Thanksgiving Viewing Ideas

Now when it comes to Holiday specials, Halloween and Christmas seem to get the most love and with good reason, they’re holidays that seem to encompass the entire season around them. Thanksgiving by comparison feels a little overlooked, being stuck smack in the middle of “the big 2” holidays. Heck in recent years Black Friday even gets more attention! Well this year I’d like to give you a list of 5 great Thanksgiving specials (in no particular order) for your viewing pleasure. Some of these are great for the whole family, but the South Park and American Dad specials are adults only. Even better, you can watch literally all of them if you have a Hulu subscription. So without further ado, an all time classic and one of my favorites.

The Simpsons - Bart vs Thanksgiving (Season 2 Episode 7)

This was the first Thanksgiving special The Simpsons ever had, and they really went all out on it. It has everything you could want in a Thanksgiving special: it’s funny at times, touching at times, and it has family drama that feels all too real. The episode sees Bart getting into conflict with the rest of his family after he accidentally destroys a centerpiece that Lisa worked very hard to make. By the end of the episode Bart learns a lesson about considering other people’s feelings, as well as learning that he should be thankful for everything he has. We end up getting a lesson in gratitude ourselves, as the episode brings Bart to a homeless shelter, which it ends up using to both raise awareness of the problems homeless people face around the holidays, and also to mock and satirize the exploitative way in which news outlets like to cover the homeless around the holidays to drum up ratings. All in all, it’s a touching, heart-felt episode with a strong message. Plus it also gave us the “Mom it’s broken” song.

Hey Arnold - Arnold’s Thanksgiving (Season 3 Episode 14)

This next selection is very similar to the Simpsons episode I just wrote about. Following a Thanksgiving pageant put on by their teacher Mr. Simmons that features an idealized version of Thanksgiving, Arnold and Helga both feel a bit disappointed having to go back to their own Thanksgiving dinners with their families. According to Helga, Thanksgiving t her house is terrible because, well, her family is terrible, which s hardly news to anyone who watches the show. Her perfect older sister shows her up at every possible opportunity and makes her do all the work, her father is obsessively watching football and complaining all day, and her mother is messing up dinner due to her usual airheadedness. Meanwhile at Arnold’s house, his Grandmother thinks it’s the 4th of July (like every other year) and the rest of the house has to play along, dressing up as patriotic historical figures and barbecuing hot dogs on the roof in the middle of winter. Once again we see the kids running off and learning a lesson about how good they actually have things at home. The main thing that separates this special from the Simpsons one though is that it focuses on appreciating all the different ways people may have of celebrating the same holiday. As Arnold’s grandpa says in the episode: “Well, we could (have Thanksgiving in November) every year, but then we’d be like everyone else.” Also, remember:

American Dad - There Will Be Bad Blood (Season 6 Episode 6)

Before you roll your eyes, I’d like to say that while I think Family Guy is garbage, American Dad might just be the best thing Seth MacFarlane has ever made. I’d also say that the holiday specials American Dad puts out are consistently good for just about every holiday. This Thanksgiving episode takes things in a really weird direction though. The episode starts with the previous year’s Thanksgiving and the Smith family getting ready for a visit from Stan’s half brother Rusty, who is also half Native American. The invitation, however, is just a hollow excuse for Stan to flex on his less well-off brother and to show off all the nice things he has. We are also treated to Stan’s incredibly offensive and inaccurate take on the story of the first Thanksgiving, which leaves everyone else horrified. Flashing forward to the current year, we find Steve acting like a brat. Since Hayley has eloped and married her boyfriend and hasn’t been seen since, he thinks he deserves to have everything he wants. In order to punish him, Stan decides to take the family to Rusty’s house this year, thinking that seeing how his brother’s family lives will are them more appreciative of how good they have things. Unfortunately this backfires as it turns out that Rusty is incredibly wealthy and has been bringing his family to visit Stan every year for exactly the same reason. This special definitely pushes the limits in terms of what most people would find offensive, but if you can get past the knee-jerk reaction you can see that it’s being satirical, with Stan’s callous behavior towards his brother representing the callous way in which colonial whites treated Native Americans. I think that the message in this episode, while not made in a particularly clear way, makes it worth including on this list. Plus, it IS pretty damn funny.

Regular Show - The Thanksgiving Special (Season 5 Episode 12)

I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely love Regular Show, and their holiday specials are some of my favorites. The Thanksgiving special starts off with the park staff all getting ready to celebrate with their families, who need to be picked up at the airport. Everyone leaves Mordecai and Rigby unattended, with Benson reminding them to not play football in the house… so naturally that’s the first thing they do once everyone is out of sight. Long story short, Thanksgiving dinner is ruined in the most spectacular way imaginable. Seriously, there are explosions involved. There are loads of crazy thanksgiving themed side adventures, including a car chase involving a turkey and a football end zone dance-off, and Mordecai and Rigby remind us that Thanksgiving isn’t about the football games or the feast, but about spending time with your friends and family. I’ll also say that when this episode spirals out of control, it REALLY spirals out of control. We get a helicopter chase, a blimp crash, a naturally born turducken, and a magical golden wishbone. In typical Regular Show fashion this all gets wrapped up with a neat little bow by the end of the episode and the park gang gets a nice, happy ending.

South Park - A History Channel Thanksgiving (Season 15 Episode 13)

Let me just start by saying that this episode is just shots fired on top of shots fired. It goes after people who try to claim Native American status despite basically being white (one of the characters keeps using the fact that he’s allegedly 1/16th Native American to basically act like he’s an oppressed minority), it goes after the History Channel for moving away from educational or factually based programs in favor of highly speculative ratings traps… specifically Ancient Aliens, and it goes after the conspiracy theorists who seriously buy into all that stuff. On top of that, they work it all into an excellent parody of the first Thor movie, Natalie Portman included. All in all, this is one of the most hilarious and overall insane Thanksgiving specials I’ve ever seen. InsaneIt’s genuinely unique, and in my opinion, a must watch for anyone who loves comedy.

Most Thanksgiving specials are great because they remind us that the holiday is supposed to be about more than feasts, football, and parades. They remind us to be thankful for everything we have, because other people might not have as much, and they also remind us of the importance of family, even if you all drive each other insane. Even if they don’t, they can still be pretty damn entertaining. I hope this list will give you some new ideas for some Thanksgiving viewing traditions.