HOLIDAY TV : Zoning Out on Turkeys, Pigskins, Parades

The Dallas Cowboys, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Bart Simpson and “The Twilight Zone” continue their dominance over the Thanksgiving Day television lineup. “The Addams Family,” Clint Eastwood and Danny Kaye will provide alternative choices to that traditional holiday fare.

Parades

NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39 at 9 a.m.) will present the 67th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on a delayed basis with Katie Couric and Willard Scott as hosts. There are three new entrants among the parade’s 15 helium balloons--Beethoven, the movie Saint Bernard; Sonic the Hedgehog, the video game hero, and Rex, a dinosaur. Returning balloons include Big Bird, the Pink Panther, Bart Simpson and Spider-Man.

CBS (Channels 2 and 8) will include coverage of the Macy’s parade during its three-hour compilation of parade footage from North America dubbed “The CBS All-American Thanksgiving Day Parade,” beginning at 1 p.m. Also included: highlights of September’s Aloha Floral Parade from Honolulu; last month’s Aladdin’s Royal Caravan Parade from Disneyland and this weekend’s Santa Claus Parade from Toronto.

Marathons

KTLA-TV Channel 5 presents its 14th annual Thanksgiving Day “Twilight Zone” marathon from 10 a.m.-10 p.m., with most of the episodes featuring actors who would later star in series of their own. The marathon begins with “Walking Distance,” starring Gig Young and Ron Howard. Other episodes include “Cavendar Is Coming” (12:30 p.m.) with Carol Burnett; “A Game of Pool” (5 p.m.) with Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters; “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (5:30 p.m.) with William Shatner, and “Time Enough at Last (8:30 p.m.) with Burgess Meredith.

KCAL-TV Channel 9 counters with an “Addams Family Marathon” for the second time in three years. From 9 a.m.-10 p.m., the station will air 23 episodes of the 1964-66 ABC sitcom. KCET-TV Channel 28 presents eight episodes of “Nature” from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., looking at the exploration of North America.

Cable marathons include 21 hours of Clint Eastwood movies from 6:05 a.m. to 3:05 a.m. on TBS; 22 1/2 hours of Danny Kaye movies from 3 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. on AMC; 32 hours of some of the worst movies ever made interspersed with sarcastic comments from the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” regulars on Comedy Central, which began Wednesday and will continue through 2 a.m. Friday; A&E; will show the complete cycle of “A Year in Provence” episodes from 5 a.m.-11 a.m. and again from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; the Learning Channel has “Death by Chocolate: A Baker’s Dozen,” with gourmet chef Marcel Dessaulniers presenting various recipes from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Football

The Detroit Lions began the NFL’s tradition of playing on Thanksgiving Day when they faced the Chicago Bears in 1934, and those two teams will meet again today at 9:30 a.m. on Channels 2 and 8.

But in recent years, the Dallas Cowboys have elicited more Thanksgiving Day memories and become more a part of the holiday with their annual contests at Texas Stadium. The Super Bowl champs play the Miami Dolphins at 1 p.m. on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

There are also two college football telecasts today. Georgia (4-6) visits Georgia Tech (5-5) at 8 a.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42. No. 8 Texas A&M; (9-1) plays host to Texas (5-4-1) at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

Other programming

Fox (Channels 11 and 6) airs “The Simpsons” annual Thanksgiving episode at 8 p.m., with family patriarch Homer hoping that his beloved Dallas Cowboys will cover the point spread, siblings Lisa and Bart squabbling and Bart running away from home.

NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39) devotes its entire prime-time schedule to a pair of premieres. The 1990 box-office smash “Home Alone” appears on broadcast TV for the first time (8-10 p.m.), followed by a new special starring Grammy-winner Mariah Carey.

From noon-2 p.m., KTTV-TV Channel 11 carries the second annual “Fox Kids TV Takeover” with episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs,” “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” and “X-Men” selected by votes from 150,000 children.