NEW JERSEY – Thanksgiving 2020 will certainly be a unique one with the coronavirus pandemic putting a damper on holiday plans. Mother Nature too will be raining on the dramatically scaled back and non-traveling Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Funny Peanuts Snoopy Woodstock Happy Turkey Day Thanksgiving T-Shirt
The parade will still be on NBC Thanksgiving morning and it will feature a lot of Broadway and, of course, Santa. NBC will broadcast from 9 a.m. to noon as usual. When the parade’s over and the turkey is cooking, there are some fun Thanksgiving movies to enjoy either before or after dinner if you aren’t ready to dive into a Hallmark Christmas movie marathon session just yet. Here are the top Thanksgiving picks for Turkey Day 2020.
It’s not Thanksgiving without watching Charlie Brown and the gang put together a Thanksgiving feast of toast, popcorn and jelly beans. Who doesn’t love to see Snoopy wrestling with the lawn chair or donning a chef’s hat to dish out dinner the Peanuts gang worked so hard to make for Peppermint Patty and her friends? Fear not if the DVD isn’t in the cabinet. Apple TV is steaming “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” for free through November 27.
If you’ve ever battled the elements, traffic and air travel to get home in time for Thanksgiving dinner, you will definitely appreciate John Candy and Steve Martin’s trials and tribulations in the 80s classic “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”.
Kyra Sedgwick and Julianna Margulies get cooking along with a diverse cast as four Thanksgiving meals are put together amongst a lot of family stress in “What’s Cooking?”.
Tune in to “Home for the Holidays” especially if you will be missing all the arguments around the table. This 90s classic was directed by Jodi Foster and stars Holly Hunter, Anne Bancroft and Dylan McDermott.
Families will enjoy a laugh with “Free Birds.” Jake kidnaps pardoned turkey Reggie in an effort to travel back in time and save their fellow turkeys forever. This fun flick features the voices of Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson. You can find it on Hulu and Amazon or free on Tubi.
Another heartwarming home-for-turkey-dinner road trip is “Dutch” starring “Modern Family’s” Ed O’Neil.
Woody Allen won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Michael Caine and Diane Wiest took home Best Supporting Oscars for their performances in the 80s hit “Hannah and Her Sisters.” The focuses on the ups and downs of three Thanksgiving dinners. Find it on Hulu, Amazon or Vudu.
Learn about the legend of the “Howling Hoodoo” in Jim Henson’s “Turkey Hollow.” This family-friendly film focuses on a Thanksgiving road trip that brings a lot of surprises for two kids and their dad. You’ll find this one on Amazon.
If your family loves the Thanksgiving Snoopy Thanksgiving T-Shirt tradition that includes football, watch “Turkey Bowl.” There are two films with this title. One is about a group of college friends that have an annual fall game and some other extra curriculars while the other is about a man who heads home to finish a high school football game on Thanksgiving that was snowed out. Both flicks are not recommended for younger audiences.
Yes, “Miracle on 34th Street” is technically a Christmas movie, but the film opens with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The original with a young Natalie Wood, Maureen O’Hara and Edmund Gwenn as Santa Claus is a must-watch at least once. The 90s remake is good too, but go for the original. It’s streaming on Disney Plus and is a film for all ages.