Thanksgiving comes a week early to ABC’s Wednesday comedies when, on “Black-ish,” the Johnson household gets an unexpected visitor for the holiday: guest star Lorraine Toussaint as Pop’s (Laurence Fishburne) older sister, Almaviligerais.
“It became a running joke on set; there are so many outtakes of just trying to get the name right,” Toussaint, 56, tells The Post of her character’s mouthful of a name.
Alma’s visit delights everyone in the family except for Pop’s ex-wife Ruby (Jenifer Lewis), who can’t stand her former sister-in-law — setting up a showdown between the two veteran actresses, who are also good friends. Toussaint (“Rosewood,” “Orange Is the New Black”) also knew Fishburne socially, though they had never worked together until “Black-ish” (Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. on ABC), in which their sibling characters are very close.
“Their parents were absent for one reason or another and so Alma, she sort of raised him,” she says. “They were brother and sister against the world. She has covered for him his entire life. They’ve had each other’s backs in certain ways. She’s as scheming and conniving as he is — but at a price.”
The half-hour episode takes place against the backdrop of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. With Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Dre (Anthony Anderson) away on their babymoon, their kids take it upon themselves to try to figure out what the backstory is on Alma and Ruby’s grudge.
“They go about eavesdropping on our many conversations and arguments — all taken out of context — which leads them to the most outrageous thoughts and explanations for what the conflict is between Granddad and Grandma and myself,” Toussaint says. “It gets more and more outrageous as the episode goes on.”
We won’t reveal what they discover here, but it’s not much of a spoiler to say that the episode includes the family sitting down to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese — “basically a heart attack waiting to happen,” she jokes. For her own Thanksgiving next week, Toussaint is planning to cook dinner for about 20 guests in her new Malibu home, mixing up the menu with a few nontraditional dishes like oxtail and leg of lamb — the recipes that will end up on her lifestyle website, Everyday Lovely by Lorraine.
“I’m from Trinidad so I didn’t grow up with Thanksgiving. It’s an adopted holiday,” she says. “I love the concept that it is now … the idea of giving thanks is always high on my list.”
What a bunch of turkeys!
The networks like the holidays to be a shared experience with their viewers and have fashioned special Thanksgiving plot lines that are realistically woven into the lives of their characters. Here are highlights from this and next week’s offerings. — Robert Rorke
Tuesday, November 15
‘The Real O’Neals’
9:30 p.m., ABC
The O’Neals deal with a change to their Thanksgiving tradition when Pat (Jay R. Ferguson) and Eileen (Martha Plimpton) invite Gloria (Jessica Snow Wilson) and VP Murray (Matt Oberg) to dinner as their dates. Meanwhile, things don’t go as smoothly planned when Gloria offers to help Kenny (Noah Galvin) cook.
‘Fresh Off the Boat’
Tuesday, 9 p.m., ABC
Louis (Randall Park) and Jessica (Constance Wu) decide to open Cattleman’s Ranch on Thanksgiving Day, inspiring their kids, Emery (Forrest Wheeler) and Evan (Ian Chen), to take heed of the restaurant business and perhaps inherit the family legacy.
Wednesday, November 16
‘The Goldbergs’
8 p.m., ABC
Murray (Jeff Garlin) and Uncle Marvin (Dan Fogler) bond over their love of “Knight Rider” and attend the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade to see the series’ iconic car in person. Meanwhile, Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) invites Bill (David Koechner) and Lainey Lewis (AJ Michalka) over on Thanksgiving to prevent Barry (Troy Gentile) from splitting his time between the two families on turkey day.
‘Speechless’
8:30 p.m., ABC
Jimmy’s (John Ross Bowie) brother Billy (Rob Corddry) invites himself — and his family — over for Thanksgiving, leaving Maya (Minnie Driver) thinking that the family won’t be able to avoid another horrible holiday. While Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) and Ray (Mason Cook) devour the turkey, the rest of the family creates a game, checking off the various instances of annoyance their relatives are known for.
‘Modern Family’
9 p.m., ABC
Hayley (Sarah Hyland) has to break it to Phil (Ty Burrell) that she would rather spend the rest of her holiday with her new boyfriend, Rainer Shine (Nathan Fillion), than stay for the traditional family football game.
Tuesday, November 22
‘The Middle’
8 p.m., ABC
Frankie (Patricia Heaton) thinks that April is not good enough for Axl (Charlie McDermot) and does everything in her power to keep her out of their annual Christmas family photo. But she finds herself vying for her son’s attention by trying to rearrange the time of Thanksgiving dinner when she discovers that he plans to go to April’s multiple family get-togethers that day.
‘American Housewife’
8:30 p.m., ABC
Katie (Katy Mixon) is less than thankful that her mother, the unwelcome Kathryn (Wendie Malick), a self-centered former Pan Am stewardess, comes to visit. Surprisingly it’s Katie’s nemesis, Viv (Leslie Bibb), who helps ease the tension when she invites herself to dinner.