New Year's Eve Live!
Proverbs 16:9
“New Year's Eve Live!” is episode #387 of the Adventures in Odyssey audio series. It was written and directed by Phil Lollar, and originally aired on January 3, 1998.
Summary
The gang from Whit's End hosts a wacky New Year’s Eve celebration – in front of a live audience!
Plot
As midnight of the new year approaches at Whit’s End, Tom Riley, Eugene Meltsner, Connie Kendall, and Bernard Walton present a live New Year's Eve edition of Kids' Radio. While Harlow Doyle reports on activities from various sites in Odyssey, the others sing songs and share stories about the origins of New Year's and the value of spending time wisely.
One skit tells the story of Joey, a boy who was always daydreaming about the future. One day, he falls asleep beneath a tree and wakes to find a wizened old man with a cane. The old man offers to give Joey his silver life clock, which keeps the time of his life. He claims that moving the hands forward will bring the future faster, but warns that once the hands are moved forward, they can never be turned back. Joey eagerly takes the clock and begins rushing ahead in time to avoid trouble. He skips over homework and tests and right out of school, propels himself into management, instant marriage, parenthood, and other major life events, always avoiding pain and hardship. One day Joey looks in a mirror and realizes that though it is the same day, he is now an old man. The old man from the forest suddenly reappears and chastens Joey for using up his life because he didn't allow time to run its natural course and make the most of each moment. Joey awakens from what has been a terrible nightmare, now determined to savor every day of his life.
Meanwhile, Eugene sings "Out with the Old Year!" and "Annum Novum Faustem Felicem". They also tell the story of Sosigenes the Greek and Julius Caesar, who invented the modern calendar. Finally, at midnight, the revelers at Whit's End and elsewhere in Odyssey shout "Happy New Year" to end the program.
Discussion Questions
- Why did Joey learn it's important not to waste your time?
- How has God provided for you this year?
- What lessons have you learned over the last year?
- What will you do differently in the next year?
Cast
Heard in episode
Mentioned in episode
| Character | Mentioned By |
|---|---|
| John Whittaker | Harlow Doyle |
Notes
- Trivia
- This show was recorded in front of a live audience. For a complete list of shows that were recorded live, click here.
- Click here to read an article by someone who was there!
- The story about the clock is actually an adaptation of another story from The Book of Virtues called "The Magic Thread". In that story, instead of a clock, the boy's life was accelerated by unwinding a ball of thread that, once unwound, could not be wound again.
- This episode uses much of the original B-TV bumper music heard in the original B-TV episode #298: “I Want My B-TV!”.
- The audience laughter during the segment with Julius Caesar and the adding machine was brought on by some foley issues and an ad-libbed line. Dave Arnold was doing foley with an actual adding machine, which went a bit crazy — the paper not tearing off, etc. Walker Edmiston then ad-libbed the line about the adding machine "having a mind of its own," prompting laughter not only from the audience but also from Will Ryan during the delivery of his next line.
- Several scenes and lines of dialogue was cut from the original recording of this episode. You can hear some of them in the 241st episode of the Official Podcast.
- Songs heard in this episode are included courtesy of Snappytoons Amusement Company.
- Allusions
- Joey's teacher makes a reference in this episode to the lyrics to "Que Sera, Sera" — a song that was made popular by Doris Day.
- Walker Edmiston calls out his famous voice imitation of Henry Fonda in this episode. Edmiston used the voice characterization several times in previous episodes.
- Charlie Jarvis's portrayal of the bus driver Charles in this episode is a spoof of the character Ralph Kramden from the famous TV sitcom The Honeymooners.
Quotes
Tom Riley: Our program tonight is being transmitted to...to...well, dozens of people.
Harlow Doyle: Here bussy bussy... Here bussy bussy! <Bus pulls up> Hey! Whaddaya know! It works!
Harlow Doyle: Then I guess I don't need this bunny suit...
Charles: D'oh, I get all da weirdos...
Harlow Doyle: Are we there yet?
- Episodes aired 15 times
- Episodes in Album 31: Days to Remember
- 1998 Season Episodes
- Episodes sorted alphabetically
- Episodes sorted chronologically
- Episodes hosted by Chris Anthony
- Episodes written by Phil Lollar
- Episodes directed by Phil Lollar
- Episodes produced by Brian Kifer
- Episodes with sound design by Dave Arnold
- Episodes with music by Unknown
- Episodes recorded at Focus on the Family Chapelteria
- Episodes engineered by Mark Drury
- Episodes executive produced by Kurt Bruner
- Episodes with Empty intro
- Episodes with Narration intro
- Episodes with Empty wraps
- Episodes with Normal wraps
- Episodes with theme of God's providence
- Kids' Radio Episodes
- Live Episodes
- Comedy Episodes
- Episodes engineered by Dave Arnold
- Episodes engineered by Dave Samuel
- Episodes engineered by Brian Kifer
- Episodes with sound design by Mark Drury
- Episodes with references from Proverbs
- Episodes produced by Dave Samuel
- Episodes produced by Mark Drury
- Episodes produced by Dave Arnold
- Episodes with promos
- Episodes with samples
- Episodes on CBD
- Episodes on iTunes
- Episodes on Amazon
- Episodes on AIOHQ
- Episodes on the Odyssey Library
- Episodes on the Odyssey Scoop
- Episodes on the Soda Fountain
- Episodes on the Official Podcast
- Available Episodes
- Episodes available for download
- Episodes with Bart Rathbone
- Episodes with Bernard Walton
- Episodes with Cody Carper
- Episodes with Connie Kendall
- Episodes with Eugene Meltsner
- Episodes with Harlow Doyle
- Episodes with Tom Riley
- Episodes that mention John Whittaker