Thanksgiving usually means turkey, dressing and football. Well, the turkey and dressing probably will be good this year, but the football menu for Thursday isn’t so hot.
At 11:30 a.m. it’s the Bears against the Detroit Lions on WFLD-Ch. 32. This one has appeal for only the hardest of the hard-core Bears fans out there. At 3 p.m., WMAQ-Ch. 5 has the Tennessee Oilers at the Dallas Cowboys. This one at least would have some meaning if the Oilers were still in Houston.
So, you might want to pass up football this Thanksgiving and ride the remote to alternate television landscapes.
If you want to get an early taste of the Christmas season, TBS is prepared to give you a jump start with two showings of “A Christmas Story” at 3:05 and 9:35 p.m. That’s the warm, nostalgic and funny 1983 movie about the kid who dreams of getting a genuine Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas. TBS also has “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at 7:05 p.m.
AMC is offering a Bob Hope Thanksgiving Day marathon. The highlight is the airing of the first six “Road” pictures with Bing Crosby in chronological order. Kicking it off at 9:35 a.m. is “Road to Singapore” (1940), followed by “Road to Zanzibar” (1941), “Road to Morocco” (1942), “Road to Utopia” (1945), “Road to Rio” (1947) and “Road to Bali” (1953).
TNT is passing on the turkey and serving up shark meat in the form of “Jaws” at 10 a.m., “Jaws 2” at 12:35 p.m. and “Jaws the Revenge” at 3:10 p.m.
Thanksgiving night at 7, TNT has “Back to the Future” with Michael J. Fox. To make this time-travel thing even more dizzying, USA has both sequels earlier in the day: “Back to the Future II” at 10 a.m. and “Back to the Future III” at 12:30 p.m. So you can see what happened after, before you see what happened before. Got that?
As always, Channel 5 will have “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” at 8 a.m. Katie Couric, Al Roker and Willard Scott will play hosts to the 71st edition of this famous New York City tradition that signals the official start of the Yuletide season. The parade also plays a part in the 1994 version of “Miracle on 34th Street,” starring Richard Attenborough, which airs at 7 p.m. on Channel 32.
The commercial-free Turner Classic Movies is an inviting stopover if you get it on your cable system, which only a limited number of Chicago-area systems do. This station has a lineup of 10 Best Picture winners, beginning at 5 a.m. with the 1931 version of “Cimarron.” Richard Dix and Irenne Dunne headline the cast of this film based on the Edna Ferber novel. That’s followed at 7:10 a.m. by the letterbox version of 1959’s “Ben-Hur,” starring Charlton Heston. “Ben-Hur” was filmed in wide, wide screen which means the black borders at the top and bottom of the movie are quite big. To avoid eye strain, don’t try watching it on a screen less than 25 inches.
At 11 a.m., TCM has 1981’s “Chariots of Fire,” starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson, and at 1:05 p.m., it’s 1951’s “An American in Paris,” starring Gene Kelly.
Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman meet again at Rick’s in 1942’s “Casablanca” at 3 p.m. Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre and Conrad Veidt will all be there, as will Dooley Wilson playing and singing “As Time Goes By.” At 5 p.m. it’s 1958’s “Gigi,” starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jordan and Maurice Chevalier.
“Gone With the Wind,” 1939’s best, unfolds at 7 p.m. It’s the original roadshow version, complete with overture and intermission. Clark Gable was about the only actor in the cast who was not nominated for an Oscar. Yet, after repeated viewings, it is Gable’s performance that holds up the best.
TCM follows “GWTW” with 1953’s “From Here to Eternity” at 11 p.m., 1977’s “Annie Hall” at 1 a.m. and 1935’s “Mutiny on the Bounty” at 2:45 a.m.
