START THE TV YEAR WITH A BANG.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Happy New Year! Oh. Not awake yet? That's OK. Just stumble over toward the television and turn on a channel and you're bound to find an image of a Rose float.

KTLA Channel 5 and HGTV are ready for early risers with preshows at 7 a.m. All the channels - CBS, NBC, ABC, KTLA and cable's HGTV - will have comparable vantage points for the Tournament of Roses, running 8 to 10:30 a.m. NBC coverage hosted by Al Roker and Nancy O'Dell will be cut short by the 9:30 a.m. start of the Gator Bowl.

For gardeners craving all the details of flowers, seeds, herbs and spices, HGTV is the place to be. When it comes to ad-libbing while a float is stalled in the turn from Orange Grove to Colorado Boulevard, experience counts, and that means veterans Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards on KTLA, whose coverage also runs in syndication and on the Travel Channel. KTLA repeats the parade, start to finish, at 10:30 a.m. and 1, 3:30 and 7 p.m.

Not everyone will want to tune into the Rose Bowl matchup of USC and Michigan at 1:30 p.m. on ABC Channel 7 (we're guessing bitter Southern Cal fans who wanted the championship Sugar Bowl game and UCLA fans who just wanted a better team.) Never fear - there are plenty of alternatives.

Spike TV pours on the testosterone with a day of slam-bang action flicks: ``Kickboxer'' (9 a.m. and 7 p.m.), ``Soldier Boyz'' (11 a.m.), ``American Dragons'' (1 p.m.), ``Renegades'' (3 p.m.), ``Death Warrant'' (5 p.m.) and ``Mad Max'' (9 and 11 p.m.)

HGTV is boasting an all-premiere New Year's Day with an assortment of new specials and series sneak-peeks, starting immediately following the Rose Parade. The specials include ``Pet Palaces'' (noon), which should make the pooch's new sheepskin nest seem grossly inadequate, and HGTV's ``Dream Home 2004,'' which no doubt will upstage an average viewer's accommodations.

NBC kicks off what may be way too much figure skating programming with ``Allstate Presents Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular,'' beaming from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas at 1 p.m. Two more specials are slated for Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

SoapNet has the ``Serial Bowl,'' in which Joan Collins and Linda Evans show ``Dynasty'' fans the proper use of shoulder pads. It's six hours of the series' best cat fights between the two divas, beginning at 1 p.m.

TNT has ``The Mists of Avalon,'' a female vantage point on the Arthurian legend starring Anjelica Huston and Juliana Margulies, at 11 a.m., followed by ``Gone With the Wind'' at 3 p.m.

Fox at 9 p.m. crowns the ``World Idol'' in the second part of a competition between Kelly Clarkson and winners of other nations. It is preceded at 8 p.m. by ``American Idol: Life on the Road,'' which captures all the thrills of getting a stiff neck from sleeping on a tour bus.

TCM shifts into a futuristic mode for the evening: ``The Time Machine'' (5 p.m.), ``Soylent Green'' (7 p.m.), ``Sleeper'' (9 p.m.) and ``Metropolis'' (10:30 p.m.).

KCET offers up a little cultcha at 8 p.m. with the annual ``Great Performances'' New Year's concert starring the Vienna Philharmonic at 8 p.m., followed at 9:30 p.m. by another ``Great Performances'' program, featuring Michael Feinstein doing popular tunes from the movies.

And Comedy Central introduces Fox's ``MadTV'' to its lineup with a 13-hour marathon launching at 8 p.m.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The waiting is over - see the Rose Parade floats in all their glory from 8 to 10:30 a.m. on several networks.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Walter Cronkite picks up the baton for a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic on ``Great Performances'' at 8 p.m. on KCET.

(3 -- color) Kelly Clarkson throws her hat into the ring against winners from other nations on ``World Idol,'' 9 p.m. on Fox.

(4 -- color) The cast of ``MadTV'' rings in the New Year on Comedy Central with a 13-hour marathon starting at 8 tonight.