This Just In

Surfing the tube on Turkey Day

Tryptophan hangover

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | November 20, 2007

Here’s a sign of the times for you: this year’s Thanksgiving television offerings, normally a reservoir of classic film & television marathons, are getting pretty, uh, not classic. And pretty tweeny:

The Disney Channel is airing a Hannah Montana marathon (a show about which, if it were possible, we know even less than Disney’s High School Musical).

TNT follows up a day of the WB’s recent, not-very-popular Shannen Doherty/Alyssa Milano teen-witch vehicle Charmed with an 8 pm airing of Mean Girls (one phenomenon we can all get behind).

The CW, the confusingly re-named hybrid of the WB and UPN, gives its prestigious 8 pm slot to Raise Your Voice, a 2004 Hilary Duff-starring semi-musical about “a teen age girl who is very upset about her brother’s death in a car crash” (thanks, IMDb!).

This girl-centric programming is an interesting gender reversal, though one wonders how and when young girls will learn to do what they should be doing on Thanksgiving: cooking.

Elsewhere on the tube, Turkey Day selections are a little less specious. These are some of the highlights:

THE INCREDIBLES (NBC, 8 pm)Why Thanksgiving? Brad Bird’s first Pixar masterpiece (pre-Ratatouille) is a subtle and thrilling modern assessment of the idea of the Great American Hero. More importantly, the kids won’t get the subtext, but they’ll love it anyway.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK MARATHON (AMC, all day)Why Thanksgiving? Much like the Pilgrims of yore, Hitchcock fled Britain upon learning he could make much more exciting movies in America. Don’t miss his best, Vertigo, at 12:30 pm.

DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY (FOX, 8 pm)Why Thanksgiving? On the off chance you made it through the day without hearing any off-color jokes, this Ben Stiller comedy — one of his last decent ones — will get you up to speed.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS(Showtime, 8:30 pm)Why Thanksgiving? Acid-tongued and manic-depressive, Jodie Foster’s 1995 holiday weekend dramedy is as exaggerated and implausible as most Meet the Parents-style holiday comedies, but it’s bleak as hell and often hilarious.

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR MARATHON(TBS, 10 am-4 pm) Why Thanksgiving? What more heartening message could there be to celebrate the day than six hours of wholesome clash-of-cultures comedy about a rich family that takes in their poor, street-smart cousin? Let's hope they show the one where Carlton takes speed.

LAW AND ORDER MARATHON(USA, all day)Why Thanksgiving? Just because it’s a day to give thanks doesn’t mean it’s not any other day of the year...

THE O’REILLY FACTOR(Fox News, 8 pm) Why Thanksgiving? Time is short. Let the War on Christmas begin!

Related: P2, Hometown throw up, Of Doctor Tremendanus and the giant furry jellyfish, More

P2
Bentley and Nichols do wonders with a property otherwise as appealing as an empty parking garage on Christmas Eve.
Hometown throw up
For years, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones celebrated the holiday season and their Boston roots with a week of club gigs they dubbed the “Hometown Throwdown.”
Of Doctor Tremendanus and the giant furry jellyfish
It was New Year’s Eve and in the belly of the Roxy nightclub, away from the teeming Bright Night crowds, there were monsters on the loose: creatures with protruding noses, googly eyes, and spindly legs.
Unorthodox Jews
You won't hear feel-good Chanukah ditties in the style of the Leevees nor any pages out of Matisyahu's prayer book. This is a foul-mouthed, shtick-heavy act inspired by the borscht-belt comics and the seventies-era.
Jersey state of mind
Richard Ford created Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter (1986), returned to him in Independence Day (1995), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize and a PEN/Faulkner Award, and has now come back to him for what he says is the last time in The Lay of the Land. Listen to audio excerpt of The Lay of the Land
Feasts and fasts
Ramadan is a family-oriented month, and Islamic societies at universities around town provide new sets of communities for students.
Portland scene report: November 28, 2008
The results of the WePushButtons Awards came in just a tad too late to get them in the last paper, so here's a quick recap of who took home what last Saturday at SPACE Gallery.
Give a goat for $150
The holiday season is traditionally a time of wonder and wastefulness.
It always looks a lot like Christmas at this Old Port store
Descending into Country Noel, which sits below street level on Exchange Street, is an assault on the senses.
Holy nights
The Maccabees, the Holy Temple, the menorah that burned for eight days straight — all of these went unmentioned during JDub Records’ Chanukah celebration at the Paradise on Tuesday night.
Unaccompanied Minors
Five children — mostly products of broken families en route from one parent to the other — get snowed in at a fictitious Midwest airport on Christmas Eve. Watch the trailer for Unaccompanied Minors (QuickTime)
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