said, stupid.)

The Poorman was brought on to discuss "Loveline," which he hasn't hosted since at least 1993, so you know this clip is old. Wally George, of course, died in 2003.

Retro Friday: Request Video Edition

Folks who were SoCal teens in the late 1980s and early 1990s remember "Request Video" on KDOC-Channel 56. Here are two clips from the final episode, in 1990.

Retro Friday: Cheesy Local Los Angeles TV Promos, Circa 1984

Fast forward to 37 seconds in -- has there EVER been a cheesier local TV promo? Check out this one for indie O.C. station KDOC Channel 56 -- "the feeling of the Southland." Ugh, my teeth hurts from all this saccharine!

Then stay tuned for the ad for the 976 date line. Oh, this is all too good. We really were just cheesy in the 1980s.



Then there's this KNBC news promo, also from 1984. Not as cheesy, but still very 80s. And hey, there's George's dad, Nick Clooney, who briefly led the Channel 4 news team back then.

Retro Friday: Wally George vs. Rick Dees

Goofy "fight" between the late Wally George and a younger Rick Dees, on George's old late night KDOC talk show. From the look of the audience, this must have been taped in the late 1980s.