This show, now in is final season, isn’t really good enough to warrant a Best Bets nod. But it’s a very slow TV night on a Thanksgiving weekend, and Nikita is aiming to shake things up during this final season – and tonight’s plot has the villainous Amanda making doubles of various VIPS. I always wonder about this particular sci-fi plot, and this is what I always wonder: Once you perfect the technology to create perfect physical duplicates on anyone you choose, why don&rs

2013

Nov

THE 87TH ANNUAL MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE By David Bianculli

This morning, New York city officials will determine whether the sustained winds and wind gusts in the city are sufficiently severe to ground the Macy’s balloons this year – in which case the 2013 parade telecast will really blow. The cutoff numbers are 23 m.p.h. sustained and 34 m.p.h. for gusts – anything above that, and the airborne part of the parade is grounded. After all that work, expense and planning? Good grief, Charlie Brown.

2013

Nov

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL By David Bianculli

NBC doesn’t even bother to change the name of its showcase pro football series when it televises a special edition on Thursday. But how special is it, really? The game has “playoff implications,” yes, but it’s a prime-time contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, both of which have identical losing records of 5-6. Bring the stuffing: enjoy the turkey.

2013

Nov

POV: “LISTENING IS AN ACT OF LOVE: A STORYCORPS SPECIAL” By David Bianculli

POV has done this before, and at the time, I strongly urged they do it again – so I’m glad to see this latest StoryCorps special. StoryCorps, of course, is an exisiting, long-running feature on public radio, an intimate oral history experiment that is one of the very best ideas in its history. For television, these existing audio recordings are augmented with basic, simple animation – much like Ricky Gervais turned his podcast conversations into HBO’s The Ricky Gervais Sh

2013

Nov

THE RETURNED By David Bianculli

Part 5. This is anything but standard Thanksgiving night fare. But if you’ve been watching, you might want to keep up, because this is a pivotal episode in this creepy, moody, haunting miniseries. But don’t worry: If you don’t want to sacrifice tonight’s viewing time, Sundance is mounting a catch-up marathon of The Returned this Saturday.

2013

Nov

LADY GAGA & THE MUPPETS’ HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR By David Bianculli

Two years ago, Lady Gaga presented an ABC Thanksgiving special that had her hanging out with her mother, sharing cooking tips with a chef, and, yes, singing. For this second special, she teams with the Muppets, with a plot line that is lifted straight from the classic syndicated The Muppet Show: It’s a TV variety show that shows the attempt to mount a variety show, with backstage as well as onstage antics throughout. And in addition to the Muppets – all of them, according to ABC &nda

2013

Nov

'POV: STORYCORPS' SPECIAL RESTORES TRUE HOLIDAY SPIRIT By Eric Gould

The holiday that minds us to be thankful has transmogrified to become the largest day of acquisition. Now, a charming storytelling special showing that the best gifts in life are simple...

2013

Nov

A FOWL HOLIDAY SCENE By Eric Gould

Here’s Stephen Colbert’s contribution to your Thanksgiving table: a virtual family member who has had a little too much to drink, is embittered... anf chooses the absolute wrong time to spill it all...

2013

Nov

BRIAN GRIFFIN: IT'S A DOG'S LIFE, 1999-2013 By Eric Gould

Well, he lived about 14 human years, and he went out in sort of the right way. But still, last Sunday's death of Brian Griffin on Fox's Family Guy was a shock...

2013

Nov

THE MAKING OF 'THE SOUND OF MUSIC' LIVE By David Bianculli

One week from tomorrow, NBC will mount a live staging of the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria, Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess, and Stephen Moyer, the brooding vamp from HBO’s True Blood, as Captain Von Trapp. Tonight, a peek into the preparation and rehearsal process – and a one-hour promotion for next week’s special.

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