Sumter Scene
THE SUMTER ITEM
NOVEMBER 20 – NOVEMBER 26, 2021
7
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returns to normal – somewhat BY JAY BOBBIN
For this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the bands are back together. Last time, the event altered some traditions to meet coronavirus-pandemic protocols, one being the postponement of appearances by marching bands from schools across the country. Since the parade won’t be for television only for 2021, spectators will be back as will the bands as NBC broadcasts the 95th annual edition of the New York holiday procession Thursday, Nov. 25. “Today’s” Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will have their usual roles as the three-hour special’s hosts. “We were so happy to get to do a parade, in whatever form it came,” Guthrie recalls of last year’s procession ... with Kotb adding. “Every time the
Macy’s Parade comes around, it reminds you that life is getting a little bit back to normal. The fact that we’re going to have some of the crowd back just gives me that feeling of, ‘We’re on a roll. Let’s keep it going.’ And I think this is emblematic of the route on which we’re hopefully heading.”
the norm by 10 to 20 percent.
The number of people permitted to line the parade route will be reduced from
be among Broadway hits rep-
Grogu (or “Baby Yoda”) from “The Mandalorian” and the title figure from “Ada Twist, Scientist.” Among the scheduled performers are Carrie Underwood, Kristin Chenoweth (whose former show “WICKED” will resented by musical numbers), Darren Criss, Kelly Rowland, Jimmie Allen, the Muppets and the Rockettes. For typical parade-route-walker Roker, doing the 2020 version was memorable for a number of reasons, including the fact that he’d had prostatecancer surgery just a couple of weeks earlier. “Once you’re in the teeth of (the parade), you’re not really thinking about anything else,” the genial meteorologist maintains. “In planning my surgery, my goal was to have recuperated to be ready for the parade. It’s a touchstone for me, so it provided a certain sense of normalcy, even though it wasn’t a normal parade. It was one I really needed, and I think a lot of people needed it.” The ongoing existence of the Macy’s Parade comforts Guthrie, who says it would be that way whether she was a part of it or not: “To have that continuity is really important and really meaningful. It’ll mean a lot for people to be back out there participating.”
View from the Couch
“AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: CITIZEN HEARST”
New character balloons include
BY JAY BOBBIN
Nat Geo Wild gives thanks for veterinarians with ‘Vetsgiving’ BY JAY BOBBIN
“One thing I hear over and
At a time when the pandemic has hampered our ability to work, travel and even relate to one another, the importance of the human-animal connection to our overall wellbeing has never been more apparent. And in the week of Thanksgiving, Nat Geo Wild lauds the professionals who keep our furry friends healthy with its annual “Vetsgiving” celebration.
over again,” Griffin explains,
Airing Monday through Sunday, Nov. 22-28, each night of the event offers up a four-hour block of the veterinarian series “Heartland Docs, DVM,” “Critter Fixers: Country Vets,” “Hatcher Family Dairy,” “The Incredible Dr. Pol,” “Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet” and “Vets on the Beach,” as well as a sneak peek at the new series “Pop Goes the Vet With Dr. Joya.”
solve those major skin and ear
That series, which airs Thursday, Nov. 25, in advance of its official 2022 premiere, follows Kentucky based veterinary dermatologist Dr. Joya Griffin as she and her protege Dr. Jeff treat everything from hair loss and earwax to lumps and oozing cysts. It’s a little-known specialty that Griffin herself wasn’t aware of until she had a dog with a persistent skin problem. Family Viewing Ratings
AS Adult situations P Profanity
V Violence N Nudity
“is that my clients come to me, my pet moms and dads, and they say, ‘I didn’t even know a dermatologist existed.’ And so part of me was wanting to tell that story, that we are out there and that 50 percent of the cases that a general practitioner will see have to do with the ears and the skin. And when they get a little complicated, I’m here to help and issues. And so we’re sometimes not known about, and I’m happy to tell our story.” According to Janet Van Vissering, senior vice president of development and production for National Geographic Channels, an obscure discipline such as Griffin’s is exactly the type of content the broadcaster is looking to spotlight. “Every pet owner at some point will have some kind of dermatological issue with their pet if you have them for a while,” she says. “And I know that similar to when a human has a lump or a bump, you just go to the worstcase scenario. And I thought, there’s got to be a doctor who does this. And we did a search and, lo and behold, Dr. Joya just fell into our lap.”
GV Graphic Violence
Corporation continues to remain
The major peril is posed by an
Director Philip Kaufman’s (“The
Alexander (Nick Hounslow),
prominent in the business world,
even more lethal Terminator
Right Stuff”) glossy, entertain-
pediatric doctor Tasha (Kaitlyn
and its founder’s history is
(Robert Patrick) that can shift-
ing 1978 remake of the 1956
recalled in this PBS profile that
Leeb, “Heartland”) wants to go
was televised over two nights
shape at will to resemble anyone sci-fi classic gets new 4K Ultra or anything. Included among the HD treatment. Donald Suther-
recently. The program also
special features is a new, almost
land and Brooke Adams play
delves into the married Hearst’s
hour-long documentary about
San Francisco health inspectors
long affair with actress Marion
the making of the film, featuring
who start noticing odd, sub-
accompanying him, but when
Davies and the establishment
comments by Schwarzenegger
servient behavior by many of
a complication confines Tasha
of his lavish California estate
and Cameron.››› (R: AS, P, V)
those around them, leading to
San Simeon. The David Nasaw
to bed, the couple has to de-
“THE SHOW”
the eventual hunch that those
biography “The Chief: The Life
termine how to maintain the
individuals actually are alien
of William Randolph Hearst”
The quest to find a stolen arti-
duplicates of the people they’re
tradition that the child must be
fact thrusts the seeking trouble-
supposed to be. One extremely
shooter – played by Tom Burke
nice touch is an appearance by
(“Mank”) – into supernatural
Kevin McCarthy, who starred
role as King Edward, and Josh
danger in this melodrama based
in the original screen version
Dean – who co-wrote the script
on a story by graphic-novel
(directed by Don Siegel, who
– also co-stars. ››› (Not rated: AS)
writer Alan Moore. Vampires
also has a cameo here as a cab
and voodoo are elements of the
driver). Leonard Nimoy plays a
British town he’s steered into,
psychiatrist consulted about the
Coming Home Soon
and he discovers that what he
alleged takeover, with Jeff Gold-
thinks might be figments of his
“MALIGNANT” (Nov. 30)
blum and Veronica Carthwright
imagination are parts of the all-
also in the cast. ››› (PG: AS, N,
was the principal source here. ››› (Not rated: AS, P)
“TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY” An even bigger hit than the original movie when it first was
In the history of American
released, the first of the sequels
media, the name William
gets a Steelbook edition of its
Randolph Hearst stands tall.
4K Ultra HD version. With James
With an information empire built
Cameron returning as director,
on newspapers but eventually
the 1991 blockbuster brings
encompassing magazines, radio
back Arnold Schwarzenegger as
stations and movie production
the killing machine from the fu-
as well, Hearst accrued power
ture, but he’s more of a protec-
and influence – extending to his
tor this time ... trying to ensure
entry into politics – that, to his
the safety of Sarah Connor’s (Lin-
dismay, inspired Orson Welles
da Hamilton) young son (Edward
to initiate what would become
Furlong), who will grow up to
one of the most classic of all
be the leader of a revolt against
films, “Citizen Kane.” The Hearst human-oppressing machines.
too-real world he has ventured into. Scriptwriter Moore is part of a supporting cast that also includes Siobhan Hewlett (“Sherlock”), Ellie Bamber and Babou Ceesay (“Into the Badlands”). ››› (Not rated: AS, P, V) (Also on
Digital and On Demand)
“INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS”
P, V)
along with him on a royal tour, though she’s well along in her first pregnancy. She ends up
born on the prince’s home turf. Charles Shaughnessy reprises his
“HEAVEN CAN WAIT” (Blu-ray) (Nov. 30)
“CHRISTMAS WITH A PRINCE: THE ROYAL BABY”
“REDS” (Blu-ray) (Nov. 30)
Very soon after it had a telecast
“HAROLD AND MAUDE” (Blu-
on UPtv, this third chapter in the “Christmas With a Prince” mov-
“SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS” (Nov. 30)
ray) (Dec. 7)
ie franchise gets a home-video
“WHO FRAMED ROGER
release. Now married to Prince
RABBIT” (4K Ultra HD) (Dec. 7)
