Music, Broadway served up on Thanksgiving TV
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
Each year, around Thanksgiving, TV becomes a variety machine again, offering concerts and parades and football games as it sweeps some regular series aside and has fun for the holiday.
Now comes a spree of music programming including:
Country music at 8 p.m. Tuesday on NBC, with Shania Twain at a Nashville club. "I started so young in the clubs," she says. "I just developed a performing style that was more one-on-one."
For 3 1/2 years, Twain avoided tours. Now she is on one that will last for more than a year. "It's like I never really left the stage," she says.
"Shania Twain Up!" will reflect her style. She sings ballads well, but rarely. "I like to slow down occasionally and catch my breath," she says. "But I do prefer to spend two hours rocking."
Broadway music at 8 p.m. Thursday on PBS, with a revival of "Oklahoma." "We're all brought up on 'Oklahoma,' " says actor Shuler Hensley, who has drawn raves playing Jud Fry in the show.
Christmas music at 9 p.m. Thursday on NBC, with "Harry for the Holidays," a Harry Connick special from New York City.
The concerts will have a few guests. Twain shares the stage with Alison Krauss; Connick's cast includes Marc Anthony, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane and gospel's Kim Burrell.
They'll also stretch for broad appeal. That's the idea at Thanksgiving. This is when everyone in the family might be assembled in front of the same TV set.
"It really is a time to do things together," says Bryan Cranston, whose movie with Judge Reinhold — "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion" (6, 8 and 10 tonight on TBS) — mocks the annual reunion ritual.
Other key Thanksgiving programming:
Parades: From 7 a.m. until 10 a.m., CBS bounces between Macy's and other parades in Detroit and Nashville, pausing for a mini-concert by Vince Gill and Brad Paisley. From 9 a.m. to noon, Thanksgiving Day, NBC sticks with the traditional Macy's parade (on tape delay here in Hawai'i).
Football: There is a pro double-header Thursday. The Green Bay Packers visit the Detroit Lions at 7:30 a.m. on Fox; the Miami Dolphins visit the Dallas Cowboys at 11 a.m. on CBS. There are also some key college games. They include Nebraska at Colorado (7 a.m. Friday on ABC) and Mississippi at Mississippi State (2:45 p.m. Thursday on ESPN).
Movies: In an oddity, two sentimental dramas — both produced by Hallmark — debut today. CBS has Gary Sinise and Joely Richardson in "Fallen Angel," 8-10 p.m. Cable's Hallmark Channel has Doris Roberts and Dana Delany in "A Time to Remember," 6 and 8 p.m.
