Thanksgiving is next Thursday. That was quick. It just seems like yesterday when I dressed my holiday skeleton in his pilgrim outfit.
Thanksgiving has few major holiday specials. There’s that awful meal in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. You feel bad for Peppermint Patty, whose father apparently left her alone and hungry on Thanksgiving. My wife likes to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on Thanksgiving evening, but our son actively resists this tradition. Maybe I shouldn’t call him Pig-Pen. My son does join me in my annual viewing of The Avengers episode “Dial A Deadly Number,” which I once watched on Thanksgiving 20 years ago and decided to make it my own peculiar tradition. Steed and Mrs. Peel attend a dinner party in the episode, so it’s not entirely disconnected from the holiday. They don’t eat toast, either.
During my 20s, I spent Thanksgiving with my TV Friends. I’d long hoped for a Thanksgiving reunion special, but alas, Matthew Perry is no longer with us. Widowed Monica preparing dinner for her and Chandler’s now 20something kids when the rest of the gang arrives to cheer them up is perhaps too sad to watch over that second slice of pecan pie.
As always, enjoy Thanksgiving responsibly and remember that no human can eat an entire turkey in one sitting and live. Joey Tribbiani is a trained professional. (Watch below.)
There’s still more than enough time to take advantage of our annual Thanksgiving subscription sale. Become a paid subscriber for 40 percent off the usual annual rate. That means you can help keep this newsletter survive the winter for just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. In lieu of cat photos like my friend Noah Berlatsky at Everything Is Horrible, I’ll share one of my 11-year-old son’s gruesome animation videos whenever we gain a new paid subscriber. (Here’s busy in rehearsal now for the Portland Playhouse production of A Christmas Carol, so you might have to wait until January for some new videos.)
Here’s what I wrote this week:
Seattle has a new mayor, Katie Wilson, and the Washington Post thinks she’s a socialist threat with crazy ideas such as “free childcare.” When childcare costs more than some jobs pay, that’s not good for the labor market. Yet, the Post dismisses this reasonable policy measure — a true investment in the city — as just a “goodie” for the undeserving.
Marjorie Taylor Greene has been banished from the mad king Trump’s court, and she’s lashing out, which is objectively a good thing. We don’t need to be her new best friend, but we can stand back and watch the kaijus fight each other to the death. It’s the Godzilla Theory Of Politics.
Meanwhile, John Fetterman seems more likely than ever to turn MAGA. Maybe the hoodies were always a dead giveaway. Pointing firearms at random Black people was probably an earlier tell. Who’d imagine that Mad Marge would put up more of a fight against Trump?
I had the great opportunity to chat with my friend Jane Jones, an accomplished theater artist who has a lot of great insights and fun stories to share.
Here’s where I ask everyone reading this to hop over to YouTube and subscribe to my channel. It’s greatly appreciated!
Catch you next week! If you need me, I’m watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. There are seven more Turkey Days to go!
What, no Addams Family Values? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJE3KDxTbWI
Love the holiday pilGRIM skeleton 💜