Holiday TV has long gravitated toward winter festivities, especially Christmas, which consistently dominates both sitcoms and dramas, but Thanksgiving TV episodes often shed more light into the character dynamics. While the Christmas season naturally lends itself to sentimentality and big emotional shifts, giving writers an easy opportunity to push characters into new arcs or highlight ensemble dynamics, Thanksgiving is trickier.
Though Thanksgiving episodes are far less common, especially in today’s era of storytelling where annual holiday detours can feel less essential to a season’s overall flow, they’re often the most fun of a season. Over the years, some Thanksgiving episodes have become show’s most memorable, in part due to their rarity, and in part due to their quality. Thanksgiving in the US can lend itself to intense emotions.
Thanksgiving emphasis on gathering and gratitude provides the perfect stage for character-driven storytelling, whether it’s the reveal of a secret or the weight of a reunion. The setting often exposes new issues or deepens the bonds held by a group who are all in the same space. Whether it’s an actual family, a found family, or something in between, the holiday adds a layer of tension.
Where Christmas episodes often rely on grand gestures, nostalgia, or in some cases, literal magic for their resolutions, Thanksgiving stories usually lean into the interpersonal messiness of relationships. They spotlight mismatched expectations, shared responsibility, and lingering conflicts as the character or group at hand tries to present a more cohesive front. Thanksgiving episodes are great at blending sincerity and chaos for a wonderful payoff.
Despite being less common, standout Thanksgiving episodes exist across genres. From coming-of-age dramas and sharp-witted comedies to ensemble sitcoms and animated series, there are wonderful Thanksgiving episodes abound. Demonstrating how flexible the holiday can be as a narrative catalyst, the nature of Thanksgiving allows writers to deepen relationships, escalate simmering tension, or reveal new layers in long-running dynamics.
Boy Meets World
Season 4, Episode 10, “Turkey Day”
Boy Meets World’s original run on ABC featured plenty of holiday episodes, but its Thanksgiving offering during season 4, “Turkey Day,” shows the perfect blend of family tension and togetherness to represent the holiday. Throughout Boy Meets World, one of the central conflicts between Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) comes from their very different childhood experiences.
In “Turkey Day,” Cory and the Matthews family push the Hunters to accept their invitation for the holiday, but their class differences keep bubbling up to the surface, along with long-standing frustrations between the friends. The episode stands out for its eventual commitment to togetherness, blending humor and sincerity as it explores the grounded emotional stakes of a socioeconomic difference between families.
- Release Date
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1993 – 2000-00-00
- Showrunner
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Michael Jacobs
Friday Night Lights
Season 4, Episode 13, “Thanksgiving”
Friday Night Lights has a somewhat different take on Thanksgiving than other shows, especially considering its connective tissue is football, the unofficial sport of the holiday. Closing out its fourth season with a Thanksgiving episode, Friday Night Lights’ aptly named “Thanksgiving” delivers a major emotional payoff while bringing the cast — both East and West Dillon by that point — together to play their favorite game.
Friday Night Lights’ Thanksgiving episode centers around Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) struggling to rebuild the East Dillon Lions, who had been struggling as a team with a lack of funding for their program. With a high-stakes game against none other than the Dillon Panthers, Friday Night Lights combines sports drama and character development to celebrate the holiday, grounding it all in football.
- Release Date
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2006 – 2011
- Showrunner
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Jason Katims
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Kyle Chandler
Eric Taylor
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Connie Britton
Tami Taylor
Friends
Season 5, Episode 8, “The One With All The Thanksgivings”
While all of Friends’ Thanksgiving episodes could earn their way onto this list, only a couple stand out as the best of the best. Friends season 5 episode 8, “The One With All The Thanksgivings,” is a standout for the series, creating some of the most hilarious moments of the show. Utilizing a flashback-style of storytelling, the show allows its cast to lean into the holiday.
As the group sits around a table sharing their elaborately prepared Monica Geller (Courtney Cox) prepared meal, they each deliver their own memories of Thanksgivings’ past. From an 80s flashback sequence featuring Monica and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) in her parent’s house to both Joey Tribianni (Matt LeBlanc) and Monica wearing turkeys on their heads, the episode delivers physical comedy and charm at a high level.
- Release Date
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1994 – 2004
- Showrunner
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Marta Kauffman
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Season 9, Episode 10, “The Gang Squashes Their Beefs”
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s chaotic Thanksgiving episode is the perfect blend of inappropriate and absurd for the tone of the show. With the show well into its run by the time it truly tackled Thanksgiving, It’s Always Sunny was very aware of what it was doing throughout the chaos of the episode. “The Gang Squashes Their Beefs” uses Thanksgiving as a vehicle for tension.
With the group choosing to use Thanksgiving in order to confront those they’ve wronged throughout the series, it quickly becomes clear that even though It’s Always Sunny fans know how terrible the characters are, things are worse than expected. Forcing the gang to reckon with their past behavior, the episode positions the holiday as a chance to roast its core characters and absolve them of some guilt.
- Release Date
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August 4, 2005
- Showrunner
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Rob McElhenney
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Charlie Day
Charlie Kelly
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Glenn Howerton
Dennis Reynolds
New Girl
Season 1, Episode 6, “Thanksgiving”
As New Girl established its identity throughout its first season, the show’s initial Thanksgiving episode allowed it to lean into Jess Day’s (Zooey Deschanel) personality as it offered new nuggets of information about her group of roommates. Building into the group dynamic at the heart of New Girl, the show’s Thanksgiving episode solidified Jess’ nature while proving that she had newfound trust in her roommates.
With Jess determined to host a proper Thanksgiving meal despite not really knowing how to cook, she relies on help from her roommates in order to make her holiday feel normal in some way. Bringing together the group in a whole new way, New Girl’s “Thanksgiving” highlights awkward, but slowly budding relationships through its chaos.
- Release Date
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2011 – 2018
- Network
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FOX
- Showrunner
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Elizabeth Meriwether
Gossip Girl
Season 3, Episode 11, “The Treasure of Sierra Madre”
Gossip Girl’s Thanksgiving episodes were always chaotic, but season 3’s “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” took things to a whole different level. With Serena Van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Dan Humphrey’s (Penn Badgley) parents finally having taken the plunge into a relationship and hosting Thanksgiving together, the drama was set from the top of the episode as the families clashed and held tightly to their secrets.
With one of the most iconic music moments in teen drama history, everything comes out a the dinner table as Jason Derulo’s “Mmm Whatcha Say” plays over the scene. From Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) suspecting her mother’s pregnant and hiding it from Rufus Humphrey (Matt Settle) discovering that Lily (Kelly Rutherford) has been lying to him for months, it’s an iconic, melodramatic holiday.
- Release Date
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2007 – 2012-00-00
- Showrunner
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Joshua Safran
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Leighton Meester
Blair Waldorf
How I Met Your Mother
Season 3, Episode 9, “Slapsgiving”
How I Met Your Mother’s rhythm was well-established by its season 3 Thanksgiving episode, which used one of the show’s most iconic running jokes to build its tension. The episode structures itself around the ongoing slap bet between Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), turning the holiday into a countdown toward the inevitable hilarious slap.
While there was more to How I Met Your Mother season 3 episode 9, “Slapsgiving,” it’s an episode that’s meant to be both light and heavy. As Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) try to navigate their newfound post-breakup relationship, the slap bet brings levity into the more difficult moments, keeping the episode forging ahead.
- Release Date
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2005 – 2014-00-00
- Showrunner
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Craig Thomas
Grey’s Anatomy
Season 2, Episode 9, “Thanks For The Memories”
Grey’s Anatomy was still finding its footing during its season 2 Thanksgiving episode, which uses the holiday to deepen its character arcs and balance the medical drama with some personal growth. Throughout Grey’s Anatomy season 2 episode 9, “Thanks For The Memories,” we get to learn more about the way George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) handles his family, and the way his roommates tackle holidays.
With Izzie Stephens (Katherine Heigl) cooking a meal alongside Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) while Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) escapes to the hospital to get in on some surgeries, the episode also sees Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) coping with the difficulties that a family holiday brings up for her. With the episode highlighting the joys of a chosen family, it tackles a twisted Thanksgiving with care.
- Release Date
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March 27, 2005
- Directors
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Rob Corn, Kevin McKidd, Debbie Allen, Chandra Wilson, Allison Liddi-Brown, Jeannot Szwarc, Tony Phelan
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Ellen Pompeo
Dr. Meredith Grey
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Chandra Wilson
Dr. Miranda Bailey
Gilmore Girls
Season 3, Episode 9, “A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving”
An iconic episode of Gilmore Girls in general, the show’s most official Thanksgiving offering brings together each of the Gilmore’s families for a feast of four dinners’ worth of drama. As Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) head out for four different dinners throughout the day, the chaos of each help build to an exciting character-driven culmination.
As the Gilmore’s go from Luke’s Diner to Sookie St. James’ (Melissa McCarthy) house, then head to the Kim residence, and finally land at Richard (Edward Hermann) and Emily’s (Kelly Bishop) lavish dinner, their rapport with each makes for an emotional arc. The episode is charming and insightful, making it a wonderfully wacky look at Stars Hollow and beyond on Thanksgiving.
- Release Date
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2000 – 2007-00-00
- Network
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The WB
- Writers
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Amy Sherman-Palladino
Friends
With Friends being the definitive Thanksgiving sitcom, it only felt right for another episode of the series to take first place. While there are definitely other contenders for the series when it comes to the holiday, season 3’s “The One With The Football” captures the essence of the series while making for a great Thanksgiving episode all around.
With the sibling rivalry between Monica and Ross (David Schwimmer) at an all-time high during their annual Thanksgiving football game, the chaos that ensues between everyone else allows for peak sitcom comedy. As all the other Friends get in the middle, the show explores competitive chaos, family dynamics, and the spirit of Thanksgiving to make for a memorable episode.
