You can’t celebrate Halloween without watching Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. And Christmas season is all the merrier when you watch and rewatch classics like Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and It’s a Wonderful Life. But what about Thanksgiving? Although Hollywood isn’t known for producing Thanksgiving-themed movies, American sitcoms never fail to deliver memorable Thanksgiving television specials every year. Here are 5 of the best Thanksgiving episodes to air on television.
Friends, “The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks”
Possibly the most iconic Thanksgiving episode is from season 5 of Friends. In this episode, Joey ends up hiding his head inside the turkey and manages to get himself stuck. Monica ends up doing the same by the end of the episode. Then, through several flashbacks, each friend tells the story of their worst Thanksgiving, the most notable one being Phoebe’s, which took place during her former life as a World War I nurse.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Thanksgiving”
In the first Thanksgiving episode of this series, Amy invites the precinct over to her apartment for Thanksgiving. She carefully organizes a get-together in which she plans to ask Captain Holt to officially be her mentor. The evening takes as turn as Jake and Captain Holt end up ditching the dinner for a case, and no one is able to stomach the terrible food Amy has prepared.
The Office, “WUPHF.com”
Dwight takes it upon himself to recreate his childhood memory of his uncle’s Hay Place in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. Being as he was never elected king when his family used to compete in hay festivals, Dwight is determined to overcome the Thanksgiving disappointment of his childhood. In the process, he loses Angela to her future husband, but ultimately crowns himself Hay Festival King.
How I Met Your Mother, “Slapsgiving”
This is Marshall and Lily’s first Thanksgiving as a married couple, so Lily is obsessed with making it perfect. However, it’s not going according to plan. The pies have to be baked at Robin’s apartment since Marshall has been eating all of them in his sleep, Robin decides to invite her older 41-year-old boyfriend despite the post-breakup awkwardness between her and Ted, and on top of that, Barney is being tormented over the Third Slap by Marshall, who has even set up a countdown on his computer.
That ‘70s Show, “Thank You”
It’s Thanksgiving Day and Eric is trying to avoid telling his parents that he and Donna are engaged. He’s also doing everything he can to keep them from finding out he’s failing math, so he forges his dad’s signature. Unfortunately, Kelso unexpectedly shows up to Thanksgiving dinner with a date, who happens to be Eric’s math teacher.
While these TV specials remind us of Thanksgiving’s reputation of being a tension-filled, less than perfect holiday, they also remind us that even the most dysfunctional families or friend groups have lots to laugh about and be thankful for. So if you’re in the mood to laugh a little or get into the Thanksgiving spirit, there are seasons and seasons of classic Thanksgiving episodes at your disposal.
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