With Thanksgiving only a few hours away, it’s time to get in the holiday mood with some turkey day themed TV specials. I feel like sometimes Thanksgiving is overshadowed by the glitz of Christmas. Though Christmas might have its fair share of movies and TV specials, Thanksgiving episodes shouldn’t be overlooked in the slightest. Here’s my list of must-watch Thanksgiving TV specials and themed episodes to get you ready for Thursday’s festivities.
“Friends” Thanksgiving episodes
It’s hard to only include one “Friends” Thanksgiving episode when the sitcom had nine in its 10 seasons. Thanksgiving episodes are a staple of this late ‘90s TV show and no one does turkey day quite like Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Joey, Ross and Chandler. I’ve always found these holiday-themed episodes to be my favorite, and I love to watch them all around this time of year.
If you’re not down to watch all nine, I would recommend watching “The One With All the Thanksgivings.” This episode is full of wacky flashbacks of the gang’s Thanksgivings that have never been featured in their own episodes. This episode is also responsible for the iconic scene where both Monica and Joey get the raw turkey stuck on their heads, which has become a symbol of the show.Another one of my favorites is “The One With the Football” where Monica and Ross get their friends caught up in a Thanksgiving football rivalry that started when they were children.
I know a lot of people hate on this TV show, but “Friends” really does get it right with its Thanksgiving episodes, and I’m sure you can find one you like out of the nine to choose from.
SNL Thanksgiving Special
This is something I look forward to every year around Thanksgiving time. If you’re looking for a good laugh about the holidays, Saturday Night Live has got you covered with this primetime compilation of their best Thanksgiving sketches from over the years. This special will air the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on NBC. This special features any and all sketches about Thanksgiving from SNL’s run of over 40 seasons. If you miss out on this special due to it having a different airtime than a normal episode of SNL, head over to SNL’s page on NBC’s website and browse the Thanksgiving collection, which consists of 40 themed highlights from all the seasons of the show.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Charlie Brown specials are a staple of the holiday season. After the upset over “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, PBS worked out a deal with Apple TV+ to get the classic special back on primetime. Although it aired on TVs everywhere on Sunday, you can still get into the cartoon camaraderie of Charlie Brown and his friends by starting a free trial of Apple TV+. It’s really not Thanksgiving until Charlie Brown and Snoopy are cooking up a feast consisting of buttered toast, jellybeans and pretzel sticks. Something else to look forward to is that PBS is also bringing back the Charlie Brown Christmas special in December.
“That ‘70s Show” Thanksgiving episode
“That ‘70s Show” has always been one of my favorite sitcoms, and I was really upset when the show was taken off of Netflix this year. In my quest to find this episode titled after the holiday for Thanksgiving, from season one episode nine, I was able to find a version of it on Vimeo after a quick Google search. This episode follows Eric Forman and his friends as they celebrate Thanksgiving. Eric’s older sister Laurie comes home from college for the holiday, but she brings her friend Kate. Kate develops a crush on Eric making things all sorts of awkward for Eric and his girlfriend Donna. Meanwhile Eric’s mother Kitty is dealing with the stress of juggling the meal prep and dealing with the nag of her mother-in-law. If you want to go back to 1976 for Thanksgiving, give this episode a watch.
