Nick Cannon, Alison Sweeney light up Macy’s July 4 fireworks show

Outdoor fireworks gatherings and festivities, organized to celebrate The 4th of July in the U.S. (and Canada Day for the Yanks’ Northern brethren), are often iffy, sometimes miserable propositions. There’s always the possibility of rain, and the inevitable miles of mud, guranteed long lines at the public loo and tons of mosquitoes — who are more thirsty for your blood than the vamps of True Blood. So, this Sunday, July 4, (9:00p.m.EST), why not beat the heat, prepare an indoor dinner (or just a bag of microwave popcorn), and invite your friends and family to gather around your Hi-Def TV set for a night of fun and celebration while watching the 2010 edition of the annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. This year, the all-star, live show will hosted by experienced emcees Kick Cannon (America’s Got Talent) and Alison Sweeney (The Biggest Loser) with live music performances provided by the smooth, sensual crooning of Enrigue Iglesias, the country/pop stylings of LeAnn Rimes and the power pop sound of overnight teen sensation Justin Bieber. Oh, did I forget to mention the fireworks? Well, like Thanksgiving Day parades, Macy’s has a bit of experience in knowing how to light up the sky over Manhattan in flawless, New York style — for two million spectators and millions of viewers across North America — with the continent’s most brilliant and original fireworks display. ?

“Each year, the Special traditionally creates, I think for the audience who watches it, a beautiful and kind of sparkling entertainment platform from which to launch the world’s biggest, arguably the world’s best, Independence Day fireworks show,” beams Robin Hall, Senior Vice President of Macy’s Parade & Entertainment Group and the special’s Executive Producer “The fireworks family we work with, five generations of experience, is like having thousands of collective years out here of combined experience to understand how to put this show together – and what it’s all about – and what will make it one of the most effective, emotional and memorable shows it can be.” Recording artist, TV host (America’s Got Talent) and actor (Drumline) Nick Cannon (who is married to singer Mariah Carey) and hostess (The Biggest Loser) and soap opera actress (Days Of Our Lives) Alison Sweeney (whose hubby is California Highway patrolman David Sanov) are both both genuinely excited to be co-hosting Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular this year, because they both confessed – during a conference call with members of the press, last week – that they have nothing but great memories of the 4th of July and are both hoping to create new ones for viewers who tune-in to the Fireworks Spectacular.

“I love the 4th of July,” Alison says with great excitement in her voice. “It’s definitely one of my favorite holidays. The memories for me of the 4th have always been about my family and the fun times we’ve had together and celebrating our freedom, and really being together as a family. So, I’m looking forward to having that experience with my children now. So I remember, so fondly, the way my parents would create these really fun events and holiday parties, and we’d all see fireworks. Now, I’m really thrilled to sharing this night with my son and my husband and millions of television viewers, so that we can all have a really great family experience.” “Absolutely, I mean, as you know the 4th of July is all about family, fun and good food, barbeques – all of that stuff,” Cannon interjects. “So that’s kind of where all my memories lie, you know, playing with fireworks and stuff, and nearly blowing off my hand. (laughs) But other than that, it’s always been good memories”

Robin, how you did you decide on Alison and Nick to be this year’s co-hosts? Robin: “A lot of ideas came our way. Alison, actually, was the brainstorm of somebody in my Talent Department at Macy’s, and I ran it by the people at NBC, and everybody was very excited about it. And we’d already selected Nick, and we thought Alison would be an incredible compliment to him. So I’m excited about this lineup of hosts. I think this is one that’s going to be one of the great shows, in terms of the audience response. And I think these guys will really help. After the viewers have finished toe-tapping to the music of Jason Bieber, Enrique Iglesias and LeAnn Rimes, they’ll see a fireworks show they won’t forget. As Alison said, ‘bringing the hype to the show, bring excitement to the show, build anticipation for the big finale, and you’ve got the 26-minute Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular.’ And, what’s going to be amazing is that the musical score will be played by the New York Pops for the 26 or 27 minutes that we have fireworks in the sky. It’s an all-vocal score, so nobody’s done an all-vocal score. I know Nick and Alison are excited about that, so I know the audience will feel that excitement by just watching and listening to them. They are great additions to the special.”

Alison and Nick, what made the two of you accept the offer from Macy’s to do the show? Nick: “I’ve personally just seen last year’s show on television, and really enjoyed it So, I can’t wait to be able to do something fun and festive in the greatest city in America, in New York. I was just it was a great opportunity all the way around.” Alison: “Yeah, I feel the same way. I’m obviously in the NBC family (The Biggest Loser). and when they approached me to do it, I was excited. I watch it on TV, I love good fireworks and I love celebrating the 4th. I think it would be so fun to get in front of that huge crowd of people. I mean, it’s just going to be so incredible, the feeling of it. I mean, this is probably as big as New Year’s Eve. I mean, I can’t imagine a more fun way to spend the 4th of July.”

Nick and Alison, you’ve both done a lot of hosting, but how do you the two of you prepare to host for something this big? Do you do improv rehearsals or anything like that? Alison: “I’m actually just entirely counting on Nick to be funny, and I’m just going to stand there and point at him” (laughs) Nick: “And I was thinking of doing the same with you, so we’re even.” Robin: “You guys better work this out before Sunday.” (laughs) Nick: “It’s one of those things where again, we just want to represent the spirit of the 4th of July. And as Alison was saying before, it’s about family and fun and bringing that, I think that’s what people would rather see. People don’t like to see stiff hosts that are just speaking verbatim from a teleprompter or kind of sounding the same. They want to see people enjoying themselves on the holiday. So in that sense I think, you know, I prepare for that every day.” Alison: “I think he’s right, and it’s just about going and trying to have fun. It’s just about enjoying the moment and being part of it. And Nick and I haven’t worked together yet, but we’ve both done a lot hosting. And so it’s just fun to kind of guide the audience through what they’re going to be experiencing that night. And getting them as excited as we are to bring it to them.” Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular will air on Sunday, July 4, 2010 (at 9:00p.m. EST/8:00p.m.CST)