By: Cameron Rubner
Turkey day is almost here! Whether you’re spending time with family or celebrating solo this year, it’s time to get in the holiday spirit by kicking back and watching these essential thanksgiving tv specials.
1. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
If you didn’t see this one coming, that’s on you. This episode is the definition of a classic. Watching this Charlie Brown special on Thanksgiving is as untraditional as making cranberry sauce and not eating it.
2. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
After the gang realizes their past feuds have started to hold them back, they decide to use Thanksgiving as a way to squash the beef. But as always, things go awry in the most hilarious way.
3. Friends: “The One With All the Thanksgivings”
So no one told you life was gonna be this way, but I bet you already knew this Friends episode was gonna make the list. From the turkey on Joey’s head to Chandler’s a flock of seagulls haircut, the retellings of Thanksgiving past make this episode one of the best out of the entire series.
4. How I Met Your Mother: “Slapsgiving”
In this legend-wait for it-dary episode of HIMYM, Marshall mentally tortures Barney with his countdown to Slapsgiving. Slapsgiving celebrates Marshall’s use of his third slap from a bet with Barney which gives Marshall the ability to slap Barney in the face five times whenever he wants. Meanwhile, Robin and Ted still struggle to stay friends in the wake of their breakup.
5. That 70’s Show: “Thanksgiving”
When Eric’s sister’s college friend comes over for Thanksgiving, Eric lets his hormones get the best of him and hooks up with her. Because of he can’t keep a secret, he immediately tells Donna and has to right to his wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Kitty tries to cook dinner without worrying about her mother-in-law.
6. The Sopranos: “He Is Risen”
Thanksgiving Mob style! What better way to celebrate the holiday than with dudes getting whacked, ecstasy, adultery, people dying on the toilet, and turkey straight off the back of a stolen truck. What more could you want?
7. Seinfeld: “The Mom and Pop Store”
Some argue this is the greatest sitcom of all time, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a Seinfeld episode land on our list. When Jerry comes uninvited to a dentist’s Thanksgiving Eve party, he accidentally knocks a trophy out of the window deflating a float at the Macy’s Parade.
8. Boy Meets World: “Turkey Day”
In a very special episode of Boy Meets World, the Matthews family takes a trip to the trailer park to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Hunter’s mobile home. Classes collide as the upper-middle-class Mathews family and the lower class Hunter family struggle to get past their social differences. A beautiful lesson is learned at the end, people are people and it’s their character, not their social status that matters.
9. Simpsons: “Bart vs Thanksgiving”
In a heartfelt episode of the longest-running TV show in history, Bart runs away from home after he gets scolded for ruining Lisa’s Thanksgiving centerpiece. After eating Thanksgiving dinner at a homeless shelter he returns to give Lisa a true apology.
10. New Girl: “Parents”
Starting off our list is one of many New Girl Thanksgiving episodes. In “Parents” Jess uses Turkey day as a ploy to try and relight the flame in her divorced parents’ relationship with a scheme straight out of The Parent Trap.
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