ABC Offering 24 Hours of Programming for Nation’s 250th

If you remember December 31, 1999, there’s a very good chance you tuned into at least a portion of the international 24-hour broadcasts, ringing in the New Year in each time zone around the globe. It was a massive undertaking, in an age of satellite uplinks, with feeds being shot out from tons of countries, with local host segments inserted locally, 2000 Today. A similar broadcast was shown in the United States, ABC 2000.

A tad over a month from now, the United States will be a quarter millennium into its existence. ABC is taking a similarly epic approach, with Disney Celebrates America 250, billed as “a 24-hour non-stop live event.”

A three-hour Good Morning America alone will apparently broadcast from all fifty states on July 4th.

Other programming includes a special edition of Nightline, and a look at “the seven wonders of America” from National Geographic and ABC News, including a visit to “the newest land” in the nation, recently spewed from an active volcano. Disney Celebrates America: Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash is the main concert and fireworks show, accompanied by the Nashville Symphony.

Here’s the preview, aired yesterday on Good Morning America:

I am curious, will it actually be “a 24-hour non-stop live event”? Or is it 24 hours over a slightly longer spread? With an international broadcast, our we smalls of the morning are primetime elsewhere, but something airing at 4 am ET, 1 am PT isn’t going to get many viewers. Perhaps will they be re-running their “America the Beautiful: GMA Travels to 50 States in 50 Weeks” segments from Good Morning America?

On June 29, Disney Celebrates America: The Pursuit of Happiness airs on ABC, Disney+, Hulu, National Geographic, and ABC News Live. The hosts will be at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.