The advent of November, the warmth of the holiday season, symbolizing the gift of harvest and thanksgiving, descends upon the earth to embrace the hopeful people of the land. While the best decorations for Thanksgiving are the sumptuous food and laughter, there is also a darkly humorous and hilarious side to this cozy holiday in the presence of creative human beings. Many TV episodes have Thanksgiving specials that feature the lives of the characters in the show to express their encounters and feelings on this special holiday, and the following is a compilation of the best and wickedest Thanksgiving episodes from TV shows.
- Family Guy, Season 18, Episode 8, “Shanksgiving”
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Known for its dark humor and spicy satire, Family Guy has “Shanksgiving,” a hilarious narrative about Peter and his friends’ Thanksgiving adventures. Thanksgiving isn’t always peaceful and beautiful, as Peter and his friends apparently hate the hassle of having to invite so many people to the reunion at once. They even come up with the harebrained idea of committing crimes on purpose in exchange for life in prison, where they not only get free turkey but also don’t have to entertain guests. Their prison time doesn’t go well after they are caught for Peter’s successful delivery theft. Since they are new to prison, they are robbed of their lunch by other inmates, so they have to join some of the prison gangs to seek refuge. In the prison culture of gangs, they even shiv each other with knives in order to gain the trust of the gangs. Amid this chaotic scene, contrary to the cozy atmosphere of Thanksgiving, Peter suddenly has a flash of insight and sighs that he should be thankful for what he has. What he desperately wants is not always good, just as prison life is not what they think it is. In the end, Peter is reunited with his family.
- The Simpsons, Season 31, Episode 8, “Thanksgiving of Horror”
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The animated sitcom The Simpsons takes the fear of Halloween and spills it over into Thanksgiving. “Thanksgiving of Horror” consists of three vignettes which is the parallel of the classic Treehouse of Horror theme of their every season special. The first of these stories, “a-gobble-Ypto,” is extremely interesting and is a parody of Apocalypto. The time comes to 1621, the year the first Thanksgiving begins. The Simpson family have all turned into turkeys and are living in the woods. This is disturbed by hunters who come to hunt turkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving, and after Homer is captured and witnesses many turkeys being slaughtered, he laments that the way people celebrate Thanksgiving is by slaughtering turkeys. Imagine if you were a turkey; Thanksgiving would be a day of sacrifice. The hints about the historical context are also worth discussing. When the persecuted Puritans of the Reformation came to America because the local Wampanoag Indians were generous with their turkeys, corn and potatoes so they survived, and the turkeys were sacrificed.
- Friends, Season 5, Episode 8
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Classic American drama Friends recounts the main characters’ hilarious and unlucky Thanksgiving in the season five. As everyone who is all stuffed up and nestled on the couch begins to say one thing they feel thankful to kick off the holiday season, Joey is thankful for witnessing the fall wind blow up a girl’s skirt and the thong underneath it… such immodest statements kicked off their miserable Thanksgiving meeting. Chandler’s parents divorced in 1978 on the grounds that his father had slept with the family houseboy, a sad but comical childhood memory. Monica’s had three stormy Thanksgivings. In 1992, Monica’s turkey got stuck on Joey’s head. The second one was when Monica, who was still a bit chubby, tried to get close to Chandler, whom she had just met, and ended up being mercilessly disliked by him. On Thanksgiving Day 1988, Monica managed to lose weight and tried to seduce Chandler and get back at him by carelessly dropping a knife into his shoe and causing him to lose part of his toe. Finally, to cheer Chandler up Monica starts dancing with a turkey on her head (and even glasses and a hat) and manages to make Chandler laugh as he says he loves her. The myriad of adorable and embarrassing things that make up the heartwarming and hilarious Thanksgiving memories are a classic of the episode.
- 2 Broke Girls, Season 1, Episode 10
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The Broke Sisters have always been inseparable from the truths of society and the material world, even the supposedly cozy Thanksgiving. Max said that “the holiday are totally about money; it’s about spending money to buy things to stuff into the giant black sucking hole in the center of each of us that reminds us life is hard, and then we die”, Caroline, on the other hand, believes more in the spiritual touch of the holidays. They then apply for the job of dressing up as Elves in Christmas Land. Since they have to work at three in the morning, Max pulls out elf juice, a kind of nine-hour energy shot, and Caroline drinks it all like beer, after which she seems to have a breakdown and is over-excited. During the show, while Max is interacting with the children, Caroline begins to spill her guts on stage, frustrated that she can’t visit her father in prison, and blurts out that life isn’t good, that the holidays aren’t so happy, and that this boring, materialistic world is a mess. This actually does expose the truth about the world, but at the end she gives Max a stirring spoon and wishes each other well for the holidays, which is a warmth in the cold world.
In the golden season of autumn, good classic dramas are always with us to see every state of time, unveiling the truth of the world amid humor, with both irony and warmth. With such laughter, let’s enjoy the Thanksgiving together.