Has Macy's gone downhill in their holiday programming?

[Hawkee]

I can remember when Macy's annual holiday programming used to be a family tradition and you could gather the whole family around to watch it for years to come. But every year I've noticed that Macy's has started to go downhill in it's holiday programming and I don't know why?. Take for instance Macy's annual 4th Of July Spectacular used to be a great family tradition to watch every July 4th but if you see it today I can't figure out how it manages to get good ratings every year. Because if you watch it all they show is singers and few fireworks and why I think Macy's does this show is simply to promote their 4th Of July sales. And the same thing with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade because I don't know how that parade continues to get strong ratings every Thanksgiving and why it's still a big family tradition to watch every Thanksgiving? Because when I have seen it I still can't figure out why that parade is still a big deal every Thanksgiving. Because I can't understand why before the actual parade you continue to sit through a bunch of Broadway musicals and then the Rockettes get to perform and then the parade finally arrives. And what I see of this is just a promotion for new Broadway shows and if I was Macy's I would just have the Rockettes and do away with the Broadway musicals. Another thing I have noticed about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades is barely three minutes after the first balloon or float arrives during a commercial break they treat Santa Claus like the main event in boxing with commentary such as "Santa Claus is soon on his way" or "don't miss the big moment when Santa arrives" and the parade has just started and traditionally Santa Claus appears at the end of the parade. And why is NBC and Peacock the exclusive channels to carry the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade rather than ABC or FOX but the 4th Of July specials are syndicated? I mainly think the retirement of Robin Hall is to blame for these specials going downhill because ever since the death of Jean McFaddin the parade started going downhill and I think the new producers of these events are trying something new to get more viewers to watch them. I hope Macy's improves their holiday programming because they are truly a family tradition to share with everyone young and old

[Hawkee]

I think the main reason why Macy's started going downhill in their holiday specials is because as I said in my opening post a way for Macy's stores to promote holiday sales. Because I think Macy's wants to be king of department stores and hope to attract more shoppers to their stores and having these holiday specials are a way to boost sales. As for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade I think it started to go downhill in 2018 because if you watch it before the parade starts they have put various celebrities from NBC sitcoms and shows do little intros like singing songs and do little Thanksgiving skits. Like one Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade had an intro with The Muppets singing a song about the parade and although it was cool I thought it was way too over the top and I wish they would not do celebrity intros before the parade starts. A second thing that always shocked me about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades is that anytime that they have a new float or balloon it's always related to a commercial like a mascot and rarely movie and cartoon characters have balloons and it seems like the parade is a commercial showcase with these types of balloons. I mean what are we doing? Watching a parade or researching commercials? I think once Robin Hall retired and Amy Kule took over that parade has turned into a fine mess and is still a fine mess. But I think with the Macy's 4th Of July Spectacular they should improve it to show more fireworks and less singing performances and that would make it worth watching

[Hawkee]

Another thing Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade always did that I could never figure out why they did this in the first place is that they would have a pre-parade act like America Sings and they would perform songs that seemed out of place in the parade with titles like "Big City Beat" and "Celebrate America" and to me they should've had America Sings perform holiday songs instead. After America Sings no longer performed in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades they were replaced by Camp Broadway and Stagedoor Manor which improved the parade better because those two groups performed Christmas and Thanksgiving themed songs and now when you watch the parade now you have to sit through a performance of The Mike Miller Dance Team and I am thinking "What does that have to do with Thanksgiving?" I think those acts mainly got paid big amounts of money to perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with The Mike Miller Dance Team being paid the highest. And another thing that always annoyed me about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is that when they would have sponsorship plugs is that you would always see sponsors like Ocean Spray and Fisher-Price Wrangler Jeans and Buick but rarely Macy's which is shocking because Macy's should show Macy's commercials since the parade is owned by Macy's. As I mentioned many times in this thread Macy's really needs to improve their holiday specials in order to have successful ratings

[Hawkee]

I think if Macy's designed another holiday parade i'm sure it would be a hit if it existed. Like Macy's should develop an Easter parade to be shown every Easter and would feature Easter themed balloons and floats and The Rockettes would do a Easter themed finale and believe me if a Macy's Easter Parade were to exist it would get strong ratings. Because if there's one thing Macy's loves is the holidays and an Easter parade would be marvelous to watch. Why I think Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade went downhill in the first place is because they started changing it's image and adding stuff that really is out of place like in their balloons why do they always have these pilgrim balloons with giant heads that usually come out before the Tom Turkey float? Because when I have seen them every parade they look creepy and they should've had actors dress as pilgrims to be on the Tom Turkey float rather than these balloons. And one other thing that used to make watching the parade worth watching is that they would have various celebrities such as the late Bob Saget to Martin Short give a overview of the parade route but now that is gone and it seems that Al Roker is trying to be the star of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade by becoming the center of attention by interviewing the celebrities and doing fun pre-parade commentary more than Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. And what I think it is because Al Roker wants to be parade host in the future and he wants to try to get more airtime in my opinion. But along with Macy's 4th Of July Spectacular Macy's should have more holiday specials to keep them from going downhill and if Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades could go back to the way they used to be in the 80's and 90's people would watch them more

[Hawkee]

I think Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade started developing a new image and I think what they have been doing is slowly driving away the family image the parade originally had and it seems that the parade is now being aimed at children and many of the balloons and floats mostly attract children and if you watch the beginning of any Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade they have a banner that says "A Holiday Treat For Children Everywhere" which tells me that children are the parade's main audience that gets the parade huge ratings every Thanksgiving. Another thing that I have found annoying about the parade is that at the halfway point of the parade towards the end they add commentary with "We have recieved word that Santa Claus is soon on his way" or "Gather the kids because Santa Claus will soon arrive" and when Santa Claus finally arrives they have completely ruined Santa Claus's arrival by making it real short and all Santa Claus does when he arrives is jump up and down and wave to the crowd and that is very annoying to me. I mean this is the finale of the parade and they have Santa Claus acting like being chosen to play Let's Make A Deal or The Price Is Right. Why I think NBC has shortened this part of the finale is so that they can move on to The National Dog Show that airs after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What I think Macy's should do is retire the Santa Claus arrival and put a mini holiday show with The Rockettes in place of Santa Claus and it would be a better finale. Because I think this is the most expensive part of every Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and they probably pay the actor that plays Santa Claus a lot of money to do this and I also think The Rockettes get paid more money for this parade and the same thing with every single marching band that participates in the parade as well. But I think Macy's should add a family oriented Easter parade in the future because I think that Macy's mainly uses their annual 4th Of July Spectaculars to attract a family oriented audience and to get more shoppers to their Thanksgiving sales and 4th Of July sales each year

[dee2364]

Holiday programming has gone downhill overall because America no longer believes in or celebrates holidays. So, it's like these shows are now going through the motions. Even New Year's Eve programming feels lackluster. People don't care anymore.

[Hawkee]

When I was doing my morning routine of watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades on Youtube I saw another thing that they have begun beginning in the 2018 parade and I think it is a waste of time. During the parade they have assembled a list of celebrities ranging from Bill Hader Sterling K. Brown Jennifer Lopez Jimmy Fallon Simon Cowell Howie Mandel and other celebrities and they talk about their Thanksgiving plans and family traditions and I consider this a complete waste of time and they should remove this part and replace it with something interesting to make the parade worthy of watching. Another thing that I have noticed about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is that when they have The Rockettes perform in each parade they recycle the same music but the dance routine is always different and I haven't figured out why Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade does this? Is it to give The Rockettes more money or is it to freshen up the routines? The final thing I find shocking about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is that they constantly change theme songs and why they do this is a mystery to me? I saw the 2015 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and they used On Broadway as it's theme song and why choose On Broadway as a new theme song for the parade when the theme is New York New York which they went back to as a new remix that is still used as the parade's theme song today. In all honesty I think Macy's really spends a lot of money on holiday events and with all the money they are using Macy's needs to improve their holiday programming in order to get strong ratings. And Peacock should have the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for free for all Peacock subscribers to watch every Thanksgiving too

[Hawkee]

To me I think Macy's really wants to make more money on their Thanksgiving Day Parades and the way I see it Macy's is very big on holiday events and what I think could work wonders for Macy's is more parades for Easter and 4th Of July not just only at Thanksgiving because people in general love parades and if Macy's had a 4th Of July Parade people would watch it. But I also think that Macy's spends more money on parade merchandise than the parade itself because you see stuffed animals and snow globes and porcelain figurines of parade floats and I cannot see how people buy this merchandise every year