12:00-2:00: The Splendid Table's "Turkey Confidential"
We bring you special programming on this Thanksgiving holiday.
Join us for "Turkey Confidential," our must-listen annual Thanksgiving Day broadcast! Host Francis Lam is back to answer your Thanksgiving cooking questions. This year’s guests include:
- Samin Nosrat, author of the blockbuster "Salt, Fat Acid, Heat" and her latest, "Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love"
- Yossy Arefi, best-selling author of "Snacking Bakes"
- Vivian Howard, chef and host of PBS's brand-new series "Kitchen Curious," premiering October 6
- Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s "Good Food" and beloved voice of public radio
"Turkey Confidential" airs from noon until 2 p.m.
Then at 9 p.m.: No Small Endeavor Holiday Special 2025: "Practices of Hope"
When the headlines numb and the culture wars grind us down, what if hope isn’t a mood at all—but a practice you can do with your body, your friends, and your city? In this holiday special, Lee revisits four conversations to find practices of hope: meditation teacher Tara Brach on healing the “trance of unworthiness;” songwriter Tom Paxton on the folk community that fueled social change; marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on climate imagination; and educator Sharon McMahon on everyday civic action. Together they offer three grounded practices—for self, for community, and for the common good—that help us act toward a more beautiful future.
- Practice 1—Self: Tara Brach’s “two wings” of mindfulness and compassion help us befriend reality and begin change from within (“What is happening inside me right now? … Can I be with this?”).
- Practice 2—Community: Tom Paxton’s Greenwich Village years show how laughter, critique, and shared craft create courage and movements. Make something together offline and let belonging fuel hope.
- Practice 3—Civic: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson invites a shift from apocalypse to imagination, joining others to scale solutions we already have; Sharon McMahon reminds us everyone can do something. Start local and “join something.”
And finally at 10 p.m.: Thanksgiving disasters, and how to avoid them
Last Thanksgiving, Rachel and Matt Zeitler were visiting family in Virginia, making the rounds to catch up with their siblings and their parents. Rachel was 35 weeks pregnant and feeling good. But after Thanksgiving dinner, her water broke. Doctors at the local hospital said she wasn't in labor yet, so the couple decided to make the four-hour drive back to North Carolina to be closer to home, and to their care team. Matt was white-knuckling it the whole time, worried he’d have to deliver their baby on I-95. Thanksgiving doesn’t always work out the way we planned, from medical situations to family feuds and mishaps in the kitchen, like that massive overcooked, dry turkey. On this special episode of The Pulse, we examine some Thanksgiving disasters and find out how to avoid them. We hear from a turkey farmer whose flock was struck by a disease right before the big day, and we talk to ER doctors about their experiences spending this holiday in the operating room. A Microsoft executive turned chef shows us how to avoid bad dinner outcomes, and a psychologist weighs in on navigating landmines around the dinner table.
