The entertainer was taken to the hospital Monday, the Associated Press reported yesterday, after suffering what Clark's publicist, Paul Shefrin, called a "minor" stroke.
Clark insisted in a statement that he would recover in time for the annual marathon of kitsch.
Jeff Zucker, left, Susan Lyne and producer Mark Burnett are happy to bring you Martha Stewart's reality show -- after she serves out her sentence.
(Frank Franklin Ii -- AP)
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"The doctors tell me I should be back in the swing of things before too long so I'm hopeful to be able to make it to Times Square to help lead the country in ringing in the new year once again," said Clark, who recently turned 75.
Last April, the TV icon announced he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the '90s and that he was going public with his condition to let people know that the disease puts them at an increased risk for a heart attack and stroke.
In addition to his regular ABC New Year's Eve gig, Clark produces the Golden Globe Awards telecast for NBC and the American Music Awards and is an executive producer of NBC's prime-time "American Dreams." But Clark is best known as the pop-idol maker of the longest-running dance and music show on TV, "American Bandstand."
ABC seemed extremely out of the loop on the situation, putting out a news release about its Clark-hosted New Year's Eve programming plans late Monday, the same day Clark was admitted to the hospital.
Yesterday afternoon The TV Column contacted ABC to see whether it had any news about its New Year's Eve programming plans or whether the network was in a wait-and-see pattern. After much pestering, we were able to learn that Andrea Wong, ABC's executive vice president of alternative programming, specials and late night, would commit, in a statement, only to saying that "all of us at ABC look forward to Dick's fast and full recovery." Which was valuable information because otherwise we and millions of TV viewers might naturally have mistakenly thought the network wished him dead. So glad they cleared that up.
Fortunately for ABC, Clark had planned for a co-host this year. According to the network's news release . . . oh, noooooo! Ashlee Simpson will co-host the rockin' New Year's Eve festivities. Doesn't that just figure?
