Macy's Thanksgiving Day Non-Parade

[AlecWest]

Ever since I was a kid (a long time ago), I've made it a traditional habit to get some popcorn and sit around every Thanksgiving morning to watch the Macy's parade. But over the last few years, there's been a significant change in the tone of the parade that, to me, makes it less enjoyable to watch. Here's the TitanTV blurb on it:

Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Al Roker anchor coverage of the 79th annual procession in Manhattan, which is slated to feature appearances by Adrien Brody, Harry Connick Jr., John Krasinski and Rainn Wilson of "The Office," and soap star Peter Reckell. Performers include LeAnn Rimes, the Beach Boys, Carrie Underwood, Aaron Neville and Brian McKnight. Also: floats; marching bands; and various character balloons, including Scooby-Doo and Dora the Explorer.

Notice the first word of the last sentence (and what follows). What do they mean by Also??? The things following that word used to be considered the heart and soul of the parade. Now, they're just an "added attraction" to the slick performance-heavy production from NBC. Perhaps that's what the majority of people want to see nowadays. Personally, I'd be happy if they just junked all those "performances" and stuck to the parade itself. I always wonder what part of the "real" parade I'm missing when they cut away to those "performances."

[lordsmurf]

Parades these days are best watched liked a Britney Spears music video .....ON MUTE!

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

http://nyctmc.org/xmanhattan.asp#

[AlecWest]

I guess there is an "option" and I'll give it a try today. Officially, NBC and Macy's have a partnership in "producing" the parade. But, since it's a public event on public streets, they can't stop others from covering it. Apparently, CBS is airing the parade at the same time. The catch? They can't refer to it as the "Macy's" Thanksgiving Day Parade in advertising ... just referring to it as the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And, because the "performances" are arranged for NBC's purposes, CBS won't cover them. Of course, CBS could have their own alternative performances (sigh). But, I'm hoping they cover more of the "real" parade than NBC does.

[lordsmurf]

Nice. CBS it is, then. Assuming I wake up in time. What are you doing up at this time of morning anyway? Owl. You'll sleep through it unless you go to bed.

[AlecWest]

Nice. CBS it is, then. Assuming I wake up in time. What are you doing up at this time of morning anyway? Owl. You'll sleep through it unless you go to bed.

Hint - I work graveyard and normally stay up all night anyway ... going to bed in the early-to-mid afternoon.

I'm watching it now. But, like NBC, CBS has their own entertainment "package" (sigh). However, unlike NBC, CBS appears to have positioned its parade emcees close to the end of the parade route. So, instead of interspersing entertainers while the parade is marching past them, they're doing the entertainers first ... with the parade to come later. At least, that seems to be what's going on. Every time they've gone back to the emcees, the streets behind them are empty ... like the parade itself is yet to come.

If that's what's going on, I could live with that as a future tradition ... and I'll be closely watching for when the actual parade coverage starts. That way, I can plan for future parades. Instead of turning on the tube at 9AM, I can wait until maybe 10AM.

P.S. At this moment, they're showing the emcees. And so far, there's nothing on the streets behind them. But, I just flipped over to NBC. They just got finished with one of their own entertainment slots ... and, just before the commercial, showed a marching band that they "cut" out in mid-stride (sigh). I just hope CBS doesn't copy them and gets their entertainment out of the way up front.

Edit - The parade is half-over now and CBS is doing a far more impressive job of covering it than NBC's glitzy affair. It'll be CBS from here on out. BUT ... they are interspersing a "few" entertainment slots with parade slots. So, while not perfect (IMO), CBS has scored high marks with me.

[AlecWest]

Final follow-up note. During the parade, an M&M float tangled with a light-post ... yanking the light fixture off the post and causing it to fall on a parade-watcher below. CBS covered the incident. NBC, to my knowledge, did not. I flipped channels to see and they didn't even bring it up.

Yup ... it's CBS coverage from here on out. Heavy on parade, light on interruption by "entertainers," and even covering a parade-related incident that was newsworthy.

[lordsmurf]

I recorded it on VHS, EP mode. I slept through it