15 Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes, Ranked

Halloween episodes and Christmas episodes typically get all the attention, but there's a special delight to be had in watching a well-executed Thanksgiving episode of television. A great TV installment centered around the quintessential American holiday can belong to the tradition of warm and fuzzy celebrations of family and togetherness, or to the more iconoclastic strain of shows that use Thanksgiving as a springboard for ironic dysfunction; for the more ambitious storytellers, it can even do a little bit of both.

Whatever the flavor you favor, there are plenty of excellent options out there. Below, you'll find a ranking of the very best Thanksgiving-themed episodes across all eras of television, including several bonafide classics of the medium and a handful of underrated gems.

It's aged less than perfectly, but at its best, NBC's "The West Wing" was able to meld social and cultural commentary with crowd-pleasing, tonally varied storytelling like nothing else on TV and thoughtfully grapple with American institutions in a way that still left room for optimism and idealism. Not for nothing, one of its best episodes was Thanksgiving-themed.

Season 2's "Shibboleth" features a typically fraught political story peppered with walk-and-talk scenes. 83 Chinese refugees arrive to the San Diego coast by container ship, claiming to be persecuted Christian evangelicals seeking asylum; while navigating the situation, President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) does his best to balance his conscience with the delicate demands of his job. But "Shibboleth" is also remembered as one of the "West Wing" episodes that let comedy take over — manifested in the hilarious saga of the White House Thanksgiving preparations overseen by C.J. (Allison Janney), who must choose a turkey to get the customary presidential pardon, all while undertaking a Quixotic quest for the perfect carving knife.

"The Simpsons" has produced its share of holiday episodes over the years (including some of TV's best Halloween TV episodes), most of which erred on the side of snarky and irreverent. But very early in its run, when it was closer to a conventional family comedy with a higher proclivity for emotionally sincere storytelling, "The Simpsons" served up one of TV's greatest Thanksgiving episodes ever by opting for full earnestness.

"Bart vs. Thanksgiving," the seventh episode of season 2, begins with the Bouvier clan arriving at the Simpsons' for Thanksgiving dinner — a setup that gives us our first, memorably gruff onscreen look at Grandma Jacqueline Bouvier (Julie Kavner). Not long after, Bart (Nancy Cartwright) destroys a table centerpiece made by Lisa (Yeardley Smith), who runs off crying; in the ensuing fallout, Bart ends up running away from home to get out of apologizing to his sister, and experiences the life of an unhoused vagrant on Thanksgiving. While the show's humor is as sharp as ever throughout this chaotic holiday tale, it's the wallop of the Simpson family's ultimate reconciliation that makes "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" an incredible half-hour.

As the quintessential 2000s show about familial conflict expressed through snappy dialogue and snug convivial mood, "Gilmore Girls" was ideally suited to produce a great Thanksgiving installment, and it did just that with season 3's "A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving," one of the most beloved hours from every season of "Gilmore Girls."

In characteristic "Gilmore Girls" fashion, "A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving" is structured with farce-like multi-layered intricacy, yet the numerous avenues for madcap fun are peppered with dramatic heft, irresistible sweetness, and spunky romanticism. The premise is ambitious and ingenious: Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) have four different Thanksgiving dinners to attend, and must find a way to make time — and room in their stomachs — for the culinary stylings of the Kims, Luke (Scott Patterson) and Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), Sookie (Melissa McCarthy), and Lorelai's own parents. Between Lane (Keiko Agena) and Dave's (Adam Brody) budding romance, Lorelai's wholly irrational reaction to Rory applying for Yale, and Melissa McCarthy making the most of drunk Sookie, it's "Gilmore Girls" at its very best, and just about ideal Thanksgiving viewing.

ABC's "Thirtysomething" was known for its honest, melancholy depiction of baby boomers settling into the drudge of adulthood and dealing with the challenges and responsibilities of grown-up friendship. In its first season, it featured one of TV's most thoughtful uses of Thanksgiving as a narrative and thematic catalyst.

The season 1 episode "We Gather Together" starts out from the crisis of nostalgia experienced by Hope Steadman (Mel Harris) as she avoids dealing with Thanksgiving preparations by revisiting her past through old pictures. Her husband Michael (Ken Olin) wants to put together a Thanksgiving celebration with their friends, but Hope just wants to isolate from the world and have a quiet holiday.

The rest of the cast eventually convenes at the Steadmans' to carve the turkey, but numerous logistical and emotional complications ensue, leading Hope into a "Christmas Carol"-esque fantastical reckoning with the significance of the holiday vis-à-vis her past and present relationships. It's a powerful, masterfully-written hour that goes unusually deep in its probe of what it means to give thanks.

Jokes may not have been the top priority when it came to writing "King of the Hill," but few shows have endured as funnier or more perceptive portraits of ordinary working-class American life. Numerous episodes of the Mike Judge and Greg Daniels-created animated sitcom could be cited among the best Thanksgiving episodes ever, but Season 4's "Happy Hank's Giving" is a special one — a capsule of the universal (and universally trying) Thanksgiving experience of flying out of town to visit family and enduring an overwhelmed air transport system.

The simple setup finds Hank (Judge), Peggy (Kathy Najimy), Bobby (Pamela Adlon), and Luanne (Brittany Murphy) hopping over to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on the eve of Thanksgiving, intending to spend the holiday with Peggy's family in Montana. Then, an ice storm leaves them, their friends, and a number of Texas citizens stranded for the night. What follows is one of the most hilarious episodes that "King of the Hill" ever put forth — a masterpiece of frustration, mundane absurdity, and slapped-together holiday cheer that honors the spirit of Thanksgiving as only this show could.

Perpetually underrated in discussions of the best friend group sitcoms, "Girlfriends" carried the tradition of '90s hangout classics like "Living Single" and "Friends" into the 2000s and spun six excellent seasons (plus two controversial but still highly watchable ones) from a platonic, tightly-woven ensemble dynamic. With sharp, nimble writing that knew how to draw humor from the quirks and neuroses of each main character while still keeping things breezy and fun, it's no wonder it gave us one of the funniest, coziest, and all-around best Thanksgiving episodes.

The ninth episode of season 1, "Fried Turkey," pulls a shrewd narrative bait-and-switch: At first, it seems as though we'll be following Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross) on a party-for-one Thanksgiving after everyone else makes other plans. She meets the handsome and successful Preston Hall (Duane Martin) and invites him home, initiating what appears to be a romance-centric holiday storyline. Then, however, the girls and William (Reggie Hayes) all start inconveniently showing up — jeopardizing Joan's would-be perfect date, but creating plenty of opportunity for messy, hilarious, and rewarding found-family antics.

Season 5's "Thanksgiving Orphans" was one of the absolute high points of the entire run of "Cheers," which makes it, by default, one of the high points of television at large. If the show's sweet spot always involved connection and camaraderie emerging from the most raucous and dysfunctional circumstances, "Thanksgiving Orphans," with its story of an impromptu Thanksgiving potluck motivated by everyone's lack of other friends or family to spend the holiday with, was an ideal showcase for "Cheers" at its very best.

And that's not even getting into the food fight. This episode is a feat of top-notch pressure-cooker storytelling, charting the hunger, impatience, and hostility that gradually takes over Carla's (Rhea Perlman)'s place as everybody waits around for a stubbornly cold turkey to finish cooking. It's classic close-quarters sitcom material executed to perfection, with the stress and the surrounding messy context allowing "Cheers" to beautifully flesh out relationships and personalities. Then Norm (George Wendt, who once berated George Constanza on a hilarious "Seinfeld" episode) throws peas at Carla, she throws carrots back in retaliation, and all hell breaks loose — which, in sitcom parlance, of course means heaven.

"How I Met Your Mother" is another example of a show that could easily induct multiple Thanksgiving episodes into the pantheon of the best ever. But, ultimately, there's just no beating "Slapsgiving."

The best-remembered element of this beloved season 3 episode, of course, is the continuation of the slap bet from season 2, which now thrusts Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) into the position of anxiously awaiting the moment in which Marshall (Jason Segel) will finally slap him a third time — a ridiculous tension that gets brilliantly interlaced with the story of the first Thanksgiving hosted by Marshall and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) as a married couple.

But even more striking, arguably, is what a long way "Slapsgiving" goes in furthering the show's trademark dramatic chops and heartwarming celebration of friendship. If the divisive ending of "How I Met Your Mother" left a sour taste in your mouth, it's worth going back to an episode that knew how to treat the relationship between Ted (Josh Radnor) and Robin (Cobie Smulders) with the appropriate richness and nuance, and to honor their connection aside from romance.

"Friday Night Lights" was a consistently incredible show across its five seasons, but it had a particular knack for great season finales, and one of the best among them dovetailed with the show's only real example of what one might call a "Thanksgiving special."

The denouement of season 4, aptly titled "Thanksgiving," features the climax of a season-long storyline of hardship and persistence for the East Dillon Lions — and, in typical "Friday Night Lights" fashion, the central match against the fearsome East Dillon Panthers is depicted with irresistibly rousing gusto and intensity, creating a massive emotional sweep all by itself as it folds resolutions and turning points for various different character arcs into the dynamic of the game.

Equally memorable, however, is the lead-up to the game, during which greatest screen dad of all time, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), hosts a Thanksgiving dinner that serves as a reminder of the show's deftness at crafting patient, slow-burning, richly detailed character drama steeped in warmth and generosity.

As a relic from a time when culturally massive TV shows could afford to spin out year-long seasons that covered every important point in the fall-to-spring calendar, "Friends" did a number of excellent Thanksgiving episodes over the years. The question of which one is best is ultimately a matter of fan preference, but on this list, we're going with the avant-garde joy of "The One with All the Thanksgivings."

The eighth episode of season 5, "The One with All the Thanksgivings" was notable for using a clip show format without actually being a clip show: Spurred by Ross (David Schwimmer)'s ongoing divorce-related woes, the cast decides to share stories about their own worst Thanksgivings ever. We are thus introduced to the stories of the time Joey (Matt LeBlanc) got his head stuck in a turkey, the time a past life of Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) lost an arm during the American Civil War, and the time Monica (Courteney Cox) accidentally cut off Chandler's (Matthew Perry) toe — each an example of "Friends" providing comforting greatness in miniature.

Many shows use Thanksgiving as an opportunity to reflect on their characters' trajectories, the bonds formed and strengthened over the years, and the meaning allotted to life by the passage of time. "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," a show intended as the exact opposite of "Friends," used it to reflect on how irredeemably terrible the Gang is.

On "The Gang Squashes Their Beefs," the final episode of season 9, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Mac (Rob McElhenney), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), Charlie (Charlie Day), and Frank (Danny DeVito) find that Thanksgiving preparations will be difficult with the number of enemies they've made around Philadelphia — so they decide to invite their enemies over for dinner in hopes of making peace once and for all. Naturally, things go very, very, wrong.

It's a deliciously deranged, endlessly hilarious parody of Thanksgiving specials that sneers wickedly at the very concept of making amends, complete with an even more riotous update to the "Cheers" food fight sequence. And, for longtime "Always Sunny" fans, it doubles as an enlivening nostalgia trip — minus any sentimentality, of course.

Even though it was released as recently as 2017, "Thanksgiving," the eighth episode of season 2 of Netflix's "Master of None," already unquestionably belongs in the all-time pantheon of great holiday-themed TV episodes. Shifting gears from the show's usual rhythm, the episode takes a look at the life of Denise (Lena Waithe). Specifically, it uses the many Thanksgiving days Dev (Aziz Ansari) has spent alongside Denise over the years as a window into her coming-out process, and the transformations it caused in her relationship with her mother, Catherine (Angela Bassett).

This is one of the most affecting, sensitively-handled lesbian coming-of-age tales we've seen in the 21st century, as well as a tough yet uplifting Thanksgiving watch for the way it patiently charts Catherine's trajectory from reticence and bigotry to true acceptance of her daughter. By the time the familial tension of the preceding 20-plus minutes has mellowed into a climatic Thanksgiving prayer full of love and joy, it feels earned and meaningful to a degree seldom seen on TV.

Season 1 of "Mad Men" had the mission to introduce the show's particular way of tackling the history of American ennui — obliquely, dryly, with enough wit and subtlety to slip by the unattentive — in a way that felt riveting. It aced that task with flying colors, culminating in season finale "The Wheel," in which Thanksgiving emerges as the ironic backdrop to a ballet of stranded souls, broken affections, unhappy families, and dysfunctional institutions.

Swirling liberally around Thanksgiving 1960 yet notably self-contained for a season finale, "The Wheel," like many great "Mad Men" hours, is primarily a character piece made up of glimpses into the soul of each character. Betty (January Jones) faces up to her own denial about Don's (Jon Hamm) infidelity; Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) goes into labor and turns out to have been going through a cryptic pregnancy; Don, in one of his most unforgettable scenes, makes a phenomenal pitch in which he lays bare his own self-sabotaged yearning for a happy home life. In the end, we're left not with a big happy Thanksgiving dinner scene, but with the painful absence of one — and it hits as hard as anything in the holiday's TV canon.

The two best Thanksgiving episodes of all time are both definitional installments of classic but underrated sitcoms, and both single-handedly make a case for those shows' oft-overlooked genius. At #2, we have "Over the River and Through the Woods," the best episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" — which, for a series that helped lay the groundwork for the modern era of sitcoms, is saying a lot.

In this ingeniously-concocted episode of the '70s CBS sitcom about the life and times of a Chicago psychologist, Dr. Robert Hartley's (Bob Newhart) wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) has traveled to Seattle for Thanksgiving, leaving him to spend the holiday with his orthodontist friend Jerry (Peter Bonerz), neighbor Howard (Bill Daily), and longtime patient Mr. Carlin (Jack Riley).

Short on ideas for how to spend the holiday and stave off loneliness, the four men proceed to get hammered — leading to one of the funniest, most deliciously ramshackle TV installments in history, as four rich and complicated personalities ("The Bob Newhart Show" was marked by its unusual psychological realism) venture into the unexplored comedic pastures of intense drunkenness.

Although it was one of the best sitcoms of all time and a precursor to almost every beloved workplace comedy series you could name, "WKRP in Cincinnati" is not at the level of cultural recognition it ought to be — save for one half-hour that became the stuff of television legend. That half-hour, incidentally, is a no-brainer pick for greatest Thanksgiving episode of all time, a comedic and narrative use of the holiday so fantastic that it's become widely known even among those otherwise unfamiliar with the show.

On "Turkeys Away," Thanksgiving has almost a Seinfeldian level of utter meaninglessness as anything other than a prompt for havoc. After spending upwards of 10 minutes bumbling around the WKRP office trying to be useful, manager Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) comes up with the idea to stage a legendary marketing stunt for the station: Dropping live turkeys from a helicopter directly onto a Thanksgiving giveaway on a mall parking lot. The level of horror and mind-boggling absurdism wrought by that terrible idea must be seen — or rather not seen, and instead memorably described by WKRP announcer Les (Richard Sanders) — to be believed. No other American sitcom had ever done something so gonzo, let alone pulled it off so brilliantly.