As the click ticks down to 2010, many of us look forward to watching that famous ball drop in Times Square. While hundreds of thousands will gather in New York City to see the event first-hand, most of us will be home in our comfy pajamas watching from our living rooms.

'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2010' begins at 10 PM ET on ABC and runs through 2:05 AM. The just-married 'Good Morning America' special correspondent Melissa Rycroft will be chatting with revelers in Times Square, while pop star Fergie will host segments from Las Vegas' new venue, Aria at City Center.

Hosting a game show is something of an art. You've got to be amiable but authoritative, and you've got to make it look easy. You've got to look happy when a contestant walks away with thousands of dollars (or even millions, at this point) and you've got to look contrite when a contestant loses -- especially if due to a bad answer. You've got to project warmth, seem approachable and always appear ready for fun, even when enforcing the rules.

Since the first quiz shows of the late 1940s, through the infamous scandals of the 1950s, up until the present day of huge cash prizes, game-show hosting has been an amazing long-term gig for the people -- almost always men -- who get the job. Who, then, are the 10 greatest game-show hosts in history? Check out our after the jump.

During some of the television obits I've been hearing about the late, great Ed McMahon, one of the most common misunderstandings about the Tonight Show sidekick's career has been perpetuated: that he worked for Publishers Clearing House, handing out big checks to unsuspecting sweepstakes winners.

Well, Ed did work for one of those sweepstakes-and-subscriptions houses, but it was PCH's main rival, American Family Publishers. He often appeared in the AFP's ads and mailings with his Bloopers and Practical Jokes buddy Dick Clark.

Not once did McMahon work for PCH, but as Bob pointed out in his obituary, jokes about his sweepstakes work often kept the mistake alive.

Somebody has to stop Ryan Seacrest. Please. I mean it. He's going too far. Seacrest tweeted that he is talking with Lindsay Lohan about her own reality show. Presumably it'll be in the vein of Ryan's other reality star vehicles, Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Denise Richards: It's Complicated. Notice that I didn't say it would have the same quality as those other shows because if you've ever watched more than an episode, you know that quality is not a requirement. Manipulation, mugging and broad fake emotions are all that's necessary.

So, Lindsay Lohan, heed my warning: stop talking to Ryan Seacrest. No good will come of it.

This should comes as no surprise to anybody: Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest was the most-watched TV special on New Year's Eve. The ABC special beat out Carson Daly on NBC.

Dick Clark has been doing these specials since I was a kid (they started in 1972) and I like so many others thought he'd be doing it forever due to his immortal nature. I'm beginning to suspect that the theories that he is, in fact, a robot might be untrue. Obviously the torch will eventually be passed to Mr. Seacrest (whose name now adorns the title of the show),

ABC should run a promotion stating that each year "could be Dick Clark's last year". That could boost ratings. On the other hand, it looks like they don't need the boost. The question is: when Dick is finally put out to pasture, will viewers abandon the sole host Ryan and start watching Carson?

New Year's Eve. A time to celebrate, get poop-faced drunk, reflect on the last year and the new one to follow, and get even more drunk as you see the daunting task ahead. It is, or was, also a time for an annual tradition that, whether you were stone-cold sober or falling down drunk, was a regular part of your celebrating.

Until his stroke in 2004, Dick Clark counted down the remaining seconds of the current year with millions of others during his annual New Year's Rockin' Eve specials, first on NBC (1972 and 73), then on ABC. In the beginning, most of the show was live. But as the years moved on, only the Times Square performances would go out live while many other performances would be pre-taped (remember that episode of Friends?). In it's most recent incarnation, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest (God, what an awful title), there's a lot more performance and a lot less celebration.

The book series that every nosy relative in your family says you should read if you want to live a better life is about to become the TV series that every nosy relative in your family says you should watch if you want to live a better life.

According to Variety, Dick Clark Productions has inked a deal to bring the Chicken Soup for the Soul books to the small screen... again... with the series' creator, the oh-so-appropriately named Jack Canfield, serving as co-host.

This isn't the first time the super-sappy book series has been turned into a television show. Pax TV, the network now known as Ion Television that's completely devoid of any graphic violent images, sexual content or ratings, turned the book series into a show just before the turn of the millennium.

In the Lame Title Department, ABC's annual New Year's Eve show will now be called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

I dunno...couldn't they have come up with something snappier? Like maybe Dick and Ryan's New Year's Rockin' Eve ... oh never mind.

Anyway, it's old news that Ryan Seacrest has been co-hosting the show for the past three years with Dick Clark, who suffered a stroke several years ago. But now Seacrest has his name in the title, so I guess it's official.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• The tradition continues: New Year's Eve means Dick Clark.
  
• There's a new quiz show coming, from the maker of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

New Year's resolutions vary from person to person. Some make a resolution to give up smoking, others to lose weight. My resolution is the same one as always: garner enough money and power to eventually become king of Earth. That, and getting soft-core porn onto network television.

Then there are some whose resolutions are much simpler. Take Ryan Seacrest, for example. When Mr. American Idol steps up to the platform to co-host Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007 on Sunday all he really wants is to have a little snogging session with Christina Aguilera, who is performing on the show. Last year, Seacrest was able to lock lips with Mariah Carey.

Well, good luck to Ryan. And, if he can't get a kiss from Christina maybe he can get one from a musician in the band Rascal Flatts or a cast member from Broadway's production of Jersey Boys, who are also performing on the show.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• They want to make it easy for you to become obsessed: Starstyle.com is a new website makes it simple to buy the same music, clothes, and furniture as your favorite television characters.
• Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daly insist they're not rivals over the chance to replace Dick Clark on New Year's Rockin' Eve.
  
• Jennifer Lopez's new dance reality show might be competition for ex-husband #2 Cris Judd's new reality show.

The video's embedded after the jump below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this vodcast via our feed.

Who knew that Dick Clark was a pack rat? It makes sense, considering he's been in the presence of stars ranging from Little Richard to Jay-Z; if I were in his shoes, I'd like to save momentos from those occasions too. But according to this AP article, he also has almost every issue of Life magazine and Playboy ever produced and many years of Fortune magazine. I swear, if he wasn't rich enough to rent out a warehouse to store all of this, he'd be one of those guys buried alive by his stacks of newspapers.

But I guess he's decided to simplify; he's putting a lot of this music memorabilia up for auction, including the first microphone he used on American Bandstand fifty years ago, a Michael Jackson sequined glove, and a bass guitar Paul McCartney played during the Beatles era. It's a no-reserve auction, and most of the profits will go to the T.J. Martell Foundation. No word on if his huge rubber band ball will go on sale, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Dick Clark caused a bit of a stir earlier this year with his appearance on his New Year's Rockin' Eve show, the first time he appeared on TV after suffering a stroke in late 2004. But he's stayed off the air since. Now comes word that there will be a musical tribute to him at this year's Emmy ceremony, to be broadcast by NBC on August 27.

Barry Manilow is set to perform his version of the American Bandstand theme "Bandstand Boogie", for which he and a co-writer wrote lyrics sometime in the mid-'70s. Of course, Clark hosted and produced Bandstand for over 30 years.

Gotta tell you, the words "musical tribute" sound very final to me. I mean, yeah, Dick's still with us, but it really sounds like the music and TV industries both acknowledge that we're not going to see much of him anymore. That reminds me: anyone find a health update on Dick? We really haven't heard anything since the New Year.

[via The Futon Critic]

As I was driving down the New Jersey Turnpike yesterday, I noticed that the signs for one of the rest areas (named after Jersey luminaries such as Vince Lombardi and Joyce Kilmer; this one was named for Molly Pitcher) had something different than the usual Burger Kings and Cinnabons on it: a sign for something called Dick Clark's AB Grill.

Wow. As if Mr. Clark didn't have enough money, he has decided to license his image and the American Bandstand name to a restaurant franchise. The web site for the AB Grill located in Kansas City describes the experience: "Guests can groove to their favorite top tunes from the '50's to today, watch music videos and American Bandstand clips, and peruse hundreds of pieces of memorabilia including pictures, gold records, and even Elvis' Hat and Bo Diddley's guitar." A look at the menu reminds me of the selections at the Hard Rock Cafe, only greasier.

Earlier this week, I speculated about what Dick Clark's going to look and sound like on his New Year's Eve show this year, since it's his first public appearance since he had a stroke in 2004. Well, according to New Year's Rockin' Eve co-host Ryan Seacrest, Dick's going to be better than most people are thinking.

"I'm not a doctor and I'm not his wife so I don't see him on a daily basis, but he will not be in a wheelchair on the telecast," he told AP Radio in an interview, recounted in this article. He goes on to say that Clark's voice won't sound quite the same as before the stroke, but "it definitely sounds like Dick."

Knowing how hard Dick worked in show business up until he had the stroke, I'm sure he worked just as hard to get himself in as good condition as he could for New Year's Eve. Looking forward to seeing him; heck, anything's better than seeing Regis ham it up and forget names.