Tournament of Roses Parade welcomes new floats and new hosts
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As has been the New Year’s custom since 1890, the Tournament of Roses Parade made its slow, steady, not especially stately progress through Pasadena on Monday. (There is a never-on-Sunday rule that moved the parade to Jan. 2 this year.)
Like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it is a local tradition that television makes global — “with millions of viewers in over 200 countries and territories around the world” is the officially bruited figure. Usually, it serves as an incidental advertisement for the temperate, gleaming Southern California winter, but this year it progressed under cloudy skies; reporters broke out their winter wear; colors were muted.
The parade is broadcast over several outlets, including NBC and ABC; but for L.A. viewers, KTLA, which has been covering the event since 1948, has a sort of home court emotional advantage. Longtime co-hosts Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks, who retired from the post after last year’s parade, also had history here — Edwards as the host of a local morning show, Eubanks as a popular 1960s rock ’n’ roll disc jockey.
Their replacements are Leeza Gibbons and Mark Steines, both veterans of “Entertainment Tonight”; Steines is also the host of “The Home and Family Show” on Hallmark Channel, which nationally distributes KTLA’s parade coverage. In their 50s, they’re younger than their septuagenarian predecessors, but not so much as to really represent new blood. But it’s not like you can’t be hip enough to emcee the Rose Parade.
(Oddly, they were seen on camera only before the parade began and after it ended, though Micah Ohlman, a KTLA news anchor and parade co-co-host since 2010, was seen intermittently throughout. He proved a rock for the new hosts to cling to.)
In spite of its proximity to Hollywood, it is not exactly star-studded. Actress-singer Kristin Chenoweth (“Wicked,” “Hairspray Live!”) appeared in a popped-in window delivering good wishes from some remote location, possibly on tape; TV personality Ty Pennington (“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) rode a float. This year’s grand marshals, Olympic athletes Janet Evans, Allyson Felix and Greg Louganis, processed in antique cars. But that suits the parade. Notwithstanding the corporate sponsorship seen throughout – “The Rose Parade Presented by Honda” seems to be the parade’s current, much-repeated official title – or a float for ABC’s “The Bachelor” whose every petal-covered inch screamed, “Made by Disney,” its charms remain somehow small town, handmade, unpredictable and weird. This year, there were once again surfing dogs.
There were contributions from the Shriners, the Lions Club and the Odd Fellows, but also from the United Sikh Mission, the American Armenian Rose Float Assn. and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, whose “To Honor & Remember Orlando” float was dedicated to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. There were the African American New Buffalo Soldiers and los Hermanos Bañuelos Charro Team equestrian units. Many floats honored the natural world and the benefits of science. The marching bands were the very soul of diversity. As a picture of the nation, it wasn’t the worst thing to broadcast to millions of viewers in over 200 countries and territories around the world, and better than some things we’ve shown them lately.
To a great extent, the event sets the rules for the hosts. What’s required is the ability to speak fast while not sounding like you’re reading from a fact sheet the whole time, to not make your platitudes too platitudinous, and to banter in a way that makes your presence charming and comfortable. Edwards and Eubanks, with years of familiarity with each other and the job, had this down. The new hosts rose to this level:
Gibbons: “Mark, I love how you’re taking on the expertise with the horses. It’s very impressive.”
Steines: “I say neigh to that … we’re just horsing around.”
Still, the parade’s the thing. “It’s kind of host-proof, honestly,” Gibbons said at the show’s close, having just demonstrated that fact. “But what a great time we’ve had.”
Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd
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