SFist Watches: Thanksgiving TV This Week
Television has become as a much of a Thanksgiving staple as turkey, cranberries, and drunken uncles. Let's face it: when you've just eaten a week's worth of calories, and you've got a house full of relatives surrounding you, you'll probably welcome the chance to just stare at the soft glow of the TV screen.
"What's this thanksgiving thing you speak of?" you ask. Well tune in to the History Channel's The History of Thanksgiving on Wednesday at 1:00pm and learn all about it. We think it involves people in funny hats and buckled shoes dining with people wearing funny head-dresses and no shoes, but we're a little foggy on the whole thing. And while that first meal between those wacky pilgrims and the Native Americans will no doubt be covered, we can not promise they'll offer details about the eventual slaughter of those Natives. But pumpkin pie sure is delicious, isn't it?
Sometimes nothing quells the terror of impending quality family-time than witnessing the fictional representation of a family even more screwed-up than yours. Home for the Holidays, directed by Jodie Foster, is the best Thanksgiving movie we've ever seen...Fine. We admit it. It's the only Thanksgiving movie we've ever seen. Many holiday movies feature mention of Turkey Day, but this comedy covers the entire mad, two-day affair. Holly Hunter is the daughter returning home to dine with her uptight sister, chain-smoking mother, manic, gay brother, insane aunt, and pie-obsessed father. We challenge you to watch this movie and then find another that features more realistic-sounding dialogue. We haven't. Catch it on Lifetime Wednesday at 5:00pm.
When the big day roles around, you may prefer to stay out of the kitchen and glued to the set instead. You have your choice of football games. And of course coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade begins on Thursday at 9:00am on NBC, and continues on CBS as "The All-American Thanksgiving Parade" at 1:00pm. NBC is also continuing their post-parade tradition of airing the The National Dog Show, hosted by Seinfeld's own Mr. Peterman at 12:00pm.
Kick off the official start of Christmas madness by watching Miracle on 34th Street at 2:00pm Thursday on NBC. SFist likes this movie, despite it's high sentimentality. Natalie Wood manages to portray a cute, cynical child without any cloying sweetness, and Edmund Gwenn? Perfect. And if you ever want to hear that Dutch "Sinter Klaas Kapoentje" song again, just ask us. We'll gleefully oblige.
Happy Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown is one of our favorite Peanuts specials, probably because it's pretty bizarre. For some reason, the whole gang convinces Charlie Brown to provide them with a Thanksgiving feast. Where are all the parents, you ask? Good question. Mention of the adults is fleeting, but regardless, they obviously aren't providing for their kids if a meal cooked by a beagle and a...Woodstock is the closest thing those children will be getting to a Turkey feast come dinner time. And believe us, it isn't very close. Watch it Thursday night at 8:00pm on ABC
SFist remembers the days when It's a Wonderful Life was still in the public domain, and you could catch an airing of it every night on some channel until December 25th. For better or for worse, those days are gone, and NBC now owns the airing rights. They are granting us the first of two December showings on Saturday at 8:00pm. SFist makes no apologies for loving the movie. While many malign it as pure Holiday sap, we recognize that an ending so joyously sentimental is only warranted when the surrounding film is full of heartbreaking moments of human misery and despair. It's the scenes of a young George Bailey pleading with the druggist Mr. Gower, and of the older George Bailey sitting on that bar stool, begging for a sign of hope, that really make us cry. Sappy? Yes, it's one of the sappiest movies ever made. And it's also one of the most depressing. And in the end, isn't that what the Holidays are all about?