2 l November
21 - 27, 2021
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
BY JAY BOBBIN
Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie (center) and Hoda Kotb
host NBC’s coverage of The 95th Annual
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
returns to normal – somewhat
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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 number of people permitted to line
the parade route will be reduced from the
norm by 10 to 20 percent. New character
balloons include 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 be among Broadway hits
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represented 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 prostate-cancer 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.”
Kotb believes that might pertain especially
to the band members, since she reasons,
“It’s their moment in the spotlight. I always
picture their parents with their noses glued
to the TV, being like, ‘That’s my kid!’ The
fact that that’s back brings an element that’s
beyond balloons. It’s maybe the most real part
of the parade.”
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