NeNe Leakes, Andy Cohen, Whitney Cummings join NBC’s New Year’s Eve coverage

We are at the part of the year now where networks are gearing up for New Year’s Eve, and for many of them the challenge is simple: How in the world do you compete with Ryan Seacrest? “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” is such an institution on ABC; in many ways, it’s like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is for NBC in that it is nostalgic, familiar, and fun. It’s not particularly edgy or surprising, but many people prefer their holidays to be sentimental.

For years, NBC has rivaled “Rockin’ Eve” with a show hosted by Carson Daly, which has sustained some numbers … but ones that are far below what Seacrest routinely gets. This year, the network is trying something a little different, kicking off the coverage with Daly at 11:30 p.m. Eastern and bringing to you “New Year’s Eve Game Night with Andy Cohen,” a program that will feature (per Us Weekly) NeNe Leakes, Whitney Cummings, John Stamos, Rob Riggle, Bob Saget and JB Smoove alongside the “Watch What Happens Live!” host. We think that this is probably an attempt by the network to get into the New Year’s Eve “fun” market, which we think is occupied at the moment by Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin over on CNN. (This is probably one of the few days of the year you can use CNN and “fun” in the same sentence.)

The Cohen-hosted show will begin at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, and we’re curious to see how all of this plays out. For those wondering, it appears as though the “Game Night” is an adaptation of “Hollywood Game Night”; Deadline reported earlier this month that the show’s typical host in Jane Lynch had other commitments.

Do you think any of this will work to boost NBC’s ratings on New Year’s Eve? Let us know now in the comments!