Thanksgiving Episodes

I can’t believe it’s that time of the year again.

I’ve never been into sports that much, so I usually watch other things on Thanksgiving if I’m not with the rest of my family. There are Thanksgiving episodes of shows that I love so much that it’s become a real tradition to watch at least once every year.

For starters, it’s been a yearly tradition for I don’t know how long to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That never, ever gets old for me.

Then there’s the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, “Turkeys Away” where “The Big Guy” Carlson and Herb Tarlek learn the hard (and hilarious) way that turkeys don’t know how to fly. That episode is a true classic.

My true absolute favorites though are the Friends Thanksgiving episodes. I pretty much enjoy all of them to a degree. But season 6’s episode is the one I enjoy the most, “The One Where Ross Got High,” because of the secrets everyone were keeping from each other and about how in 60 seconds everything was revealed. Other favorites of mine include “The One Where Underdog Gets Away” from season 1, "The One With Chandler In A Box" from season 4, and I remember being so disappointed in most of season 9, but the Thanksgiving episode “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” turned out really good in my opinion.

Will & Grace has made some really good ones too, I think. Even when I felt the show was no longer in its prime, season 7 did have an enjoyable Thanksgiving show, “Queens for a Day.” Although my favorites include season 2’s “Homo for the Holidays” where Jack comes out to his mother, and season 4’s “Moveable Feast.”

With some of these episodes and the Newhart marathon on WGN, there will be plenty to enjoy while dinner’s being made! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving will be truly great!

ATWT: A Very Surly Thanksgiving

Tuesday, November 25th:

I seriously cannot believe that Brian is the only one that really noticed how sloshed Luke was. I mean, I know the Snyders had other things going on, but seriously, it’s not like Luke did a really good job of keeping it hidden. How could no one notice the few missing beer bottles? And Lucinda, I love you, but you mean to tell me that you kissed Luke hello and didn’t smell the beer on his breath? And is Luke ever that bitchy? And speaking of bitchy, I did like the jabs at Brian, considering what a complete douche he is. And if I hear him say that he helped Luke sober up that night one more time, I think I will scream.

Kudos to Holden for inviting Noah to Thanksgiving dinner. And the hand-holding during grace was really a combination of touching and awkward. Luke and Noah really seemed to get into it, and I’m sure for Luke that it was uncomfortable for him to be holding hands with Brian. Also, when Noah was leaving, you could tell that the love was still in the air. Damn Brian for walking out. Slimeball. Sorry, I just don’t like him…

GSN: 12 Games of Christmas

Looks like GSN is spreading holiday cheer by getting some great oldies out of the vault! All through December, 12 different classics will air on 12 different days, from 1 to 3 PM eastern during the GSN Live block!

The schedule is like this:

December 8th: Card Sharks (CBS 1986-89; Christmas shows from 1986)
December 9th: Beat the Clock (CBS 1979-80; Christmas shows from 1979)
December 10th: Family Feud (CBS 1988-94; DAYTIME Christmas shows from 1991)
December 11th: Super Password (NBC 1984-89; Christmas shows from 1984)
December 12th: To Tell The Truth (NBC 1990-91; Christmas shows from 1990)
December 15th: Press Your Luck (CBS 1983-86; Christmas shows from 1984)
December 16th: Match Game (CBS 1973-79; Christmas shows from 1973, 1976, and 1977)
December 17th: Card Sharks (NBC 1978-81; Christmas shows from 1978)
December 18th: Family Feud (ABC 1976-85; Christmas shows from 1978)
December 19th: Body Language (CBS 1984-86; Christmas shows from 1984)
December 22nd: Password Plus (NBC 1979-82; Christmas shows from 1979)
December 23rd: Wheel of Fortune (Syndie 1983-Present; Christmas shows from 1994)

This is all so awesome, really looking forward to this. I really like that we’ll be seeing a different show each day. And it’s been quite a while since shows like classic To Tell The Truth, Body Language, and one of the 1980’s versions of Card Sharks have been on in the daytime. And daytime Combs Feud! This has not been seen on GSN at all lately. I know there are people like me who hate that GSN always seemed to skip some of these episodes, like the ones of Truth, and not even air them during the holidays; so it’s great to finally get to see them. And for oldie fans, I think this is a great way to make up for the pretty lackluster Thanksgiving stunts.

ATWT: A Kiss Is Just A Kiss… Um, Yeah... No

Thursday, November 20th:

Wow. Luke actually has a bedroom… with a decent sized bed. Maybe it could be used for something when this break-up is over?

Brian… what a complete tool. That line “You were in bad shape and I took care of you” and hearing that he came from a “touchy feely family”? Ew. That actually made me shudder. I am so grateful I am not related to that man. And if that kiss what no big deal, then why does he want Luke to not say anything? Then he tries to pass it off as some kind of joke. I don’t know about anyone else, but the straight guys I know don’t kiss each other like that as a joke. And according to him, we’re supposed to take him professing his love for Lucinda seriously? Is he freaking kidding? Watching him be romantic with Lucinda makes me cringe.

And, oh, Lily, how little you know about this. I’m sure you’d feel differently if your mom’s new husband kissed your son, while he was drunk.

This was a pretty good three days. I still have some issues (i.e. Noah not being used enough, where is Noah staying during all of this), but I still feel really entertained by the storyline and this three day week with the characters actually felt like three days and not just mere snippets spread out over the course of three days.

WGN: Thanksgiving Newhart Marathon

Yay! We’ll be seeing a 26 episode marathon of Newhart on Thanksgiving Day on WGN America, starting at 2 pm!

I was wondering when we’d see a marathon of this show on WGN. I’ve been watching Newhart every week on WGN America and it’s been so great to see that the show is rewatchable after all these years, as with some shows I watched as a kid (i.e. Full House), I just can’t enjoy them as an adult. I missed about 99% of the Nick @ Nite and TNN airings, and over the years I only had about three episodes to enjoy until now, two which came from an old MTM VHS release, and the finale recorded from a TVLand marathon special.

In seeing the series again, I notice how much the show seemed to take off over time. Season one I think has it’s good episodes and moments, but I don’t think the show was anywhere near its stride yet. I think it started to get better with the permanent addition of Julia Duffy as Stephanie in season two, and even better with the addition of Peter Scolari and more appearances by Larry, Darryl, and Darryl. To this day, “Lady and the Tramps” is one of my all time favorite episodes of the series. After enjoying the show so much lately -- finding out that there will be a really decent sized marathon of this show really got me excited.

ATWT: Drunken Stupor

Tuesday, November 18th:

As much as I can’t stand Brian, he was totally right about how Luke really needed to clean up his act. Especially right now. Lucinda needs him, now more than ever.

I really didn’t care too much for Noah’s actions towards Luke today. I thought it was really sweet of him to get flowers for Lucinda. In fact, I didn’t expect him to be on this episode at all, but I really didn’t get him when he saw Luke. How can he not expect Luke to show up at the hospital at some point? This is his grandmother in the hospital, for crying out loud.

And wow. You do NOT mess with drunk!Luke. At all. I totally did not see that punch to Casey coming, nor the insult to Alison’s porn past.

Wednesday, November 19th:

Well, more signs that Luke fights dirty, especially when wasted. Bringing up the Colonel again and comparing him to Noah? Low blow, Luke. Especially since Luke’s said before that Noah is NOT his father. I liked Noah much better than yesterday. I’m surprised he didn’t leave after the insults. Yesterday Noah just seemed to give him the cold shoulder, especially at the hospital. Today isn’t the case; it was probably due to the fact that Luke was about to hurt others. But I love how Noah has changed for the better. He seems to be much more proud of himself, and so stable and under control.

I’m sorry, but Brian is a complete prick. If I hadn’t hated him in the past, I’d surely be hating him after today. How can you not only just marry, but marry someone who has freaking CANCER and just recovered from surgery and then hours later kiss said cancer patient’s grandson? Not to mention Luke was drunk. Way to take advantage of a situation, Brian. I am not surprised that this dude is obviously gay, and I’m not surprised in the least.

I love this so much. It’s about time that Luke and Noah get a real meaty storyline and what’s more, with character interaction! Lucinda, Lily, Holden, are all there! I loved the acting too. Van plays drunk and bitchy extremely well, and Elizabeth Hubbard as usual does such a tremendous job as Lucinda.

ATWT: Snydergate

Wednesday, November 12th:

I really don’t see how Luke could be shocked at this. From the very start, he knew that Noah did not like the idea of rigging the election. And to be honest, I’m glad Noah didn’t try to lie anyway. From the looks of how much it hurt to tell the truth, he’d probably would have sucked at it anyway and would have gotten caught quickly. And it wasn’t just lying for Luke about this whole mess. This election in the process took Luke down a self-destructive path and is making him an entirely different person and Noah obviously didn’t want to contribute more to it by lying to the Dean. And I disagree with what Casey said to Noah.

I have little sympathy for Luke with this. Yes, it sucks that he got kicked out of school, but if it’s anyone’s fault for this whole mess, it’s his. He could have stopped Joe and Casey from getting phony ballots in his favor. And speaking of Joe, what happened to him? Did he just get off scot-free? He knew from the start about how Noah felt about everything; he really can’t be surprised if in the end if he lost his boyfriend’s respect.

As much as I’ve really never liked Brian, I do commend him for getting Lucinda and Lily to talk again. Lily forgave Carly before her own mother. I never understood that. While Lucinda did what she did with Dusty, she did it out of love. Carly wasn’t thinking of anyone but herself when she cheated with Holden.

Thursday, November 13th:

Nice to see Holden and Lily get involved in this, even though it‘s funny that Holden is talking about how wrong cheating is now. It just goes to show you that Holden can be a really great father, but a terrible husband. I agree with Noah, again. Even though Luke had his reasons for doing it, stealing this election has made Luke into a brand-new person, an undesirable one. In the end the Gay Film Festival and winning for all the little guys didn’t matter as much as beating Kevin did. And Luke, you kicked yourself out of school. Stop blaming other people. Seriously.

The only real question I have is that where is Noah going to go? Noah barely has any ties to anyone outside of the Snyder family. I was a bit surprised to see that Noah turned him down at Java.

While I’m obviously disappointed in Luke for rigging the election and it‘s certainly something seeing him spiral downward (and drinking again!), I must say this is fun to watch. Finally this feels like a real soap storyline and not some episodic vignette/skit type of thing that resolves itself within the hour, and it‘s really worth watching, even though I still see some writing errors. And Van plays bitchy SO well it’s not even funny.

ATWT: I Love You, But… No

Tuesday, November 11th:

If you’re going to commit election fraud at least make it seem plausible. If they had to cheat that badly, did they really have to make it a landslide? And I don’t blame Alison for being furious at Casey.

I don’t blame Noah one bit for being disappointed. Yes, Kevin did nothing but fight dirty during the campaign -- that video that was put up was absolutely wrong, and Alison was treated horribly, but I completely agree with Noah when he says that in the end that was the perfect time to rise above it and fight back clean and be the better person. Stuffing the ballot box just puts him into their level, and this election really brought out the worst in Luke.

Luke, I can’t believe you. You know how Noah feels about lying now, and this election. I think overtime, maybe Noah has learned a thing or two about how lying or downright masking the truth in any way only makes things worse, and he doesn‘t want to continue doing it. Especially during the green card marriage and Maddie situations. Luke can look as desperate as he wants, but that really doesn’t seem to be able to do anything to change his mind. This is as hard for Noah as it is for Luke. The Dean called him and wants to know the truth.

GSN: New Look

At the end of this week, GSN debuted a brand new logo and new slogan, “Play Every Day.”

I think this is a really refreshing change and about time too. I really like how game show-like the graphics are. I like the new IDs with the game show hosts (makes me wish that they could get some folks like Bob Eubanks, Bill Rafferty, Monty Hall, or Wink Martindale to come along and make some of their own too). It’s not like it was in 2004 at all. The network doesn’t try to look desperately hip. I also find that they don’t give an unwelcome vibe to the loyal audience. They just give a really fun one. And I know the changeover period -- or what’s known to the bigger game show fans as “Dark Period 2” -- was over 4 years ago, but the logo even after most of the reality stuff was phased out reminded me too much of it at times, and I think that’s why I’m not sad to see the previous logo and schemes go.

There are only a couple of really minor issues that I have, one that I don’t like that with the pop-up banners, most of them cover the whole bottom half of the screen, and still, it’d be nice to see all of the daytime shows promoted individually. However, the new daytime promo is very inviting.

Nitpicks aside, a really good style revamping by GSN.

ATWT: Election Day

Tuesday, November 4th:

The campaign on the other side makes me sick. Maybe I gave too much credit to Kevin last time. When he said to Luke that there are other issues that are important and when he kept warning Mark against campaigning nastily… you know, for one second, I thought he actually seemed to care just a little bit about this election. But in the end, not one real issue came out of his mouth during this whole time. Luke is still getting cheap shots by Mark over his sexuality, and the free beer bribing for votes is just absolutely appalling.

I don’t think for one minute that what Luke did was right. Not one bit. Stuffing the ballot box was wrong. However, I do understand his reasons for doing it. Luke was treated like pure crap off screen by Kevin and apparently a lot of the senior class early in 2007, and the mere thought of the campaign on the other side winning by using bribes of alcohol and downright dirty tricks like that homophobic video that lackey Mark put on USTUBE (that’s YouTube for the Oakdalians for those out of the know) makes him furious and he‘s tired of the B.S., and he’s also sick of being the underdog. Normally, when a character does something that’s out of his or her usual realm on this show for the worse, there’s no motivation or story behind it at all (i.e. Adam Munson, Craig Montgomery), but in this case the motivation is purely there and Luke’s reasons for having the ballot box stuffed is there for us to see. The viewer doesn’t have to contemplate why and I thank the writers for doing this.

The only true double-u tee eff moment I really had was when Luke was quoting of all people, Colonel Nutjob. Now we KNOW something’s seriously wrong and I’m glad Noah called him out on this too, as well as wanting to stuff the ballot box with phony votes. I just love Noah in this storyline. I like how calm, cool and collected he has been throughout this whole ordeal. The characters really balance each other out. And it was so heartbreaking at the end when Noah and Luke saw each other after the “win.” You could clearly see how disappointed Noah was. This election has made him into a different person now. This isn’t the man that he fell in love with.

Halloween Episodes: Game Show Style

As far as the game shows go, it looks like another really good year for Halloween. I still cringe about theme weeks on syndie Deal or No Deal because of how the NBC version has seriously overdone the concept. But in the case of holidays, I generally make an exception and I must say that they did a good job with this week. Wheel of Fortune was certainly another. I loved the decorations. And The Price Is Right has done it again with a brilliantly themed episode. I liked the spooky border at the beginning as well. Also, the models looked really nice in their costumes and Rich looked great as Zorro. GREAT showcases.

For the classic game show fans there were some goodies on GSN, including three episodes of Super Password and a week’s worth of Family Feud with Ray Combs. And while I’m not a fan of multiple Karn airings, I admit it’s nice seeing the Halloween episodes again. I think Family Feud is the show that I look forward to most this time of the year. I love the costumes that the families wear, and the Halloween themed survey questions, albeit some of them on the recent versions can be a tad on the gross side. I love seeing John O'Hurley and his son Dylan in their costumes as well. And they even make the music appropriate for the occasion. It really makes me wish that they would put the same effort in around December and have a Christmas week. I’m sure it would be truly great.

The only thing I really hate is that I managed to miss the Halloween episodes of I’ve Got A Secret this weekend in the overnight block. That show managed to make some really awesome holiday shows and Halloween was no exception. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Halloween Episodes

There was some pretty interesting stuff for Halloween this past week, and being the holiday episode freak that I am, I thought I’d talk about some of it.

Ellen did a great job with her Halloween show this year. Though I honestly was expecting more of an outrageous costume like some of her previous ones (like J. Lo and Dr. Phil). I loved the Halloween themed charity dunk tank for breast cancer awareness filled with slime. Wanda Sykes made yet another awesome appearance, this time as a Wall Street businessman. I find Wanda to be a brilliant comedian who never fails to make me laugh.

From what I’ve seen in primetime: You can’t forget the classic Peanuts special It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on ABC. Supernatural had a great Halloween episode. I am enjoying this season so far a lot. It’s probably my favorite season after season two. And much kudos to Lifetime for airing the Halloween episode of Reba on Halloween night.

The only thing that’s really disappointing to me is pretty much from a local standpoint. With only one airing of The Simpsons here a night, it’s impossible to show off a lot of the Halloween specials, especially the earlier ones, which I think were the best. I don’t know if it’s a national thing or not or if it’s just something that’s done here, but I truly hate that it seems in the past year or so only recent episodes are rerun. This is a show that has enough Halloween episodes to deserve its own marathon on cable or something… *cough* FX *cough* - hint, hint.

To Tell The Truth Coming to GSN Overnights

Another classic is being dusted off from the GSN library. This time, the Goodson-Todman panel show To Tell The Truth.

The black and white Bud Collyer version will replace The Name’s The Same at 3:30 am ET at the end of its cycle. I must say, I will definitely be looking forward to this. It’s one of my favorite panel games, second after What’s My Line? and it’ll be perfect to have these shows following each other.

It was rumored that Password is coming, and honestly, as much as I love Truth and I’m excited to see it, I think now would have been a better time to show this again, considering that the DVD is coming next month.

ATWT: Drastic Measures

Wednesday, October 29th:

I wish I could say I’m surprised to see something so extreme and bizarre as a kidnapping and what could have been attempted rape on this show, but I’m not, considering who the head writer is. I by no means intend to stereotype or sound sexist, but I’d think that a female head writer would write more of their women characters with dignity. You don’t have to degrade the characters constantly in order to produce good drama. I wish this show would treat most of its women better. And not only were these guys complete creeps with Allison, but they were stupid too. Not only did they kidnap someone and force them to strip, but they record it all with a cell phone camera? Idiots. Let’s add this to the America’s Dumbest Criminals file.

I admit, when I first saw Casey punching Mark I wanted him to beat his ass. He deserved it. But, it obviously wasn’t so bright to take that drastic measure when you think about it, especially since Casey is out on parole. And now there’s no available evidence Allison and Casey can find against Mark. Don’t you just hate it when the bad guys prosper? Hopefully that won’t last too long.

Thursday, October 30th:

I hate to admit it, but Kevin has a point here. While it’s truly admirable that Luke wants to help keep the Gay Film Festival alive for his boyfriend, there are other issues that need attention too. Tsk, tsk, Luke. Again, this is no longer about the election anymore.

So not only is Mark a complete ass, but he’s also a horrible liar. And even if Allison was spying, there are better and more tasteful ways to get even than to kidnap and force someone to strip. I was so glad that Margo saw through him immediately and that Casey was let go. I love you Casey Hughes, but please think before you do something in the future. I know you mean well.

ATWT: Holy airtime, Batman!

Wednesday, October 22nd:

I can’t blame Noah for being let down that Luke didn’t tell him first about deciding to run for president. I’m glad that Luke realized that he made a mistake there.

If there’s one thing that’s good about this story is that Luke and Noah are finally hanging out with more people their own age. And I love that Casey is back in the Nuke storyline.

I can’t stand Mark. Not only because of his homophobia, but because with him it’s all about smearing the other side. It’s like right from the bat; it’s all about bashing, not to mention he’s full of crap! And I just hate that. People like this just make my blood boil. It’s why I can really hate politics sometimes. I’m still not a fan of Kevin, but I am glad that with him, he wants to run a clean election.

I loved the PSA at the end. Please vote, everyone, if you haven't already!

Tuesday, October 28th:

After watching this day’s scenes several times, it’s obvious that Luke and Kevin have unresolved issues. I’ve never personally dealt with a high school crush knowing my feelings for them, but I can understand Luke and how hard the matter is; especially if said crush dropped the f-bomb afterwards (and I don’t mean the word that rhymes with “buck”).

Despite my empathizing with Luke with the whole crush on Kevin, I definitely see where Noah’s coming from in this whole matter. Now Noah sees that this whole election business is doing more trouble than it’s worth. It’s not even about the election anymore, it’s gotten personal, and it’s more about beating Kevin than winning the election for helping make Oakdale U a better place. While that ad was truly vile and tasteless, and I don’t blame Luke for getting upset about it, with Noah I understand why he chooses to remain calm. All his life he’s had to prove that he’s a man. And now after finding Luke, he feels as though no longer has to do that. While he understands that Luke is angry, he wants him to take the high road in this matter and I agree completely.

Mark is such an ass. And I can’t believe that Allison got into that car - not that I’m saying that she has what’s coming to her; of course not - but if I were her I’d know what car I were getting into.

One more thing to point out… holy airtime, Batman! If there’s one thing to be impressed about with this episode the most, it’s that pretty much the WHOLE episode was about Luke and Noah’s latest storyline. I think in over the past 14 months, this has never happened before, and I think it’s about time. Other characters and their plots take up good airtime in this exact manner, and it’s about time Luke and Noah started sharing the wealth. FINALLY, not just mere Nuke crumbs, but a whole Nuke DINNER with all the trimmings! And let me take one final second to gush over how adorable Luke and Noah looked in their costumes.