Food fights, flashbacks, and turkeys on tumble-dry describe only a few of the best Thanksgiving episodes to watch in 2024. Once upon a time, our holiday viewing consisted of sitting down in front of a staticky TV for a few minutes of the Thanksgiving Day Parade and maybe some Thanksgiving movies. But now, with all manner of streaming services at our disposal, it doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to get into the Turkey Day spirit a little early.
Whether you’re like us, and want to balance the hustle of the holiday with some festive distractions, or you’re looking for some cozy classics to turn on after clearing your plate, here are the best Thanksgiving-themed episodes to watch now.
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 2, Episode 9: “Thanks for the Memories”
Photo: Courtesy of ABC
Ah, early, pre-scammer scandal Grey’s. Was there ever a better show about a group of inexplicably attractive young doctors sharing a house in Seattle? In this episode, Izzie (Katherine Heigl) relatably stresses over making Thanksgiving absolutely perfect while her roommates hide out at the hospital to avoid her mounting anxiety; plus, we get to watch sweet George (T.R. Knight) being very bad at shooting a turkey.
Girlfriends, Season 1, Episode 9: “Fried Turkey”
An all-time great cameo from Kelsey Grammer (as himself!) kicks off this fan-favorite Thanksgiving installment of this Mara Brock Akil-created sitcom, which might just make you think twice about using a national holiday as a pretext for a first date. To be honest, we very likely learned about the dangers of hot cooking oil from watching a rerun of this episode in the late aughts.
Cheers, Season 5, Episode 9: “Thanksgiving Orphans”
Not having a place to go on Thanksgiving isn’t always the stuff of comedy, but this episode sees Frasier, Cliff, Norm, Woody, Carla, Sam, Diane, and the rest of the Cheers gang toughing out the holiday at Carla’s (Rhea Perlman) house and being sucked into what soon becomes one of the most epic food fights in TV history.
King of the Hill, Season 7, Episode 4: “Goodbye Normal Jeans”
The mere title of this Thanksgiving-centric episode makes us laugh out loud. In it, matriarch Peggy Hill is busy putting together a “perfect” holiday dinner of Frito pie while her son, Bobby, turns out to be the surprising star of his home economics class (in a way that, of course, threatens his mother’s domestic-goddess confidence).
The Mindy Project, Season 1, Episode 6: “Thanksgiving”
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
