TVSquad

A year ago, before there was a Cleveland Show, when the Family Guy spinoff was still just a possibility, the show's first guest stars, Daryl Hall and John Oates, were brought aboard. They'll finally make their debut, playing an angel and a devil, respectively, on Cleveland Brown's shoulder on the Thanksgiving episode which airs Sunday at 8:30PM on Fox.

According to show co-creator, producer, and voice of Cleveland Mike Henry, the appearance came out of a trip to Las Vegas where a casting director arranged for Henry to meet the guys backstage after a show. When they showed interest, that was that. "We wrote the part and sent it on over," says Henry, speaking at a conference call with media.

"You planted the seed a year ago saying, hey, would you like to be on the show that's not on TV yet?" says Hall.

Whatever big decision Cleveland is making in the episode, Henry is a bit cagey. "Maybe Auntie Mamma has got a penis," says Henry. "Let's just say that. There. I've given it away."

(S06E10) In the last episode of 2009, Grey's Anatomy combines Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all in one eventful episode. I'm still not in the holiday mood, but the show got me there, except for the fact that they played Christmas music on New Years. Christmas music should stay between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What happened to Alex in this episode? This would probably be the hardest time for a husband who doesn't have his wife for their first Christmas together. Wasn't he invited to Christmas Dinner? At least Meredith could have mentioned that he was stuck at work?

We're starting to see Thanksgiving episodes of TV shows, and Heroes is no exception. This Monday's episode ("Thanksgiving") has the Bennett family gathering for Turkey Day and it's...uncomfortable, especially since Mom brings a date (Doug) and so does Noah (Lauren).

But the question I have (and so will you) about this scene is: where the hell is Lyle?

[Watch clips and episodes of Heroes and other shows at SlashControl.]

The 'N' in NCIS stands for Naval. In case you didn't know that, I thought I'd tell you upfront, so that maybe the rest of this news will make sense. TV Guide has reported that Ray Mabus, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy is appearing on NCIS. Yes, that's right, the real United States Secretary of the Navy is going to guest on America's most watched drama series.

Oh, one more thing. He's not playing the Secretary of the Navy. He's playing an NCIS agent. So until we get more information, it seems that Secretary Mabus simply has a desire to act and CBS is giving him a chance to show his stuff. Or maybe he's a really big fan of NCIS (he wouldn't be alone).

This is either great news if you like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray or a warning if you don't like them, but it's interesting news nonetheless: Martha is going to do Rachael Ray's show and then the very next day Rachael will be on Martha's* show.

Yup, Martha will appear on Rachael's show on November 12 to show Rachael how to make a Thanksgiving centerpiece, and then on November 13 Rachael will appear on Martha's show and Martha will teach her how to make a Thanksgiving dessert. Notice that on both shows it's Martha who will be doing the teaching?

I don't know why Greek isn't talked about more. It seems to have everything all those other nighttime soaps have: a young cast, quirky characters, hip music. Maybe being on ABC Family means it gets lost in the shuffle.

Last night's episode was actually a Thanksgiving episode (they're a little ahead of things I guess), with Casey and Rusty's parents going off to Maui and stranding them on campus. What did you think?

[Watch clips and episodes of Greek at SlashControl.]

It'll be how I met Lily's dad on How I Met Your Mother. Chris Elliott has been cast as Lily's father on the CBS sitcom, a character who is supposedly something of a good-for-nothing parent. Elliott is hilarious and specializes in playing these kind of goofy roles. On Everybody Loves Raymond, for instance, his was Robert's overly familiar brother-in-law, Peter, who liked Ray just a little too much.

On HIMYM, Lily's dad will appear for the upcoming Thanksgiving episode on November 23. According to Michael Ausiello of EW.com, there will be series of flashbacks to illustrate exactly what's what with Lily and her father, why their relationship is "troubled." I'm hoping for more from this casting than Eric Braeden as Robin's dad; they never really used him right.

Wait, what? It's Thanksgiving? Already? Again? This doesn't seem right, as I still haven't washed last year's turkey grease from my television (how I eat my dinner is nobody's business but mine). Well, I guess it's time to think about the lovely things we have and give thanks to whatever vengeful supernatural entity is in charge of television. Thank you for...

30 Rock: The guest stars are getting a little exhausting at this point, but I still love each and every character that is on that show. I am especially thankful for all the Tracy Jordan quotes. Yes, I will live every week like it's Shark Week.

• At 8, CBS has a new Survivor.
• ABC has A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving again at 8.
• TBS has four Friends Thanksgiving episodes starting at 8.
• Cartoon Network has a new Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends movie at 8.
• Also at 8: ESPN has College Football, Texas A&M vs. Texas.
• At 9, CNN has CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute.
  
• HGTV has a new Rate My Space at 9.
  
• Nickelodeon has two Thanksgiving episodes of Home Improvement at 9.
• Spike has a new TNA Impact! at 9.
• Hallmark has the movie An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving at 9.
• At 10, HGTV has a new House Hunters.
• MTV has a new Paris Hilton's My New BFF at 10.
• Current TV has the special Thanksgiving Countdown: 25 Pods We're Thankful For at 10.
  
• At 11, Lifetime has a two-part Will & Grace Thanksgiving episode, then a Frasier Thanksgiving episode.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk show listings.

It's Thanksgiving morning right now and I'm sitting in my dad's kitchen watching people cook. I'm thankful for so many things this year, but since this is a TV site, let's talk about the things in TV that I'm thankful for--things besides the murder that the poor Detroit Lions are going to face at the hands of the Tennessee Titans today.

1. Netflix Watch Instantly
I've had Netflix basically since its inception, but with all of the TV that I watch, my Netflix movies have had a bad habit of collecting dust for months (I finally sent No Country for Old Men back after about six months on top of my DVD player). Even though I've known about the Watch Instantly feature for a while, I've never actually tried it out. I just watched Friday Night Lights Season 2, and let me tell you. it's so nice to just hit "Next" and have all of the episodes right there without having to change disks. Does that make me ridiculously lazy? Probably. I don't care.

(S05E03) Three episodes in and while Top Chef has been fun with really good challenges and interesting food, something is missing. Or maybe it just hasn't simmered to the surface yet. I'm talking about conflict, drama, hatred. Everybody is just too damn happy with each other.

I mean, last night the only nasty interaction was one chef flipping a finger at the other -- which Bravo actually blurred out, give me a break -- and Jamie commenting that she's fed up with Dave. Compared to previous seasons, that's pretty tame. Turn up the heat, guys and gals. Let's see that "too many cooks spoil the broth" energy.

So Mike has already given you a heads up on what's on TV Thanksgiving, on the geek end of the spectrum, so I thought I'd do a companion piece for the viewers who are wondering what channel the Macy's Parade is on and what time each football game starts. There are also some great marathons on as well.

• Food Network has Thanksgiving shows all day.
• At 7am, ABC's Good Morning, America, CBS's The Early Show, and NBC's Today will have various Thanksgiving segments, including cooking tips (kind of last minute, but every tip helps).
• ABC Family has the movie The Christmas Secret at 7.
• At 8, USA has a House marathon.

• TLC has a Little People, Big World marathon all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Pushing Daisies, followed by a new Private Practice and a new Barbara Walters Special.
• CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, the new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
• NBC has the special Rosie Live at 8, followed by new episodes of Deal Or No Deal and Law and Order.
• FOX has a new Bones at 8.
• The CW has two new episodes of Stylista (the second is a clip show) at 8.
• PBS has a new installment of Monarchy at 8.
• The 2008 World Magic Awards airs on MyNetwork TV at 8.
• Discovery has two new episodes of Time Warp at 8.
• TCM has West Side Story at 8.
• At 9, Hallmark has the movie Accidental Friendship at 9.
• At 10, FX has the season finale of Sons of Anarchy.
• Bravo has a new Top Chef at 10.
• A&E has two new episodes of Parking Wars starting at 10.
• Also at 10, Showtime has a new Inside The NFL.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk show listings.

Are there TV shows and/or movies that you watch every Christmas? If you're like me, you try to catch It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Bad Santa, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph and other specials. And on Halloween we have, well, Halloween and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

But what about Thanksgiving? Do you have any TV traditions for this holiday?

(Originally aired November 22, 2000)

Last year I picked The West Wing's "The Indians in the Lobby" episode as a standout episode of the series. It just so happens that we're blessed with two Thanksgiving episodes of the show that are standouts. This one is called "Shibboleth."

The plots: While President Bartlet has to figure out what to do with dozens of Chinese immigrants who have stowed away on a freighter, Toby tries to get Leo's controversial sister nominated for an education post, C.J. has to pick one of two turkeys who will get to be pardoned by the President, and Charlie goes shopping for the perfect carving knife for the President.