The TV Zone

He’s baaaack -- the eternal American teenager, despite having had a Social Security-age stroke. The familiar face from rock and roll’s classic tubefest “American Bandstand” returns to cohost with Ryan Seacrest on this year’s 36th edition of ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” Monday, Dec. 31.

The press release says 78-year-old Dick Clark will count down to midnight “during the three-and-a-half hours of specials from Times Square in New York City.” We’ll assume that means he'll make the trip from California to Manhattan again to oversee the proceedings from a Square-side studio.

Clark has missed only the 2004 broadcast, which took place just days after he suffered a stroke. (Regis Philbin filled in that year.) He made his triumphant, if less than optimum, return to the tradition on Dec. 31, 2005, and appeared last year, too, his speech still weak but improving. It’s left to Seacrest these days to actually head outside into the winter cold where for so many years Clark and wife Kari previously shared their traditional New Year’s kiss.