Someone needs to throw the book at Judge Reinhold. His new made-for-tv movie, “National Lampoon’s Thanksgiving Reunion,” co-starring Bryan Cranston (“Malcolm in the Middle”), is horrifying.

The movie, also starring Penelope Ann Miller (“Carlito’s Way”), tells the story of Mitch Snider (Reinhold), Hollywood anesthesiologist to the stars. After Mitch gets home from work (putting Britney Spears to sleep), he finds a letter from his “long lost” cousin, Woodrow Snider (Cranston). In the letter, Woody asks Mitch to travel from his Encino, Calif. mansion to Idaho for a family reunion.

“If you’ve ever had any kind of family reunion or holiday dinner that turned out to be the dinner from hell, then you will be able to identify with this movie,” said Executive Producer Gary Hoffman.

Mitch’s family — the typical older daughter, younger son combination of National Lampoon movies — is flabbergasted at the idea of not going to a fancy restaurant and having to cook their own Thanksgiving meal. Against their wishes, the family drives (in their Mercedes SUV) east.

That’s when the humor is supposed to begin.

There is a horny dog, Yoko, a shower scene with two men, and Woody and his wife (Miller) are even hornier than the dog. The redneck family mirrors Cousin Eddie and Cousin Catherine’s characters from the Vacation series starring Chevy Chase. The director and writers of the piece didn’t take this opportunity to bring anything new to the table. The jokes are all recycled, almost as much as the turkey after Thanksgiving.

Despite the final product, the cast is optimistic about their performances.

“The National Lampoon movies are required to be raucous, irreverent and even sophomoric,” said Reinhold. “But I think there’s a distinction between low-brow and high low-brow-low-brow being stupid but not funny and high low-brow being stupid and very funny. I think we’re in the latter category.”

Cranston said he’s enjoyed becoming part of the National Lampoon family.

“It was always a goal of mine to do a National Lampoon movie,” said Cranston, in a press release. “The first one I remember is ‘Animal House,’ and what a great tradition that started. So, it’s an honor and a privilege to be among the group of actors who have done these movies.”

The movie is scheduled to air on the TBS Superstation on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. In TBS fashion, there will be encores at 10 p.m., midnight, again on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and yet again on Thursday, Nov. 27.