Ah, Thanksgiving. The annual holiday when families pause and take a moment to appreciate everything they have – before stuffing their faces full of food.
But turkey and carbs aren’t the only things people binge during this annual holiday. Many households will gather around the TV to indulge in some festive holiday programming, too.
While most minds conjure up thoughts of NFL games or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when they think about turkey day television, many classic sitcoms and dramas have used the holiday as a means to air special episodes.
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Arguably the most memorable serving of Thanksgiving TV came from WKRP in Cincinnati in 1978. Then in its first season, the series struck comedy gold with its plot centered on a radio promotion gone horribly wrong.
Likewise, the classic sitcom Cheers counts a Thanksgiving episode among its most memorable, as the gang of bar friends assembled at Carla’s house for a nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner. The episode’s food fight became a famous TV moment, though it also spawned boycotts among some viewers.
Many classic Thanksgiving episodes came from places you’d expect, like heartwarming turns from The Wonder Years and The Brady Bunch. Others have seemingly come out of nowhere: Did anyone really expect a Thanksgiving episode from The A-Team?
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Of course, classic Thanksgiving television has not been limited to live-action shows. Both The Simpsons and South Park have delivered memorable holiday episodes, with the latter unforgettably introducing the world to a special turkey by the name of Gobbles.
We’ve assembled a cornucopia of Thanksgiving programming below that spans five decades of television.
Classic Thanksgiving TV Episodes