If we can’t have a long list of epic Thanksgiving movies, at least we have TV series with iconic Thanksgiving episodes. From zany and hilarious to downright dramatic, these four shows have some of the best Thanksgiving episodes of any series in TV history, and all are worth watching ahead of or on the holiday.
Friends
No television series is more famous for its Thanksgiving episodes than Friends. Nearly every season of the legendary sitcom had a special episode dedicated to the holiday, and many of the episodes became cultural touchstones in their own right. If you want to binge them this holiday, check out our Friends Thanksgiving episodes ranking while you’re recovering from your turkey hangover.
Friends is streaming now on Max.
New Girl
New Girl doesn’t get enough credit for its holiday episodes. It’s got multiple good Halloween and Christmas episodes, like Season 2’s “Halloween” and “Santa,” Season 3’s “Keaton,” and Season 4’s “LAXmas,” and its Valentine’s Day bar crawl episode (“The crawl is for all!”) is quintessential New Girl. The sitcom has just as good Thanksgiving offerings with Season 3’s “Thanksgiving III” and Season 4’s “Thanksgiving IV” (aka “Bangs-giving”) among its best. If you haven’t gone back and rewatched these episodes recently, do it now.
New Girl is streaming now on Peacock and Hulu.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is better known for its Halloween Heist episodes, and rightfully so, but the show made a noteworthy attempt at Thanksgiving episodes, too. There are fewer Brooklyn Nine-Nine Thanksgiving episodes than Halloween, and they’re less thematic as a whole compared to the Heist canon, but watching the squad spend the holiday together and get into shenanigans like chasing a loose turkey around Amy’s apartment or solving an innocuous case about Holt’s missing dessert will get you in a festive spirit. It’ll also have you in the mood to rewatch Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is streaming now on Peacock.
Gossip Girl
Few things look more glamorous or dramatic than Thanksgiving on the Upper East Side, at least the way it’s portrayed in Gossip Girl (and we’re going to tell ourselves it’s an accurate depiction). Thanksgiving is shown or mentioned often in Gossip Girl as it’s Blair’s favorite holiday, but the two best episodes are in Season 3 and Season 6 with the “Whatcha Say” dinner scene (IYKYK) and Nate punching Dan on behalf of everyone he vilified in print, respectively.
Gossip Girl is streaming now on Max.