Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Sure, with Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa on the way, you have decorations, gifts and parties to think about. But you know that an all-important question looms beyond all that: Which host are you going to select to help you usher in 2012?

ABC has the 40th anniversary of the entity now known as "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest," with a lineup of talent including Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and blink-182. Over on NBC, Carson Daly will guide the 8th annual edition of "NBC's New Year's Eve With Carson Daly." The lineup has yet to be announced, but Daly is fresh from the National Christmas Tree lighting, where he had Kermit the Frog and Michelle Obama on his show list, so there.

America's two "go-to guys" will be front-and-center after they launch the New Year, too. "American Idol," with Seacrest as host, has its Season 11 premiere Jan. 18. It will not have the singing competition field to itself for long: Daly's scrappy hit newcomer, "The Voice," has its second season premiere in the coveted post-Super Bowl slot Feb. 5.

So the battle lines are drawn. Though the two hosts sometimes seem interchangeable — attractive but bland enough never to overshadow the acts they introduce — in many ways, they're very different, and the gap between them is growing. Here's a handy guide:

VITAL STATISTICS

— Ryan John Seacrest. DOB: Dec. 24, 1974. Hometown: Atlanta. Height: 5-foot-7.

— Carson Jones Daly. DOB: June 22, 1973. Hometown: Santa Monica, Calif. Height: 6-foot-2.

MONEY

Ryan: In July 2009, he signed a deal with CKX (which owns the production company that gives us "American Idol") for $45 million for three seasons — $15 mil a season — making him the highest-paid reality TV host. He's executive-produced the New Year's Eve show since '05. He's produced a collection of reality shows including ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." His productions for E! include E! News, red carpet awards show coverage — and "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and all its iterations. In other words, he probably has a bigger GNP than some countries.

Carson: He has been reported as earning $40,000 per episode of "The Voice," which had 12 episodes in its first season, or $480,000. He executive-produces his New Year's Eve show, and his "Last Call With Carson Daly." In its 11th Season, "Last Call" has adopted a show-on-the-move style and has seen its ratings improve. Daly's not hurting.

WOMEN

Ryan: In a relationship with Julianne Hough, who was quoted saying that before they got together, she thought he was gay.

Previously linked to Shana Wall, a backup singer for Luis Miguel, and Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick.

Carson: Has a 2-year-old son, Jackson, with long-time girlfriend Siri Pinter. Previously involved with Tara Reid and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

FASHION SENSE

Ryan: He's a self-proclaimed metrosexual, which he defines as a "heterosexual male who perhaps cares about his presentation, maybe likes to go shopping and put on a nice shirt, perhaps takes care of his body, wants to work out and be healthy."

Carson: Has improved over this past decade since his low point, when one celebrity blogger described him as "30-year-old man trying to dress like a teenager, a receding hairline being poorly masked, that ill-conceived moustache he often tries to sport, the way his chest hair creeps over the collar of his shirt, or his uncanny inability to adapt to a guest (wearing black nail polish when Korn visited, saying 'yo' and 'dawg' when Eminem was around)."

BEGINNINGS

Ryan always wanted to be on the air. As a kid, he would read the daily announcements on his high school's public-address system, pretending it was his own radio program. At 16, he convinced a local radio station to give him a paying job.

Carson initially dreamed of being a professional golfer and at one point was among the top-ranked young golfers in the country. He played on his high school golf team, along with classmate Tiger Woods.

Ryan majored in journalism at the University of Georgia. During his freshman college year, he became host of an ESPN show, "Radical Outdoor Challenge." Soon, he moved to Los Angeles and hosted an afternoon radio show for six years while at the same time hosting such TV specials as "Gladiators 2000" and "Wild Animal Games."

Carson entered Loyola Marymount University on a golf scholarship and studied theology. He briefly considered becoming a man of the cloth but then left school to pursue his golf career. Fate took a turn when he took an internship at a radio station in Palm Springs, Calif. That led to radio jobs in San Diego, San Jose and finally a stint at LA's famous KROQ, where MTV took notice and offered him a job. His runaway success with "TRL" followed.

QUOTABLES

Ryan: "It's surreal, because as a kid I always wanted to be both a big radio personality and also host a television show that people actually watch. Now I'm getting to do both."

Carson: "I had such strong faith that I thought I could take an oath of poverty and celibacy and feed and bathe old people. But then I realized that I didn't necessarily need to do that. I could apply the morals and ethics I'd learned to the secular world. So here I am, thrust into Satan's den, if you wanna call it that — and I love being here."

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM