For those that were there, or for those who saw the firework shows on TV; which was the best?

I'd have to say Boston myself, gotta love the "Pops"!

Agree that Pops is the best - for the whole program - much more real than the others - which resemble commercial or political versions of a very badly staged high school pageant. By keeping it simple Boston is the winner.

NYTraveler,
I was switching back and forth and it felt like the others had a huge sign for the audience that said "APPLAUDE, SMILE, WAVE", etc. It's funny, I thought it was just me.

Hope everyone had a very nice 4th!

Happy Travels!

Not sure about television, but over the years I've been to all 3, and think that Boston has it over the others hands down. It really isn't captured well on TV, but they do a beautiful job of synchronising the music and the fireworks.

The NY broadcast had all these shots of people gawking with their mouths open. I kept getting mad, because I wanted to see the fireworks, not the dumb expressions on people's faces..

Next year I'll check out the Pops...

I watched Boston & NY's displays on tv this year and I thought NY had the better fireworks

Well, I watched mostly the DC ones, since I live there. I never tire of seeing the fireworks set against the backdrop of those gleaming monuments.... But the fireworks themselves are a bit tame. Of course, we DID have Clay Aiken singing "I'm Proud to be An American" - that must have been a thrill to some in the audience, but not to this 53-year old!) Ray Charles on tape singing "America the Beautiful" was pretty cool, though.

But in answer to your question: I guess overall I like the Boston fireworks best.....

We have always watched the NYC fireworks from our home. Not on television, but from our home. They were always the best.
Then one year, we saw the fireworks on the beach in Montauk. Those were the best.
This year, we sat on a bench, alongside the St Johns River in Jax Florida and watched twin barges shooting fireworks over our heads.
They were the best

For TV, we thought New York the best: fantastic fireworks, good music.

The coverage of the Boston fireworks isn't as good since A&E stopped doing the telecasts; their camera people knew we were watching primarily to see the fireworks. The network now showing the event (and much less of it, too) just doesn't understand that the fireworks are the stars of the show.

Underhill, while we were watching the fireworks here, I kept waiting for music LOL
It needs music!