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CNN Live Event/Special
Americans Celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Aired 11:30-12p ET
Aired November 28, 2024 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BRASS BAND MUSIC)
[11:35:00]
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ERICA HILL, ANCHOR, CNN SPECIAL THANKSGIVING IN AMERICA: Just a little flavor. Some of the marching bands there from parades around the country. That of course, Odessa High School that you've been watching. You saw a little bit from Chicago, from Detroit as well, and it was a real treat for us to see all of those marching bands.
The color guards go by right where we are here on the streets of New York City. Thanks so much for spending part of your holiday with us. This is CNN's SPECIAL THANKSGIVING IN AMERICA. You know, Chicago is celebrating 90 years of its annual Thanksgiving Day parade this year. And as things are winding their way down, the great state street, that's where we find CNN's Whitney Wild.
Whitney, you have had the perfect spot to see this parade all morning long. And I love the diversity of all of the performances and the musical acts and the dancing that we've seen. What's really stood out to you?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN REPORTER: There are so many performances that stood out to me this morning, Erica. I loved listening to John Vincent. He has a smooth, soulful voice. He's been the voice of the Chicago Cubs for many years. There were Bolivian dancers. There were multiple dancers and drummers representing Korean culture here.
There were Mexican dancers. Let me take you or just give you the last little peek of the parade here. It is really a rich tapestry of all of the different cultures that make Chicago unique, and really John and Erica, that's what makes this parade so unique. This parade centers very much, very specifically on the different cultures that are represented so richly throughout the city of Chicago.
So, today is the truest Chicago parade in that sense for sure. And then to top it off, guys, it's like 30 degrees here, so, it doesn't get much more, Chicago than that. A crisp Thanksgiving Day here in Chicago, crystal clear skies though, absolutely perfect day. So, a wonderful bunch of performances to bring you guys. Back to you. HILL: Yes, it looks like a beautiful day, Whitney, thank you and
happy Thanksgiving. We are extra thankful this morning of course, for our hosts here in New York City. Congregation Sherith Israel, they have welcomed us at this location this morning. Sherith Israel, actually the first Jewish congregation in North America.
And today, they host a special observance of Thanksgiving. It is a multi-faith food drive, bringing together people not just from this congregation, but from churches and other churches and synagogues. They're all banding together to help their neighbors here in New York City.
So, we want to thank them for not only hosting us, but for all the work that they are doing here in New York. A number of American service members, of course, who are serving overseas, and even those who are serving domestically, they're a long way from their loved ones on this holiday.
But they will still get a taste of home on Thanksgiving Day, including a feast with all the trimmings and a chance to watch some of the great football games. They're going to be able to watch those. My colleague Salma Abdelaziz is joining us live from Kaiserslautern, Germany. So, Salma, you were there at a USO Center.
Tell us a little bit about what's happening there on this Thanksgiving Day.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: So, we've just had a deliciously prepared turkey meal with all the trimmings, home-made cranberry sauce, and now everybody is gathered here for a little bit of trivia, we're actually handing out some raffle tickets wondering who the winner is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine, zero.
ABDELAZIZ: And they're passing out these prizes. It's absolutely a chance for everybody to come together, really get that sense of family and home, even when they're far away from home. So, I'm going to cut in front of you guys. But you keep going. You keep handing out those prizes for me.
I actually want you to meet one of the soldiers that we have here with us. This is Carmen, Carmen, I'm going to ask you to stand up. I know you're in the middle of this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two.
ABDELAZIZ: Start by telling me why it matters to still be here and have these activities and eat a turkey meal on Thanksgiving Day.
CARMEN TAYLOR, PFC, GEORGIA: I mean, it -- to me, it's worth it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, drum roll, thanks --
TAYLOR: Being in the army, it's a lot of sacrifice, and I did this for myself. I love army, I've wanted to join since I was little, and now I'm doing it.
ABDELAZIZ: You wanted to join the army since you were little.
TAYLOR: Yes --
ABDELAZIZ: I know you said you have a four-year-old son back home, and you have a message to him. What was it?
TAYLOR: Mommy misses you. I hope you're watching right now. I miss you and happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
ABDELAZIZ: And can you share with him just while we have a quiet moment here? What are you thankful for and what do you hope he's thankful for today?
TAYLOR: I'm thankful for everyone that's here with me on this rotation, that we're all alive and everyone else back home, my family members are OK -- I'm sorry I'm nervous, but that everyone's alive, you know.
[11:40:00]
ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much. And I know that it's a huge sacrifice to be here. So, it's so important, I know, for your son to get that message. I'm going to let these guys get back to their games and their prizes, but really, it's just about providing that sense of home far away from home here. Eric and John.
HILL: Yes, it makes such a difference when you are far away, that's true. And so many people I know will be taking a moment to express their gratitude on this Thanksgiving Day for everything that our military men and women are doing as they serve overseas and in this country as well. Salma, thank you. When we come back here, a very special performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're The Temptations, happy Thanksgiving --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're The Temptations, happy Thanksgiving --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're The Temptations, happy Thanksgiving --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're The Temptations, happy Thanksgiving --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're The Temptations, happy Thanksgiving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're up next, so, stay tuned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[11:45:00]
HILL: With Black Friday upon us, it is the perfect time to highlight some of this year's best products as recommended by our team of experts at CNN Underscored. The underscored team works independently from the CNN Newsroom. They test and review thousands of products to make recommendations, and it is a great first stop before you shop to make sure you're not just falling for the excitement of that deep discount or the online hype.
Mike Bruno is the Vice President of CNN Commerce and one of the founders of CNN Underscored. We should note when people make a purchase from an underscored link, CNN may earn a commission. Great to have you here to walk us through some of these deals. We're going to start off with things for all the film fans in your life.
MIKE BRUNO, VICE PRESIDENT, CNN UNDERSCORED: The film fans, some home theater products. Let's start over here with the Samsung frame television. It's a 4K, Q-led TV, pretty good picture quality, but the real thing with this TV is, it doubles as a picture frame, comes with a bezel that you put around the edges of it, a black bezel it comes with.
But for $100, you could buy a teak(ph), you could buy a redwood, it's very thin, so it mounts very flush to the wall, and it has a non-glare matte-finish, so, it really looks like a painting once you put it on the wall, comes between 35 and 85 inches, so, you get to choose your size. And you could either put pictures on there off your phone, you could put your family photos on there or whatever you want to do or for $5 a month, you could subscribe to their art store over at Samsung where you get about 1,400 works of art --
HILL: You can choose from classics like this --
BRUNO: Choose whatever as well -- absolutely --
HILL: At that arts works --
BRUNO: Absolutely --
HILL: So, that's one option. You also have another TV for maybe people who are really looking to invest in picture quality.
BRUNO: Yes, if picture quality is your priority, then the Hisense U8N is a better choice. That's our pick for best mid-range TV. It has very bright colors, sharp, rich blacks, and it has Dolby HDR technology. So, you're going to get a better picture with that. We kind of call that high-end quality at a reasonable price. That's a much better TV.
HILL: So, you're getting a good deal. You also see this one as great for gamers.
BRUNO: It is. It has low latency which means the -- when you do something on the controller, it will interact immediately on the screen, a low latency. So, it's actually quite good for gaming, yes.
HILL: Which is great. That has pretty decent built-in sound. But for people who really want to up the ante, I know sound-bars are the thing if you want to make it really feel like a theater in your home. So, let's start off with this one. This is from Vizio. BRUNO: This is the Vizio 512 elevate. Yes, this is our pick for best
sound-bar. It's actually not just the sound-bar, as you'll see it comes with different pieces. You get a sub-woofer, you get two rear speakers. This thing will fill your room. It has booming bass, really crisp sound. The sound-bar has little speakers that will oscillate and bounce it off the wall, which will give you --
HILL: Oh, wow --
BRUNO: That kind of immersive experience. Yes, it's a really nice product, and as you say, you really kind of do need a sound-bar in order to have that home theater experience. You don't want to just have the TV audio.
HILL: And this is on sale right now, pretty good sale.
BRUNO: Yes, this is on sale. It's under five. We're seeing it this week under $500. I mean, the prices vary, but we're seeing it under $500. It's a good time to pick it up.
HILL: This one is going to cost you a little bit more --
BRUNO: Yes --
HILL: But you say, it is worth every penny. Talk to me about this Sonos part --
BRUNO: This is the Sonos Arc. This thing is the top of the line. It blows everything else out of the water. It's about 4 feet long, packed with speakers. It will fill a room with crisp sound. If you have an iPhone, you could actually use the Sonos Trueplay, which will use the microphones in there to calibrate the sound to the actual room and give you an ideal for the space that you're in.
HILL: Wow --
BRUNO: This is the best, and it also hooks up to a Sonos system so it could be one of the speakers in a multi-room audio system. You could play music through this. It's tremendous. It's by far the best sound- bar there is.
HILL: And this one is also on sale right now.
BRUNO: This one is on sale for about 700 bucks, which isn't cheap, but for what you're going to get here, this is -- it's a good deal this week.
HILL: All right, there you go. So, we've got -- we've got the film fans taken care of --
BRUNO: We do --
HILL: Thanks to our friends at Underscored. Mike, thank you. And of course, for more information on any of these products or maybe something else you're looking for, just be sure to log on to underscored.com. Let's take you back to Detroit one last time this morning where Nick Valencia has been meeting some new friends in the crowd. Nick, I like the chanting happening behind you.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think I'm a Lions fan now, you know, don't tell my Atlanta colleagues, but the parade is over, the party, though, is just getting started right?
(CHEERS)
VALENCIA: Did you guys have fun at the parade? Did you have such a good time at the parade?
(CROWD CHANTING)
CROWD: Jared Goff! Jared Goff! Jared Goff! Jared Goff!
VALENCIA: Can I get a go Lions?! Can I get a go --
(CHEERS)
VALENCIA: Let's bring in Mary Sheffield here, the President of the City Council. Mary, you just had what an event --
MARY SHEFFIELD, PRESIDENT, DETROIT CITY COUNCIL: Yes --
VALENCIA: What a day. Tell us about how Detroit is feeling right now.
SHEFFIELD: Detroit is excited. We had so much energy, so much positive things are happening in Detroit, and it's a great opportunity to showcase the renaissance --
VALENCIA: Yes --
[11:50:00]
SHEFFIELD: That is happening in our great city -- and go, Lions!
VALENCIA: Go Lions! The story --
(CHEERS)
SHEFFIELD: We're going to win the Super Bowl!
VALENCIA: The story here is all about the revitalization. It has been such a pleasure to smile on camera just to have such a good time here with you. And John Berman, I am so grateful for my family, Ellie(ph), Ricardo(ph), my wife, Rachel. God bless everyone and thank you for watching CNN -- you guys -- oh, I didn't expect to get -- oh, thank you, Detroit!
HILL: Thanks --
VALENCIA: We got Jared Goff, Jared Goff --
HILL: Happy Thanksgiving to you and to your family, and there we go, it's a perfect way to close things out with Nick there in Detroit, of course, new trip to Detroit would be complete without music from some of Motown's finest. And what a treat to be able to bring you The Temptations, now, singing "Silent Night". Enjoy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
(THE TEMPTATIONS SINGING SILENT NIGHT)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merry Christmas from The Temptations.
HILL: It's incredible. Our thanks once again to The Temptations for performing "Silent Night" for us. Their song is actually featured on their album which I happen to have here, "Give Love at Christmas", which re-released this year. Special red vinyl, I don't want to take it out in the rain though, but trust me, it is incredible. I would like to thank all of you so much for spending part of your Thanksgiving morning with us, for John Berman, I'm Erica Hill, also a huge thank you to our crews across the country.
Our correspondents, the folks in Atlanta and everyone here in New York braving the elements outside our crew to make sure you don't see them. But trust me, we would be nowhere without them. So, thankful for my CNN family, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Happy Thanksgiving.
[11:55:00]
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