Thursday, November 23, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving

Probably half the plays about families and half the family-themed movies in your neighborhood art house take place on Thanksgiving.

Relatives fly in from wherever just to have a dinner that blows up into a huge family fight. Secrets are revealed, longtime resentments bubble to the surface, hurt feeling abound. It’s WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF with stuffing and yams.

With that in mind, try to make sure that your family feast doesn’t fall into this trap. And now that Black Friday sales begin Thursday evening, you have a great excuse for getting the hell out of the house before it’s revealed that your uncle sent dick pix to all the Rocketettes.

I’m in New York this year – mostly thankful that the year is almost over. There’s this large parade going on outside making it hard to sleep.

Have a happy, safe, and conflict-free Thanksgiving.

13 comments :

  1. I have a Thanksgiving themed Friday question based on this link

    https://www.cbr.com/cheers-thanksgiving-episode-protests/

    Do you have any insight into that particular incident? It seems like one of those cases where people are overreacting and just getting mad for the sake of getting mad. Did you get hose kinds of complaints regularly on Cheers or any other show you worked on?

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  2. Greetings from hot Los Angeles, now seemingly home to perpetual summer.

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  3. The decider website has a long take today on why the Cheers Thanksgiving episode is the all-time best Thanksgiving episode --

    https://decider.com/2017/11/23/cheers-thanksgiving-episode/

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  4. I just remembered when "Cheers" aired an ep on Thanksgiving Day in 1984, it was about Diane meeting Frasier's mother for the first time and her threatening to kill her! Reminds me of an earlier ep of "Taxi" when Louie met Zena's mom and she did the same thing...

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving, Ken, or as it's called here in the UK, November 23rd.

    VP81955
    I have good news. I looked up Dan Snyder on Wikipedia and it turns out he sold Johnny Rockets in 2013. So for the past four years he's had nothing to do with the chain.

    Now that there's no reason to avoid it, don't deprive yourself any longer of their burgers. And if your server is anything like the one I had, he'll call your choice of beverage "fantastic!"

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  6. This is probably more appropriate to Wednesday's blog, but here it is. One of my favorite things about the holidays is the annual, "lighting of the Christmas tree." I mean that literally. Every year on the news they always show the fire dept. lighting a Xmas tree on fire to show how dangerous they can be if not handled properly. The 4th of July brings the, ceremonial, "blowing up of the baby." Where they strap an M80 or similar explosive device on to a doll or mannequin and blow off its hand and/or other body part. I also enjoy it when they set child-mannequin on fire with a sparkler. And in recent years a new tradition has arisen with the popularity of deep-fried turkeys; "the overflowing pot of flaming oil." There's comic gold in these scenarios. For example, let's say the Xmas tree demonstration burns down the fire house. (Ditto the turkey) Or instead of being a deterrent to using fireworks, that demonstration causes all the kids and some of the more immature adult to rush out and buy firecrackers. Its probably better suited to say, South Park, The Simpsons, or Family Guy than to a traditional T.V. or movie comedy. But, then again, who knows? If any writers out there want to use any of these premises feel free. They're my holiday gift. Besides, it's gonna be a long time before I ever sell a script. HAPPY HAPPY!

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  7. Not quite on point but Thanksgiving is family and I enjoy watching ABC's "American Housewife". And just this week I came to the realization it does not have a laugh track; and yet the show is funny and I chuckle and laugh with the sitcom. Maybe laugh tracks aren't needed!! Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

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  8. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Ken!

    (Though you should realize that your large, large percentage of Canadian readers celebrated it weeks ago!)

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  9. The little "pop thing" has a name people, it's called a thermometer! Can we all please say thermometer?



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  10. That was a funny Cheers episode.

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  11. That screencap is marvelous and brings back great memories of an episode I probably haven't seen in decades. I can hear Diane five-star flipping out!

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  12. Frank Beans
    That is the funniest line in a hilarious episode! However, you left off the funniest part---when everyone shouts back in unison "Thermometer"!!

    Saburo
    You haven't seen that episode in decades? Good Heavens, don't you have Netflix?

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