# The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade '23 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** basketball-nba, olympic-sports-track, theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [November 26, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738 "2023-11-26T21:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/1 "2023-11-26T21:18:45Z")
Just finished watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC yesterday. I don’t know how much you all follow it, but I felt like talking about it for some reason. (I don’t have anyone to Christmas shop for, so not much else on my plate.) Before I begin, a couple general recurring thoughts I had: - Other than some legacy (Snoopy, Smokey The Bear) and manga stuff, the balloons were entirely geared toward children’s properties. Nothing wrong with that, but I found it a little surprising since, well, I’ve _been_ in Macy’s, and trust me, there’s _very_ little there that would appeal to a child. - There were a _ton_ of cheerleaders (500 specifically called up for the parade alone!), and quite a few a few dancers, many of whom were wearing various types of tights or stockings. I’m…ambivalent about this. Look, I get that the Atlantic Seaboard gets cold in November, but if you’re going to be a cheerleader…I remember mentioning this somewhere in the American Ninja Warrior thread…showing your legs just comes with the territory. If you’re in a _leotard,_ that’s even more egregious, as the whole _point_ of such a garment is to put your legs on full display. If you include tights with a cheerleader or dancer outfit, you’re basically dressed like a skier. So why not just make a clean job of it with a unitard, or tight pants and a top if that’s too restricting? Just trying to think practically here, ladies. 🙂 0:05 Our first look at the lead float, containing, naturally, a turkey. Also a few women in brown unitards, so I _did_ make a reasonable suggestion, all right? 😉 0:09 Wow, the Harlem Globetrotters are a pretty diverse bunch, with a woman, a midget, and a (gasp!) white man…wait a minute, the Harlem Globetrotters are still a thing? In 2023? I always thought the whole point of this squad was to prove that blacks could be great basketball players, which I’m fairly certain most of the country has accepted at this point. 0:14 Our first song & dance number, for the new Broadway play _And Juliet_. Alternative takes on Romeo and Juliet are nothing new, of course (I’d really like to see [Rosaline](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1777606/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) someday; it sounds like a hoot), but this one’s different because…Juliet is independent. Uh… 😕 Insert my usual why-not-just-make-your-own-girl-power-story-instead-of-changing etc. comment. Anyway, sounds fun, hope it succeeds. 🙂 0:26 “Whoa! She’s spinning the table on her feet! She’s spinning! The table! On her feet! Now she just threw the table upward! With her feet! That is just mind-blowing! I don’t know how she does it! I don’t even know what to say about this! She must have practiced this a lot! I can’t imagine how much practice it must have taken to spin a table with such precision! With her feet! Her _feet!_ I’m completely at a loss for words! Seriously, I have nothing all to say about…” ARRRGHGHBLBHBLRRGGHH SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP 🤬 0:30 Spamalot, which I never realized was actually a thing. Just looked it up on Wikipedia and…wow. 😆 I’m terrified of anything with an audience participation element, but sounds like a really fun ride! 0:35 Our periodic depressing reminder that \*\*\*\*\*\*\* NBC still has a death grip on the Olympics. 😠 0:39 “Do you all have any idea, like actually taken a moment to process, how utterly f\_\_\_ing depressing it is that Joe Biden is unambiguously the best President in my lifetime.” - August J. Pollak 0:48 Something called _How to Dance in Ohio_ performed by a troupe with about the same racial diversity and musical sense as Ohio. 0:55 The Spirit of America cheerleaders, the gathering of 500 I mentioned earlier. Sheesh, if you’re going to put that many people in matching uniforms, maybe pick colors a bit less eye-searing. 😵‍💫 1:01 And someone’s here to…officially announce the…start…of…the parade…one hour in. 🤨 Hey, your guess is as good as mine. “First” up is the first college marching band, Alabama A&M. 1:05 Wait a minute, Peanuts is still a thing? The last actual new creation I remember there being for it was the PS4 Snoopy game, released in _2015_. I’m genuinely curious as to who’s keeping the memory of this property alive…it certainly isn’t the newspapers! 1:06 Towing each float is a Dodge Ram, thus completely proving that a bloated gas-guzzling monstrosity of a truck which somehow also manages to have the wimpiest flatbed imaginable is the perfect vehicle for driving the streets of a major city! 😠 1:07 And here’s Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors doing a country song to plug an outdoor grill on those same streets! 1:11 Every time I see the Jolly Green Giant, I’m reminded of this country’s truly warped mentalities about vegetables. All the drama, all the militancy, all the yelling. Look, I eat them because I don’t want to die of malnutrition, is that a hard concept for anyone? Definitely _not_ helping is the super-corny song on display here about…wait for it…corn. Besides the fact that corn is, y’know, _tasty_ and therefore doesn’t need the help (get asparagus, cabbage, or cucumbers over and maybe I’ll be impressed), what the everloving _hell_ is “the same going in as coming out” supposed to mean? Or do I even want to know? 1:17 Our once-a-year reminder that we didn’t kill _all_ the First Nations people! Go us! 😑 1:24 Wait a minute, Miss America is still a thing? I don’t think even Fox News gives this the time of day anymore, and they’re maniacally fanatical about propping up every archaic, useless, embarrassing American tradition that ever existed. 1:25 When Toys R Us (I don’t know how to do Cyrillic letters on this board) got shuttered due to a truly vile act of “capitalism” (a.k.a. “rich people take and take and take and take and take” 😡), it was a sad day for a lot of parents. When Macy’s later acquired the brand and set up a Toys R Us sections in every store, it was…a sad day for a different reason. I visited one yesterday, and the immediate impression I got was “Gamestop with an annoying theme song”. None of the grandeur, or energy, or **variety** of the great toy emporium of old. Well, life goes on, so… …oh, HELL no. It’s someone named Jax (the American Idol contestant, not the head-crushing Marine) singing that familiar Jet standard, _Are you going to be my…GUY_. 😲🤮 And for the record, that’s how she always does it ([Check it out!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWOwvLO-9ew)) I…I can’t…gah. Look, I’ll just spell it out: **Screw homophobia.** Irrational hatred of things that **hurt no one** has no place in **any** society that calls itself civilized. It’s bad enough that there’s _zero_ LGBTQ+ representation in this parade…yes, I noticed!..but mangling lyrics, which is like nails on a chalkboard to me to begin with, out of infantile squeamishness about a women having a thing for another woman (Again! 100+ NSFW videos costing about $22 each! _And_ the complete Dykes To Watch Out For collection!) is just unforgivable. 1:28 Rutgers University, in [checks Bing]…New Jersey! Close to home! 👍 1:31 Wow, whoever this Paul Russell is, he _really_ likes the color black. 1:34 Wonder Bread. I never liked the color scheme (if your bread ever turns red, yellow, or blue, that is a _very_ bad sign), but even it makes more sense than Chicago serenading it with _You’re The Inspiration_. White bread? Inspiring? Did they think that’s what that horribly abusive violent parasitic self-centered smarmy tiger called “Opposite Day” or something? 1:36 The first moronic worthless crappy art-based scam Macy’s parade balloon ever! And hopefully the last! 1:40 I am completely at a loss to explain what’s so special about Hyphen, and my _only_ exposure to K-pop pre-BTS was Pump it Up. 1:43 Kalahari Resort, an apparently elephant-themed theme park, and En Vogue performing one of the two songs they’ve done that doesn’t make me want to punch them in the face. 🤷‍♀️ 1:50 I get that Mercer High School needed something easy to play on the march, but _Holiday Road_…a song forever tied to vacations going horribly wrong…was an iffy choice. 1:51 The Louisiana Office of Tourism with a swamphouse-themed float. Headlined by, of course, a singer who regales us with how inferior the women in New York are, right in the heart of the absolute ideal location for expressing such a sentiment. 🤦‍♂️ 1:53 Wait a minute, _that_ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles song is still a thing? The brand has evolved so much since even my memories of the 80’s cartoon and Konami games (much less the original black and white comics), but the theme was so iconic that they just had to keep it? That’s…so cool. 🥹 2:00 Band from Greendale, Wisconsin, thereby meeting the Midwest quota. 2:02 I’ve never gotten a handle on when and why TV networks leave certain foreign words untranslated, but Spanish always seems to get the worst of it. (Case in point, it’s been **seven decades** and I have yet to see or hear **one word** of _La Bamba_ translated FREAKING ANYWHERE.) So I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you if this Manuel Torizo is any good. Seems nice enough, though. 2:03 “Hall of fame pro bowler” will never not sound weird to me. 2:10 Wait a minute, Ronald McDonald is still a thing?? When did his last commercial air, 1990? 2:11 The NYPD. Wonder what those “jailbird” caricatures are supposed to represent. My guess: “We’re the police force that goes after _actual_ crooks _and_ restrains ourselves from beating them to death so we can actually prosecute them!” 2:15 The Peacock peacock, providing round the clock Peacock to Peacock Peacock Peacock! Wow, NBC is really… [digs through hat] “pulling out all the stops”! 😑 (And no, I still haven’t seen American Ninja Warrior Junior season 3 yet.) And somebody starts belting _We Are The Champions_ 😱, and it’s a good thing I didn’t have a large piece of building material next to me, if you catch my drift. 2:19 Texas Tech. Is it just me or is the South getting _way_ too much representation here? 2:24 Back To The Future, The Musical. Given our truly disturbing national response to the Covid vaccines, you’d think a play about a scientist desperately working to preserve the future wouldn’t have a chance, but here we are. 2:33 The Spirit of America crew in much nicer-looking colors, after apparently stripping off their previous dresses on the street in broad daylight in front of hundreds and hundreds of spectators on national television. I mean, more power to them, absolutely, but given the apparently brutal crackdowns on LGBTQ+ representation and exposed bikini areas, I’m a bit surprised parade enforcement let _that_ slide. 2:34 _Ode to Joy_ with a bunch of annoying twitters and warbles and fleeps and bloops. Folks, it’s a student’s song. It’s meant to be plain, simple, and vanilla. That’s its purpose. You want something complicated, play _Flight of the Bumblebee_ or _In The Hall of the Mountain King_ or something. 2:36 You know, while it was a very long time ago, I _distinctly_ remember there being Sesame Street songs sung in a normal tone of voice. ([_Telephone Rock_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M75m7vHf0) and [_Exit_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lB8FakhbDs) were a couple of my favorites.) Even if Macy’s is springing for the youth market, I don’t see why a parade audience containing a very many non-children couldn’t have one. 2:46 Wait a minute, _Willy Wonka_…ah, forget it, too tired. And the Christmas stuff begins at 2:50 and I’m out. Of course we all know that Thanksgiving ceased to be its own thing a very long time ago and is essentially Christmas preseason, but what’s a tad surprising is that everyone seems to be fine with this. I’ve heard nothing lamenting the “destruction of this great American tradition”, not even from Fox News. I guess when a tradition involves being around your entire extended family and remembering _why_ you don’t give those piles of filth the time of day the other 364 days of the year, it’s no great loss. Oh, by the way, the much-ballyhooed Cher song is at 3:17. Not much to say; she still looks and sounds largely the same as she did on the Dancing With The Stars season 28 finale (plastic and robotic, respectively). Whatever she may have accomplished in the past, she’s had so much work done that the original…_person_ is, regrettably, long gone. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! It ain’t the Pride March, that’s for sure! But it you want a bunch of mostly harmless colorful spectacle, you could do worse. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/2 "2023-11-26T21:33:23Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > Just finished watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC yesterday. It’s Sunday; wasn’t the parade on Thursday? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/3 "2023-11-26T22:03:45Z")
I don’t watch the parade. I’ve seen enough bits to know it’s not for me. Cheesy musical numbers and giant balloons? Nah. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/4 "2023-11-26T22:12:15Z")
I can’t think of any parade in the cold where the cheerleaders, dancers, and majorettes didn’t wear stockings. The only question is the color. They would often be “nude” colored. Besides, the shape is what people usually seem to care about (hence “shapely legs”). And stockings/tights/leggings are all form fitting. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/5 "2023-11-26T22:44:07Z")
It was on and I saw bits and pieces. Thought the Peanuts characters heads looked odd - especially Linus’ hair. And could not believe the corn act - until I googled and saw it was a play. You are right, “Same going in…” Don’t expect a ton of poop jokes in the Macy’s parade! Was way too long - I couldn’t stick around for Cher. Couldn’t believe they kept hyping “A message from Beyonce” which was just an ad for her movie. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/6 "2023-11-26T22:44:49Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > wait a minute, the Harlem Globetrotters are still a thing? In 2023? Judging by their tour schedule, the Harlem Globetrotters aren’t just a thing, [they’re two groups of thing](https://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/world-tour/schedule/), often showing up in different cities on the same date. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/7 "2023-11-26T22:51:32Z")
I watched it on CBS, the non-official site for it, and the parade was great when they got around to showing it after talking to every actor on every CBS series this year. I recorded it so we could skip the real ads and the parade ads. It also struck me that balloon construction must be faster or cheaper than it used to be, since lots of balloons were for marketing just or soon to be released movies. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/8 "2023-11-26T23:44:16Z")
Why bother spending so much time watching something you obviously don’t enjoy? I haven’t watched the parade in years, because I don’t enjoy it. Why give it my time? StG ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/9 "2023-11-26T23:52:51Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Why bother spending so much time watching something you obviously don’t enjoy? This must be your first DKW thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/10 "2023-11-27T02:42:09Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I recorded it so we could skip the real ads and the parade ads. Out of curiosity, once you get past the ads, the celebrity plugs, and the program plugs, how much actual parade is there? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/11 "2023-11-27T02:46:48Z")
I tried watching the parade a couple of times in recent years and all of that made it impossible to watch. I think I tried recording it and skipping over all of the nonsense but even that was too much. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/12 "2023-11-27T04:18:11Z")
I enjoy the parade in an “on in the background as a futz around getting things ready for Thanksgiving” sense. The most interesting thing I learned was that in the early years of the parade, they just let the balloons go at the end of the parade. I’m imagining some poor Depression-era dirt farmer out working his filed when he’s smothered by a 50-foot Felix the Cat. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/13 "2023-11-27T05:03:14Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Why bother spending so much time watching something you obviously don’t enjoy? I haven’t watched the parade in years, because I don’t enjoy it. Why give it my time? > > StG ⁢ Because sometimes the fun is in talking about it with friends. Though, honestly, DKW seems to enjoy it well enough. He seems quite into it, really. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/14 "2023-11-27T08:10:48Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Because sometimes the fun is in talking about it with friends. Seinfeld did a bit on this idea…he and George were going to see a lousy movie, for the sole purpose of making sarcstic comments to each other. And there’s nothing wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/15 "2023-11-27T08:33:09Z")
I can speak for myself, thank you. Even if it sometimes takes a while. 😁 Whoo, after no one started a thread Thursday or Friday, I definitely didn’t expect this many responses so soon. Guess there’s something about a big annual spectacle that speaks to us all, no matter how crass or overcommercialized it is. All right: Dewey\_Finn - DVRed. Anyone who tries to watch an insanely commercial-stuffed 3.5 hour program in real time is a masochist. I used index cars to keep all my notes in order, BTW…very handy! BigT - Yeah, figured it was the weather. Still thinks pants-and-top would’ve worked best. Even figure skating’s cool with that now. Dinsdale - Yeah…I wasn’t trying to think too hard on this, but I had the nagging feeling it had something to do with that particular bodily function. Actually, regularity happens to be a pretty big deal for me (a history of horrible constipation will do that) and definitely one of the advantages of a vegetable-rich diet. I just think they could’ve been more **discreet** about it, y’know? Voyager - Yeah, about that. The NBC crew also spent a _lot_ of time promoting and back-patting each other (a rather unflattering word attached to certain awards shows come to mind). That’s why I didn’t have much reaction when that big peacock showed up. StGermain - I enjoyed it. Kinda. It’s a fun(ish) spectacle, and I got to see stuff I’d never know about otherwise. If I had to watch all 3 1/2 hours start to finish, it’d be an unbearable slog, but fast forward and rewind are miracle makers. There were annoying bits like that moron babbling endlessly during the table trick, but those were fleeting. I snark on lots of things here. It’s fun! 🙂 Trust me, if I hate something, I’ll say it up front. I’m not subtle about my feelings. Go see my last two American Ninja Warrior posts if you don’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/16 "2023-11-27T15:57:18Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > I’ve _been_ in Macy’s, and trust me, there’s _very_ little there that would appeal to a child. Well… > **[Hottest Toys For Holiday Season Will Be At Macy’s](https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2023/09/29/hottest-toys-for-holiday-season-will-be-at-macys/?sh=6a6f4c032af5)** > > They hope that every gift giver would be a star by offering top toys to their favorite child. ---
**Author:** ![Apodder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apodder/32/17727_2.png) [@Apodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apodder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/17 "2023-11-27T19:42:23Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > the same racial diversity and musical sense as Ohio. I don’t watch the parade so I’m having to assume you mean VERY diverse? Because here in central Ohio that’s one thing we have going for us… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/18 "2023-11-27T20:31:26Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Out of curiosity, once you get past the ads, the celebrity plugs, and the program plugs, how much actual parade is there? The first two hours, maybe 20 minutes per hour. At the end of the parade they ran out of plugs so it was all good except for commercials. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/19 "2023-11-28T01:13:08Z")
The best view we’ve ever had of the parade was to see it in person on a trip to NYC. It was in the 1980s (Mary Lou Retton was on one of the floats, if that dates it for you). I don’t know if it’s changed much since then, but back then I was amazed at the amount of toys and kids stuff that was featured in floats. We were staying a block from Times Square, so when we got back to the hotel after the parade ended, we turned on the TV to see that it was only barely half done at Macy’s store. Then we realized that TV was showing all the dancing and singing that we never saw in person, stuff that they only do for the TV cameras. Since then I’ve found it almost impossible to watch the broadcast with all the non-parade nonsense that they show. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/20 "2023-11-28T02:28:01Z")
The corn!! 🤣 And I’ve never seen it on Broadway, but every performance of _Spamalot_ I’ve attended has been quite a treat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738.md?page=2)