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The 1989 Parade & HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

And here you thought I forgot about you. I totally did not -- I just had zero time and hated every second of having zero time, but the review is done, at the zero hour. Get your Turkey Day Hooray on with the two page review of the 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, starring ALF! The Joker! Spider-Man! Ronald McDonald! MELBA MOORE! Yayyyayy!

Fessing up, the review was originally intended to be much longer, but time wasn't on my side, and it got to the point tonight of either having to trim the turkey fat or do my big blogpology post about how woe is me and how I wasn't going to provide a parade review this year. I think you'd rather have the two pages. They're a good two pages, full of fun and video clips, and did I mention ALF? I've included a few downloads of commercials that aired during the parade in the review, but here's a few more...

Fruit of the Loom, starring giant fruit people.
A Back To The Future Part 2 ad, starring smaller Marty people.
The Typhoon Hovercraft toy, you so wish you had one.
The "Mickey Look," a toy that looks like Mickey!
Lost 'N Founds dolls, which were almost vaguely popular!

I don't know how many of you are around this Thanksgiving, but if you're here, have a good one, and if you live somewhere that isn't celebrating anything today, whooooops. I'm thankful for many things this year, and that very much includes the lot of you who choose to make this site a stop, to read and to join in the discussions, to have and to hold, yadda. You're all great, unless it's the wine and coffee and need for sleep talking. I leave you with this:

It's gonna be a good Thanksgiving.

Posted by Matt on 11/24/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 132 comments

Thanks for the article, Matt! :D

I can honestly say I was never into the parades much, and we pretty much avoided them at all costs. Ya know, Mom hates them, and Dad would always find some old John Wayne movie or the Three Stooges Marathon to watch instead.

I just got home from work a little while ago, but if I’m still awake at 9, I think I’ll put it on, though :)

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 11/24/2005 7:16 AM

Please Read: If you’re reading this then my bold print was worth the hours of html coding. I have a dilemma that perhaps fellow X-Ers (or is it X-entertainites?) may be able to solve. Every year I carefully plan out exactly what I’m going to get for Christmas by asking exact people for exact things that I know they’re capable of not fucking up entirely. It works but I always forget to leave something for the gift exchange we have on one side of my family. The minimum is usually 25 and the max is 30. What I need are suggestions from you guys between now and when I wake up at 3 (that’s less than 8 hours on a day you guys won’t be here…) of what to ask for. Just think of me as a bit younger version of Matt and you’ll get an idea of my taste. But, No Star Wars, No Batman Begins, that’s taking care of.

Just to give you an idea of why this is a problem… every year we’ve done this my list consisted of the words "Give me 25-30 dollars." The family is getting tired of that gag and I’ve been dead serious everytime.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 11/24/2005 7:32 AM

Oh man, I was in tears when I saw Dr. Doom shake his booty at the end of the video. That’s a great find, and you made my life that much more enjoyable by sharing that with us, Matt. Thank you.

Chestnuts roasted by Alex @ 11/24/2005 8:45 AM

Awesome. Great job as always Matt.
And a Happy Turkey day to all.

Chestnuts roasted by Felix @ 11/24/2005 8:46 AM

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

Chestnuts roasted by Bert Raccoon @ 11/24/2005 8:59 AM

Doho, here’s a suggestion from Amazon…

From one person — total 26 plus shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000BFO07I/ref=wl_it_dp/103-9138844-7445457?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=I1N5XBFUGZ92MU&v=glance&colid=319L6JNZJDY8G" target="blank">He-Man Christmas Special DVD – 13.99
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007Z2K1K/ref=wl_it_dp/103-9138844-7445457?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=I2J9P5A1LSSC19&v=glance&colid=319L6JNZJDY8G" target="blank">Gremlins 2 "Mohawk" Figure – 11.99

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 11/24/2005 9:22 AM

Oh, oh, YES!

You are simply the king, Matt. THough nothing beats Homestar Dolph Lundgren. Gya, I think that’s the funniest clip ever. I swear, if you listen, he sounds like Homestar Runner.

Anyway! Happy THanksgiving all. Giblets for everyone!

Chestnuts roasted by RabiesBunny @ 11/24/2005 9:36 AM

Great article! Don’t worry, your hard work of the seemingly throwaway jokes (jokerhere.wmv) did not go unnoticed.
The parade is on now and it is Broadway as far as the eye can see. Why? Not sure when I will ever make it to NY but I (probably along with most of the rest of the country) could care less about this kind of stuff.

I think that Barbie float maybe the last gasp of the 80′s captured on film.

Did you notice SPIDERMAN got some applause on his appearance and that he almost fell off when the float started moving :) . Nice DC references Willard. I am sure MARVEL was livid!
"Garfield the Delicious" should be the X-E slogan for the day. Thanks ALF.
Good call on the trying to hip-up the LOONEY TUNES gang. So unneccessary.
Finally, that damn TYPHOON commerical made me want one and I GOT IT. I still have it. Only played with it 10 times in 16 years. The problem is that the battery pack only lasts for 10-15 minutes. Also, it kinda slides around TOO much on linoleum. One of my more melancholy Christmas presents. Wanted it, asked for it, go it, never played with. That is also the 1st and last Christmas that I snuck a peek at my gifts.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!
P.S. The PEANUTS float got E. Claire dancing. :)

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 11/24/2005 9:38 AM

Thank you MAtt!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Watch Charlie Brown Tonight!

Chestnuts roasted by kb @ 11/24/2005 9:39 AM

Happy Thanksgiving from my Terrifying Claws to Yours! Matt, thanks for another awesome review. Good times buddy.

Can’t wait to see Charlie Brown!!

Chestnuts roasted by Terror Claws Cole @ 11/24/2005 9:54 AM

Amazing, as always!

ALF’s Garfield rant was amazing, as was good old Frank Travelina.

Charlie Brown’s legs must have been cold as a basket of fuck.

Thanks for the amazing article, Matt. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Chestnuts roasted by mtrox @ 11/24/2005 10:25 AM

Happy Thanksgiving, X-Ers!

… or, as I’ve taken to calling it, for no reason I can fathom…

Happy Skanksgiving!

Chestnuts roasted by ZiZak @ 11/24/2005 11:20 AM

Just as I was reading about Garfield in 1987, the Garfield float came on my tv this year. Sadly, no Alf to talk about eating him. Now the Beach Boys are on their own float singing "Little Saint Nick". Something surreal about seeing 60 year old Beach "Boys" all bundled up with mittens and earmuffs looking like they are freezing to death.

Matt, I have to thank you on this Thanksgiving for working so hard on this site. I’ve been reading for about 4 years now, and while the updates aren’t nearly as frequent as they used to be, they are still special. I hope you know that they really do mean a lot to us. I go on this site a few times everyday, to see the updates and read the blog. And I thank all the friends on the blog here for entertaining me when Matt can’t make updates.

Chestnuts roasted by Y2JB78 @ 11/24/2005 11:45 AM

P.S. Jill Schultz is freakin hot.

Chestnuts roasted by Y2JB78 @ 11/24/2005 11:48 AM

Good review Matt. And it odd that you mention the lightpole accident, and then this year it happens again. Happy Thanksgiving.

Chestnuts roasted by Rirse @ 11/24/2005 11:51 AM

I’ve been SO busy with teaching (and possible strikes, and union junk) that I completely forgot it was Thanksgiving already in the USA. Have a good one, everybody! I wish our (Canadian) Thanksgiving was in November, also, instead of October. October has Halloween…what’s November got? It’s my b-day month, so I always felt a wee bit bad for November; only having Remembrance Day for holidays.

Thanks, Matt for making me feel "thanksgiving-y" even though mine was a month ago! I LOVE your parade reviews. Good stuff.

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 11/24/2005 12:05 PM

Great article! I’m watching this year’s parade now, but it’s not as good as the old ones. At least they got rid of the Ask Jeeves balloon. "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" is on tonight on ABC, so be sure to watch that. I’m also going to watch "A Garfield Thanksgiving" on DVD.

Chestnuts roasted by jadamo3 @ 11/24/2005 12:16 PM

Oh man, I just looked at the home page and did a backflip. I kinda hate Thanksgiving, but… parade!

Thanks, Matt!

Chestnuts roasted by Pikabob @ 11/24/2005 12:21 PM

Oh man, http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_328115040.html" target="blank">this doesn’t bode well for future Macy’s Parades.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 11/24/2005 12:32 PM

Awesome article! Was it me, or did this years parade completely lack good commercials or toy commercials???

Chestnuts roasted by Double G @ 11/24/2005 12:47 PM

Man, that Barbie float was heinous! It’s good to know that a couple of the Barbies I used to have came from that line–I always wondered.
I was so happy to see Alf in this one- you picked great clips this year. I actually considered watching this year’s parade, but I said to myself "I’ve got other things to look forward to–Matt won’t let me down." And you didn’t!
Thank you, Matt! Thanks fellow X-E’ers! Here’s to a happy Thanksgiving or whatever else this Thursday is going to be for you. I hope everyone has a very nice day. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Rainbowfeet @ 11/24/2005 1:02 PM

Happy Thanksgiving! Great article as usual Matt! By the way, I had one of those Typhoon Hovercrafts back around ’89. Loads of fun!

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 11/24/2005 1:04 PM

We love you too, Matt. Thanks for the great parade review! Unfortunately my Thanksgiving is starting to shape up like my last Christmas so not having a happy holiday so far…but don’t want to bum everyone out so I’ll save details for the what was your worst Thanksgiving poll…

Chestnuts roasted by Melissa Y @ 11/24/2005 1:04 PM

Just thought I’d mention that "Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving" comes on ABC tonight.

I’m not sure if somebody mentioned it here already or not, because I didn’t feel like reading all the posts at the moment.

Chestnuts roasted by Tetsu Deinonychus @ 11/24/2005 1:41 PM

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Time to head over to my parents house and get all festive. Are there any other specials on tonight other than Charlie Brown?

Chestnuts roasted by Double G @ 11/24/2005 1:46 PM

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 24th, 2005 at 12:43 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.