Newsday TV Book, November 18-24, 1973.

Not much time for chit-chat this time out, so without further ado, here is the Newsday TV Book for Thanksgiving week of 1973, and a cover heralding the premiere of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I've included the full schedules for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Enjoy!

[November 2022: Okay, now I got time--commencing chit-chat!]

The description for the holiday special's debut says that when Peppermint Patty invites herself and friends to Charlie Brown's house for dinner, "it throws the little 'Peanut' into a panic." It is not known if this review gave someone at Tomy the idea for the game Peanut Panic, which came out five years later.

In the TV Line column: L.U. of Holbrook has a problem with Jerry Lewis' telethon totals, D.B. of Coram makes some sweet bank off his wife with his recognition of Pat McCormick, while J.J. of Selden needs to brush up on his Ed Nelson-spotting.

Here's Sunday afternoon, with a couple of familiar WPIX 11 holiday flicks.

I'm quite certain I've reproduced this Hicks Christmas ad a half-dozen times on this blog--and dammit, I'll do it again!

I definitely liked Dr. Doolittle as a tot, but it wasn't one of my favorites, exactly. As noted in the review, it was just "pleasant enough." John Cashman's faint praise always felt pretty damning, alright!

King Kong started on WOR 9 at the same time as the Macy's parade! The previous year, Kong didn't come on until 3pm.

The King Family gave thanks, some famous tales were animated (that's a bit too much like school, thank you) and March of the Wooden Soldiers preceded Gulliver and Kris Kringle for an unbeatable afternoon of classic WPIX holiday programming. Note that MotWS is described as being adapted from "Babes in Woodland," which, it seems from searching, was never a thing.

WSNL 67, Long Island's independent station out of Patchogue, began broadcasting this very week, starting Sunday morning (if the TV Book listings are to be trusted as accurate) with this block of kids' shows heading into worship and football: Johnny [sic] Quest, Samson, Dr. Doolittle, Around the World in 80 Days, Marvel Superheroes, and a "Circus Special" from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus called The Restless Giant.
Their first-ever Thanksgiving movie special (with an ad mentioning sponsorship by Roosevelt Field Mall) was also the second-to-last, as WSNL pulled its plug in June of '75 (in this incarnation, anyway).
Jerry Lane (and the Family Fun Time Unlimited Booze Sundays) has been addressed in here before.

Thanksgiving waned with specials on Hawks, Chaplin, and Cosell, plus many films, from sublime to subpar, with John Cashman reviews reflecting the disparity.

No, Godzilla wasn't always on the schedule for the day after, but some early Christmas fodder usually was. In '73, we had the Santa Claus Lane Parade from Hollywood (which I know was hosted at some point by Wonderama's Bob McAllister, though I don't know about this year) and, closer to home, Christmas Festival of Light, with the Jolly Old Elf bedazzling Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. This occurred on that city's WFSB 3, a station never actually witnessed by your Non-Parading correspondent.

Julie Andrews and Perry Como join the denizens of Sesame Street (a day late) for the holiday. Fine, as long as she doesn't do her atrocious version of "Sleigh Ride," ecch! In fact, I've decided that, when it comes to Christmas music, I'll even take Debby Boone over Julie. You heard me! (And trust me, Debby's version stinks!)

Look at that--NOW the ol' King of the Monsters rears his bumpy rubber noggin, at midnight on WOR channel 9. You could have tuned in after the fifth installment of Strange Paradise, WSNL's week-nightly "vampire mystery" serial, which sounds like an even lower-rent Dark Shadows.

On the nascent channel 67, Saturday morning brought the premiere of Captain Ahab's weekend super-show--three-and-a-half hours!--Ahab and Friends. If you preferred your humor unintentional, there was Robot Monster smack in the middle of it, over on 9.

After punishing yourself with two hours of East Side/Bowery Boys buffoonery, you could further flog yourself with the Al Adamson/Zandor Vorkov brain-bleeder The Creature's Revenge, on the debut of WSNL's "Shock Theater."

Late Saturday, with Octaman, Fu Manchu, Jekyll & Hyde, not to mention Bela going Devil Bat-ty--which holiday weekend is this, anyway?

No pumpkin pie for me, thanks--but I'll have some half-baked Holiday Spa cheesecake! In Plainview!

Happy Thanksgiving! And don't panic, little peanut, I'll have more holiday hoke coming soon--right here, or on my "Hugo Faces" YouTube channel, or the Facebook page that complements this blog--so keep checking back! And don't forget to share!