TV schedules were packed with holiday specials as newsworthy events happened behind-the-scenes.
Months after NBC canceled The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien O’Brien returned to late night television with his new TBS show, Conan.
New York’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was officially broadcasted on NBC for the 55th year. CBS also aired parts of the event, which included appearances by Arlo Guthrie, Gladys Knight, Kanye West, the cast of Elf, Sesame Street characters, and a brand new Diary of a Wimpy Kid balloon.
NBC would air the Taylor Swift: Speak Now special against ABC’s I Am… World Tour Beyonce concert special later on that night, but a rerun of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving beat both of them in the ratings.
The major networks began airing their annual Christmas specials, with CBS’ Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, ABC’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas and CMA Country Christmas, NBC’s Merry Madagascar, Christmas in Rockefeller Center, and the Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special, and FOX’s TV’s Funniest Holiday Moments: A Paley Center for Media Special.
After Sonny With a Chance star Demi Lovato enters a treatment facility for undisclosed issues, the Disney Channel announces that the show’s second season will continue on without her.
ABC broke the news that there will be no eighth season of Supernanny, due to star Jo Frost’s decision to leave the show. The star plans to devote her time between a similarly styled show in Britain, and starting her own family.
Movie critic Gene Shalit left The Today Show after 40 years of on-air reviews.
The host of MSNBC’s Countdown With Keith Olbermann is temporarily suspended for violating network policy by donating to the election funds of three congressional candidates. Olbermann would later criticize the network on his show, stating that he wasn’t told about the rule.
Several new reality shows made their TV debuts, including ABC’s Skating With The Stars, FOX’s Million Dollar Money Drop, MTV’s I Used to Be Fat, TLC’s The Next Great Baker, and A&E’s The Hasselhoffs.
Among the television personalities who left us in November 2010 were Dirty Sexy Money’s Jill Clayburgh, Police Squad!’s Leslie Nielsen, producer Alfred Masini, The Bachelorette contestant Julien Hug, sportscaster Dave Niehaus, American Bandstand announcer Charlie O’Donnell, and TV baseball commentator Sparky Anderson.