Live from Times Square

Each New Year’s Eve, TV finds the sort of chaos and commotion it enjoys in Times Square.

“New York has this energy about it and a real craziness,” says Cat Deeley of “So You Think You Can Dance,” who will host the Fox telecast. “It gets the adrenaline going.”

This year there will be more live performances at the square, ranging from Toni Braxton and Rascal Flatts to Panic! At the Disco.

ABC helped start the trend last year with Mariah Carey. Now it has Christina Aguilera performing.

“They’re icons,” host Ryan Seacrest says of the two singers. “They’re superb artists. There are fewer and fewer of them each year.”

This year, more than ever, there is a convergence of TV’s three youth cultures:

“Dick Clark and “American Bandstand” spurred the original youth quake. Clark plans to do the countdown again on ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”

“The second came from MTV. This year, the network is packing its show with everyone from Gwen Stefani to Nas, Ciara and Three 6 Mafia. And Carson Daly, formerly a fixture on MTV’s “Total Request Live,” is hosting NBC’s New Year’s Eve special.

“The third comes from Fox’s youth reality shows, “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” Seacrest (from “Idol”) hosts ABC’s show, while Deeley is hosting Fox’s show – and has Chris Daughtry of “Idol” singing live.

For Seacrest, who is also a morning disc jockey in Los Angeles, this takes some adjustment.

“I usually go to bed at 8:30 at night,” he says.

Deeley, a former model and television host in England, also is accustomed to the pressure of working live.

“It gets your energy going,” she says. “The first show I did was live, three hours a night, 52 times a year.”

The difference in the last few New Year’s Eves is that many of the musicians are also working live.

Clark created a way to get lots of talent without paying premium prices: He would tape a music party in advance, complete with balloons and confetti. Then he would keep cutting to live coverage on Times Square.

That plan is still partly in place. This year, ABC taped a party with Fergie as host. She also performs, along with Natasha Bedingfield, Meat Loaf and RBD.

In the last two years, however, the emphasis has moved more toward live performances. That includes Panic! on NBC; Braxton and Daughtry on Fox; and Aguilera, Rascal Flatts and the cast of Broadway’s “Jersey Boys” on ABC.

Even PBS is part of that trend with live performances by Audra McDonald at Lincoln Center in New York and Garrison Keillor at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

For musicians, Deeley says, working live can be risky: “You can’t fake the audience reactions. There’s no way to edit something in later.”

Beyond the music, however, going live event makes for strong television. Seacrest says that’s one thing Clark emphasizes: “Dick always says, ‘Let the moments happen; let them breathe.’ “

After suffering a stroke in 2004, Clark missed one New Year’s Eve but returned last year. He let Seacrest be the main host but was there for the countdown. Now 77, he’s expected to do the same thing this year.

“He seemed really relaxed (last year),” Seacrest says. “He loves being there on New Year’s Eve. We love the moment when he leans over and kisses his wife.”

That’s a quiet moment, amid all the craziness.

Clark has marveled at the fact that some people will show up bare-chested on freezing December days. Deeley says there’s a variation on that in London’s Trafalgar Square.

“There’s a fountain there,” she says. “Every year, no matter how cold it is, people insist on jumping in.”

Now she’s looking forward to seeing how it’s done in the colonies: “It’s New York, it’s Times Square, I’m going to love it.”