TV's 21 best Thanksgiving episodes

Loveable nerd Missy smokes a joint and absolutely cannot keep her cool in Big Mouth’s Thanksgiving episode. Also failing to keep a low profile is Andrew, whose embarrassment over his father’s turkey obsession nearly ruins the holiday. It’s an appropriately chaotic and kinda gross episode, a perfect snapshot of what the show does best. [Jen Lennon]

The economic uncertainty of the Belcher household is always front and center in Bob’s Burgers, and some of the show’s best comedy derives from the ways the family tries to get a little relief. In this particularly hilarious Thanksgiving episode, the Belchers head to their landlord’s house to pretend to be his private chef (Bob) and his family (the rest of the Belcher clan) so Mr. Fischoeder can impress an old flame. It goes off the rails pretty quickly, and pretty spectacularly, as Bob gets drunk on absinthe and develops a, uh, very close relationship with the turkey. Oh, and it features Linda Belcher’s signature Thanksgiving song, which will never leave your head. [Matthew Jackson]

Bob Belcher and Thanksgiving turkey have one of the great love affairs in the history of television, so it’s no surprise that one of the best Bob’s Burgers holiday episodes ever centers on what happens when that love is challenged. In “Turkey In A Can,” Bob just wants to make the perfect bird, but someone keeps sticking his would-be Thanksgiving centerpieces in the toilet. What’s behind the strange toilet turkeys, and how far Bob will go to solve the problem, makes for both great comedy and a surprisingly poignant exploration of parental anxieties. It’s also the episode in which Bob may or may not be developing a crush on his local meat counter guy. [Matthew Jackson]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine actually has five Thanksgiving episodes, one in each of the first five seasons. They’re all really good (though we might not be ready to revisit season two’s “Lockdown” just yet), but we’re singling out the final one, “Two Turkeys” as the best of the bunch. Not only does it give us the return of Boyle as “Tommy Gobbler,” we also get all four of Jake and Amy’s parents sharing an awkward family dinner, and Holt solving a mystery that leads to some interesting insights. Guest stars Katey Sagal, Bradley Whitford, Jimmy Smits, and Bertila Damas each contribute their share to an escalating farce that culminates in a trip to the ER and a “weird but good dad hug.” Meanwhile, Holt is busy solving the case of a missing pie that he and Kevin were planning to take to Thanksgiving dinner at Kevin’s parents’ house. His interrogation of the squad is a testament to the strength of the show’s writing and the fact that even five seasons in they were still finding new facets of the characters we already knew pretty well. [Cindy White]

Friends’ excellent Thanksgiving episodes are legendary comfort watches, with almost every year boasting a fun outing, from Brad Pitt’s cameo in season eight to season five’s flashback of Monica and Chandler’s first interactions. So it’s hard to pick only one specific favorite. Even so, season nine’s “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” is probably one of the NBC sitcom’s most cherished episodes overall for good reason. One of those reasons? Christina freaking Applegate, who won an Emmy for playing the obnoxious Amy Green. She waltzes into her sister Rachel’s world for one evening and unpacks a classic family fight: What will happen when you die and who’ll get your baby? Not to mention the subplots of Monica’s obsession with fancy china and Phoebe teaching Joey how to lie. All in all, a successful Friends episode and an easy way to spend 20 minutes on Thanksgiving. [Saloni Gajjar]

With its cozy vibes, Gilmore Girls?is a show primed for a (mostly) joyous Thanksgiving episode. And it delivers with season three’s “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving,” where Lorelai and Rory juggle four whole holiday dinners. (No one loves to eat more than this mother-daughter duo, so they’ll be fine, don’t worry). The installment retains Gilmore Girls’ best parts: Stars Hollow’s weird but goofy residents (Kirk adopts a cat!) and customs (Jackson’s family deep fries the turkey!). Yet there’s narrative progression, too, like Dave and Lane’s first kiss or Lorelai realizing Rory has set her sights on schools not named Harvard. There’s a lot to love about this episode, but as usual, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel’s back-and-forth is the best part. [Saloni Gajjar]

It’s Marshall and Lily’s first time hosting Thanksgiving after getting married, and Lily’s determined to make it perfect. However, things go off the rails with Marshall obsessing over the upcoming third slap he gets to deliver Barney as part of their slap bet, and Robin and Ted can’t figure out how to interact with each other as friends after their breakup. It’s early enough in How I Met Your Mother’s run that Robin and Ted’s will-they-won’t-they thing hasn’t gotten old yet, and the convoluted rules surrounding the slap bet showcase the delightfully absurd highs the show could reach when it was at its best. [Jen Lennon]

On It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Dennis, Dee, Charlie, Mac, and Frank can’t even apologize correctly without everything going to hell. The gang decides to bring together some of the show’s best supporting characters, all of whom they’ve wronged in some major, usually life-altering way, and make a group apology to “squash their beefs.” It all ends, predictably, in disaster: Frank lights a pile of money on fire, burning down Mac and Dennis’ apartment, and the gang flees, leaving all their guests trapped inside. “The Gang Squashes Their Beefs” recalls the chaos and destruction the gang has wrought over nine seasons of television without resorting to a greatest-hits type clip show; instead, it forces the characters to reflect on their actions and then, as is typical for them, refuse to learn anything from the experience. [Jen Lennon]

Aziz Ansari’s Master Of None is a chameleon of a show; it dabbles in different genres and modes of storytelling to varying effect. It’s nothing if not ambitious, though, and one of its poignant highs is this episode that centers on Denise, played by Lena Waithe, and explores her coming-out journey over the years. Waithe wrote the episode, which is loosely based on her own life, and that lived experience comes through in her stellar performance. It’s a touching meditation on family, faith, and sexuality, and Waithe anchors the episode so it never veers into melodrama territory. [Jen Lennon]

This is an early episode of The Mindy Project, but it’s peak Mindy in terms of the absolute chaos that the character could wreak in the early seasons. It’s unclear why Mindy thinks bringing Morgan anywhere, let alone to upper-crust Greenwich, Connecticut, for a Thanksgiving gathering at her friend’s ritzy house (Mindy refers to it as “Wayne Manor”), is a good idea, but it’s a treat for viewers. Morgan’s weirdo behavior clashes with the very suburban crowd, and Mindy goes into full hot-mess mode when a guy she previously dated shows up with a new girlfriend. Add in Chris Messina belting out Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” alone in the office, and you’ve got a delightfully kooky episode that also does a fair bit of character-building. [Jen Lennon]

New Girl has several delightful Thanksgiving episodes, but this one is extra special because it includes a surprise cameo from Jamie Lee Curtis as Jess’ mom. Jess spends most of the episode setting up a “Parent Trap,” aka trying to get her parents to get back together; they’ve been divorced for years, but Jess has never been able to move on. Unfortunately, they see right through her plan and easily subvert it—before secretly hooking up in the bathroom and vowing to never tell Jess. [Jen Lennon]

Is there a crueler indictment of a person’s character than “He likes Air Bud 2"? Not in the world of New Girl, which Jess finds absurd. She likes that the guy she’s crushing on is kind of dorky and defends him when Nick says he’s uncool. Nick hits the nail on the head when he asks why his opinion matters, forcing Jess to really consider that question. This episode sets up the two main relationships that will play out over the course of the entire series: Nick and Jess and Schmidt and Cece, with Winston in the mix as the audience stand-in. And this episode also gets at a universal Thanksgiving truth: cooking a turkey is hard, y’all. [Jen Lennon]

For all of its many great holiday episodes, The Office never had an explicitly Thanksgiving-themed one. This episode, set in autumn, is the closest it came. Nestled within a main plot about Ryan trying to get his co-workers to invest in his social media startup (he might have more success if he tried it now) is a seasonal B story in which Dwight fills the parking lot with bales of hay and charges admission for an attraction called Hay Place. There’s a hay maze, a game of “find the needle in the haystack” (the prize is a life lesson that “some tasks aren’t worth doing”), and even a hay ride for the kids inside a Dunder Mifflin delivery van. Angela jokes that it should be called “Pay Place,” where you can celebrate “Thanksgiving Me Your Money Day.” And that’s as close to a Thanksgiving reference as you’re going to get in The Office. [Cindy White]

This episode of Schitt’s Creek takes one of the show’s best pairings, David and Stevie, and puts them in a game of chicken that they’re both too stubborn to back out of. Stevie jokingly invites David along on a Thanksgiving turkey shoot, and David agrees. Neither of them has a good time and both walk away slightly traumatized, but Moira unexpectedly lifts David’s spirits when she shows up with a new haircut that’s a mirror image of Jocelyn’s. In Schitt’s Creek, someone’s always got it worse than you, and one of the show’s greatest strengths was its ability to find humor and heart in the Roses’ misery. [Jen Lennon]

There’s no shortage of great Thanksgiving episodes, but there are very few that are focused on the Biggest Party Night Of The Year (BIPNOTY), also known as Thanksgiving Eve. BIPNOTY factors heavily in Seinfeld’s “The Mom And Pop Store,” with everyone getting an invite to Tim Whatley’s party except Jerry. Even if you ignore Whatley’s party and another fantastic Bryan Cranston guest spot, this is a stacked episode, complete with George buying “John Voight’s LeBaron,” Kramer dooming a pair of elderly cobblers, and Mr. Pitt going to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Every line is a crusher in this one. It’s the perfect way to pass the time in between courses. [Matt Schimkowitz]

With “Bart vs. Thanksgiving,” The Simpsons played into every kid’s dream and nightmare: Escaping your family and setting out on your own. This is a well-worn trope that was basically the plot of Home Alone, which hit theaters roughly two weeks before the episode aired. Bart’s ruined plenty of holidays, but it all starts here. Having burned up Lisa’s cornucopia, he runs away, hoping to prove that he’s better off without his family (again, it’s weird how close this lines up with Home Alone). However, when he ends up at a local soup kitchen, he realizes how good he actually has it. The dynamics here are instantly relatable not just to adults but kids. Children can feel totally unappreciated, too, and Lisa’s “Howl For The Unappreciated” is a perfect example of Jan Brady Syndrome, a middle child ignored for their volatile sibling. If that doesn’t sound like a classic American Thanksgiving, we don’t know what does. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Thanksgiving is a time for breaking bread with irritating relatives and pretending to enjoy it, and there’s no shortage of that in the world of Tony Soprano. Tony’s at his most relatable in “He Is Risen,” refusing to forgive Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) for unpredictable violent outbursts that unsettle Tony. He has Carmela (Eddie Falco) uninvite Ralphie to Thanksgiving dinner but still has to deal with his sister’s dimwitted, evangelical boyfriend Aaron (Turk Popkin). Ultimately, Tony decides to forgive Ralphie even though he rightly predicts that it will end in tragedy. Like all things Sopranos, it’s a potent metaphor for America. The irony is that by attempting to celebrate the historically violent holiday, Tony is ignoring his culpability for said violence. By breaking bread with his enemy, he tacitly endorses them and endangers everyone around him. It’s a tale as American as pumpkin pie. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Even Thanksgiving isn’t a day off for the Roy family. At the family gathering, Kendall is secretly plotting to overthrow Logan, and poor Greg gets roped into shredding some evidence alone, leaving him absent from the meal after enduring a silent 12-hour car ride with his grandfather. Succession takes the trope of a nightmarish family and turns it up to 11 in its regular episodes, so when the show adds the tricky social dynamics of Thanksgiving to the mix, it’s no wonder it all explodes like a frozen turkey in a deep frier. [Jen Lennon]

This episode from season one of That ’70s Show does a lot of work in establishing the Forman family dynamic, especially between Red and Eric. Laurie brings home a friend from college who successfully coaxes Eric into making out with her, which turns into a huge problem when Donna finds out. On top of that, Kitty has to put up with constant badgering from Red’s mother. The episode als0 sets up one of the most important throughlines in the entire show: that Eric is a dumbass. [Jen Lennon]

The first Thanksgiving episode of The West Wing has all the things that made those early seasons of the show so very satisfying. It’s got a compelling A story centered on some Chinese refugees, a great cold open that showcases the comedy chops of Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, and Rob Lowe, and plenty of emotional and warm exploration on the meaning of the holiday at large. From CJ trying to organize a turkey pardoning ceremony to Leo getting in a fight with his sister over school prayer, every subplot works and crackles with that classic West Wing energy that makes every second enjoyable. And by the time the President decides to present Charlie with a certain family heirloom, there’s not a dry eye in the house. [Matthew Jackson]

Let’s talk about the absolutely staggering confidence it takes to drop an all-time classic TV entry like WKRP In Cincinnati’s “Turkeys Away” just seven episodes into a series’ first season. It’s hard to imagine another show, especially another sitcom, pulling off something similar today. When radio station manager Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) announces he’s planning a secret Thanksgiving promotional stunt, no one really thinks much of it—until Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) starts narrating what’s going on at a local shopping mall. Turkeys are falling from the sky, plummeting to their deaths from a helicopter circling the shopping center with a banner that reads “Happy Thanksgiving From WKRP” trailing behind it. The whole episode is hilarious, but it’s Carlson’s explanation that still sticks with us all these years later: “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.” [Jen Lennon]