1) Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, 8:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, NBC; repeating at 2 p.m. This starts with a Cynthia Erivo song and with performances by the Rockettes and the Broadway casts of “Ragtime,” “Just in Time” and “Buena Vista Social Club.” Then the parade — 11 bands, 28 floats and Santa (shown here) — proves the Christmas season has begun.
2) Post-parade fuss, Thursday. Some people will stick with NBC for the National Dog Show at noon. Others will already be watching pro football. It’s Packers-Lions at 10 a.m. PT on Fox; Chiefs-Cowboys at 1:30 p.m. on CBS; and Bengals-Ravens, at 5:20 on NBC. And there’s a great family movie: “Mary Poppins” (1964) is 8-11 p.m. on ABC.
3) “A Grand Ole Opry Christmas,” 8-10 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark. The weekend will be stuffed with new Christmas movies, with three double-features Saturday. That’s 5 and 7 p.m. PT on UPtv, 8 and 10 on Lifetime and 6 and 8 on Hallmark — including this one, with time-travel, music and lots of Opry people, from Bill Anderson to Mickey Guyton.
4) “Everybody Loves Raymond” reunion, 8-9:30 p.m. today, CBS. It’s time to celebrate one of TV’s great shows. Over its nine seasons, “Raymond” drew seven best-comedy Emmy nominations, winning twice. Now its 30th anniversary will be celebrated with clips, tributes to the late Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle, and a reunion of the other stars.
5) “TV We Love,” 9-10 p.m. today, CW. In an odd overlap, this views “Cheers” at the same time CBS does “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Both were gimmick-free comedies, with great characters and dialog. “Cheers” was Emmy-nominated for best comedy in each of its 11 years, winning four times. It spent seven years in Nielsen’s top-5, one at No. 1.
6) “Brilliant Minds,” 10 p.m. today, NBC. Eric Dane has struggled with ALS for 18-plus months. Partially paralyzed, the former “Grey’s Anatomy” star, 53, gives a quietly moving performance as a former firefighter, trying to shield his family from agony. That’s in an excellent hour that has ongoing stories about Dr. Wolf and about a favorite patient.
7) “Dancing With the Stars” finale, 8-11 p.m., Tuesday, ABC and Disney+. Five people remain, ranging from conservationist Robert Irwin, 21, to actress Elaine Hendrix, 53. Others are gold-medal gymnast Jordan Chiles and TikTok star Alix Earle, both 24; and Dylan Efron, 33, who does YouTube adventures with his brother Zac. One will be the 34th champion.
8) “A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving,” 9-11 p.m., Wednesday, NBC. It’s the annual collection of sketches, some recent and some not. Before that? At 8 p.m., NBC has a preview of the Macy’s parade … PBS reruns a terrific hour about a turkey raised from birth … and Fox has “Sidelined: The QB and Me,” a 2024 Tubi teen film about a cheerleader and a football star.
9) “A Paw Patrol Christmas,” 8 p.m. Friday, CBS; and “Prep & Landing: The Snowball Express,” 9 p.m. Sunday, ABC. These are the season’s only new cartoons. “Paw” has a scheme to get all of Santa’s presents; “Prep” follows previous tales (8 and 8:30 p.m.) of Santa’s advance team. It’s followed by “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” and “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.”
10) Movie marathons. Here are two fun films, repeating every two hours for 24 hours. At 8 p.m. Friday, TBS starts Will Ferrell’s “Elf” (2003); at 8 p.m. Saturday, TNT starts Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation” (1989). Both channels also have the great “Wizard of Oz” (1939) — 8 p.m. Thursday and 5:45 Friday on TBS; 9:30 and 11:45 Friday on TNT.