Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will showcase a mix of live and pre-taped balloons

Variety

This year's parade, stretching for only one block, will be treated like a movie set. The NYPD will be blocking off streets, and there will be no spectators allowed. There will also be no high school marching bands and the balloons, usually each held by 100 people, will instead be attached to vehicles. There will be performances from Broadway and celebrity acts that will be a mix of live and pre-taped productions. “We will still be doing it live because there is some magic in that. I think that people are missing live entertainment, one of those things where you never know what’s going to happen," said executive producer Susan Tercero. "And people will want to tune in to see how we put it all together.” ALSO: The giant balloons were cut to 12 from 16, the floats to 18 from 26.