Univision, Telemundo Set Year-End Shows

During the last few seconds of 1999, thousands of Latinos across the country will clutch glasses of champagne and shreds of confetti as they chant along with Spanish-language television “Cinco, cuatro, tres, dos . . . ,” but network executives are hoping those revelers tune in well ahead of the witching hour.

Both Univision, which dominates the market by reaching 92% of Latino households, and its smaller rival, Sony-owned Telemundo, modified their entertainment and news programming to pay tribute to the millennium.

On Dec. 30, Univision’s Emmy Award-winning news team will take a “final” look at the millennium and a peek at the coming year. The one-hour live show begins at 7 p.m. in Los Angeles, and will be hosted by well-known news anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas.

Univision’s New Year’s Eve program begins at 3 a.m. (6 a.m. in South Florida where the network is based). The 24-hour live special will feature entertainers, actors, newscasters, comics and mariachis. Feeds will come in from Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York City, Orlando, Fla., Miami, Washington, D.C., Mexico City, Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and the Panama Canal Zone with hosts throughout the world, celebrating each city’s version of Times Square’s legendary “ball dropping,” as it occurs.

Hosts of the network’s manic morning program “Despierta America” will air discussions and predictions from psychics. By the afternoon, Univision will target devotees of the network’s soap operas, known as telenovelas. The programs’ most “memorable heroes, villains,” will be compiled in a clip show, along with the year’s most enthralling “natural disasters, accidents, tragedies, passionate moments, hilarious characters . . .,” according to programmers at Univision.

At 10 p.m. on Dec. 31, Univision’s competition, Telemundo, also based in South Florida, will air a 30-minute montage of the year’s most newsworthy events titled “Imagenes ’99.”

The network has already started filming portions of its New Year’s Eve variety show, “La Fiesta Del Nuevo Milenio” (New Millennium Party), in Miami and L.A. for a 2 1/2-hour special that begins immediately after “Imagenes ’99.”

“La Fiesta” will be broadcast from Disney’s Pleasure Island in Orlando, Fla., with entertainment anchors Guillermo Sauceda and Antonella Palazio at the helm. Cut-ins from parties in L.A., Miami and New York will be interspersed throughout the show.

Telemundo’s finale will include an interview with Cuban-born Salsa queen Celia Cruz and New Year’s fireworks.