A Day for Parades and Football

Television today will provide the usual accompaniment of parades and football games to go with Thanksgiving Day.

CBS gets under way at 8 a.m. with a three-hour “All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade” telecast, featuring four different parades (Channels 2 and 8). Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy of “Dallas” will be in New York City to anchor the coverage of the annual parades in New York, Detroit, Toronto and Hawaii. Stars of other CBS prime-time series will report from the various parade sites.

NBC, meanwhile, continues its tradition of covering Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York, tuning in on the 61st annual event from 1-4 p.m. (Channels 4, 36, 39). Willard Scott, the weatherman from the “Today” show, and Mary Hart of “Entertainment Tonight” share the hosting duties.

Lifetime cable will be serving up the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade from 9 a.m.-noon, with highlights repeated from 3-5 p.m.

Football fans can catch the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Detroit Lions at 9:30 a.m. on NBC (4)(36)(39), and the Minnesota Vikings vs. the Dallas Cowboys at 1 p.m. on CBS (2)(8). A college football rivalry--Texas vs. Texas A&M--starts; at 5 p.m. on ESPN cable.

And if you want to skip Thanksgiving and get on to Christmas, KNBC-TV Channel 4 will be screening the 1970 musical film, “Scrooge,” with Albert Finney in the title role, from 4-6 p.m. (See TV Tips on Page 17 for other programming highlights.)