Thanksgiving is a day for spending time with family gorging on turkey, or whatever you personally decide to eat, while watching either the various football games or TV. So let’s be thankful there are Thanksgiving specials to get us in the mood as the holiday approaches. There are many Thanksgiving TV specials out there to enjoy as the holiday nears. Shows you would often not expect got into the holiday act with their own take on the holiday. So here are the top 10 Thanksgiving TV specials:
10. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - “Pangs”
A normal Buffy day as she tries to celebrate a holiday, yet finds herself needing to save her friends from a Native American spirit. Spike, naturally, has the best lines of the episode as he sits tied up yelling at Buffy and Willow.
9. Scrubs - “My Day Off”
One of the early episodes from the series. JD suffers from appendicitis and spends the holiday in the hospital seeing the place through the eyes of a patient. They then take him to a bar to spend the last minutes of the holiday together.
8. How I Met Your Mother - “Slapsgiving”
The gang is struggling throughout the episode as Barney is worried about Marshall slapping him during the dinner, thanks to a helpful clock counting down and haunting him. Meanwhile, Ted and Robin are still dealing with their breakup and the awkwardness of being around each other during the holidays. And naturally Marshall pens a song to celebrate the holiday.
7. South Park - “Helen Keller: The Musical”
One of the earlier episodes of the show, which features the Stan’s class being tasked with putting on a play. Cartman wants to jazz up the play and has them pick up a turkey to try and train it, but they go with a disabled turkey their classmate Timmy bonds with.
6. A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
Everyone in the Hundred Acre Woods gets together for a Thanksgiving meal where they are each tasked with providing something for the meal, something special. A great watch with kids or for a nostalgic trip.
6. Community - “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations”
Jeff decides to have Thanksgiving with his estranged father, while Britta tags along to psychoanalyze everything. Meanwhile, Sherry invites the rest of the group to join her family for dinner, though none of them enjoy being around her family, least of all her. Naturally, Abed tries to turn the dinner into a prison escape movie.
5. New Girl - “Thanksgiving”
What’s Thanksgiving without a dead body? Jess forces the guys into going along with a Thanksgiving dinner, which she’s using to spend time with Paul (played by Justin Long). The guys would rather spend the day watching football and drink beer. They end up breaking into a neighbors place to cook dinner.
3. Boy Meets World - “Turkey Day”
Cory and Shawn’s families agree, begrudgingly, to meet up and have Thanksgiving dinner together, with both sides assuming things about the other. Cory and Shawn manage to bring their two different families together to enjoy the holiday in the trailer park.
2. The West Wing - “Shibboleth”
A funny and heartwarming episode at the same time. The episode focuses on CJ finding she is unable to let a turkey die, President Bartlett gives some knives to Charlie and they deal with some Chinese seeking asylum. A perfect episode that shows why this show was great.
1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
As if any other TV special would land at the number one spot. This is a holiday classic that should always be watched – in between the football games.
images: NBC, South Park Studios