The Best Fourth of July Program on NBC Is Not the Macy’s Fireworks

Happy Semiquincentennial, America. I’ll celebrate with you from the couch — it’s gonna be like 100 degrees here and there are a ton of TV specials to watch.

A (very) short list: Netflix’s The American Experiment is topically worth a binge, and History is debuting a new special Ralph Lauren’s American Icons. PBS, naturally, is going all in — as are news stations. Pluto compiled 250 “hand-selected films celebrating the people, places and stories that have shaped America” — all free, of course. ABC and ESPN2 will share the men’s Nathan’s hot dog-eating contest at 12:30 p.m. ET; ESPN’s apps will live-stream the women’s event at 10:45 a.m.

Macy’s fireworks (live on NBC, Peacock and Telemundo, 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m.) are always a crowdpleaser and the most-watched TV event of the day. But the coolest piece of content may be something else live on NBC (and Telemundo) on the Fourth.

America’s 250 (7 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET), which is NBC’s coverage of Sail 4th 250, will be covered by 23 of the network’s anchors, reporters and correspondents positioned all over New York and New Jersey. Today anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin will host the coverage from Governors Island; they’ll be joined by colleagues Al Roker, Carson Daly, Willie Geist and Jenna Bush Hager. (Roker actually covered the last big Fourth of July tall-ship parade — the bicentennial sail — as a cub reporter out of Syracuse.)

If you think that’s a lot of talent, it is, but there will be twice as many cameras — by air, by land and by sea — capturing this thing, with nine hard cameras, 15 handheld cameras, six drones, a helicopter, a blimp, and additional cameras aboard several vessels.

This year’s Sail 4th (get it? “Sail forth,” but for our nation’s birthday) event is “expected to be the largest maritime and aerial gathering in U.S. history with (48) tall ships, naval vessels and aircraft from 46 nations,” per NBC.

Sail4th 250 is the successor to Operation Sail, Inc. — the organization President John F. Kennedy endorsed in 1961 to use tall ship gatherings to “promote international friendship, maritime heritage, and support for sail training.”

Yes, “tall ship” is the class of vessels’ official name. Kind of dumb, yes, but perfectly descriptive.

“The name is so simple, and the ships are so intricate — it’s an oxymoron,” Jon Slobotkin, senior vice president of live events at NBC Sports Regional Networks, acknowledged.

“You really can’t find the words until you stand in front of one,” Maggie McCarthy Baxter, vice president of programming and community, told The Hollywood Reporter. “You just see the grandeur and the awe — it is really remarkable. So, I don’t know if there is the right word for it.”

The Sail 4th boats will duck under the Verrazzano Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty, and up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge. The tall ships will leave from Sandy Hook, New Jersey at 7 a.m. and enter the New York Harbor at 9:30 a.m. The Queen Mary 2 will be there, as will the U.S. Coast Guard’s Eagle, known as “America’s Tall Ship.”

And don’t forget to look up — like, even higher than the masts — the parade will include 200 airplanes and helicopters, including the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels. Together, it will be quite the scene.

“I’m really looking forward to the moment that the lead boats come past Governors Island as the aerial review begins, the simultaneous moment [with] screaming jets above,” Slobotkin said.

Baxter, Slobotkin, and Matt Carluccio, executive producer of Today weekends and special events, will be among the NBC executives braving the heat and potential thunderstorms for that first ship to the final one. Fingers will be crossed.

“We don’t have an inclement weather plan here,” Carluccio said. “We never did.”

Well, he’s got one idea for the NBC/Telemundo teams — and for spectators — to beat the heat.

“Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate,” he said.

And if I may add: From your living room, with the air-conditioning cranking.