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15 Classic Thanksgiving Episodes
From Seinfeld's parade sabotage to the Peanuts football fakeout to Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song, The Daily Beast serves up some favorite Turkey Day TV moments.
Friends: The One with All the Thanksgivings
One of the things we most miss about the late 1990s are the Friends Thanksgiving episodes. From Chandler in the box to the epic touch football game, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but “The One with All the Thanksgivings” has the sheer delight of watching Joey and Monica with turkeys on their heads.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
If you thought Lucy was going to get into the Thanksgiving spirit and finally let Charlie Brown punt that football, think again. Since 1973, this animated special, based on the Charles Schulz comic strip, has aired on television either on Thanksgiving or the Monday before.
Gilmore Girls: A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving
One of the quirkier character traits of fast-talking mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore was their ability to eat a ton of food and still find room for dessert. True to form, they tackled not one but four separate Thanksgiving meals in this episode. Though Lorelai was most unnerved by the Tofurkey served up at Mrs. Kim’s shindig, Gilmore pal and finicky chef Sookie was most upset by her husband’s turkey cooking tactic—deep frying the sucker on their front lawn. Hey, at least he didn’t stuff it with a duck and a chicken.
WKRP: Turkeys Away
You said we missed this one and we listened: here's arguably the best episode from one of the great sitcoms of the late 1970's and early 1980's: WKRP in Cincinnati. In this episode, a Thanksgiving Day promotion to give away turkeys from a helicopter has gone horribly awry — described aptly in this clip by Richard Sanders as Les Nessman — and of course the famous last line is delivered by Gordon Jump as Mr. Carlson.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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meglon978
No list is complete without THE Thanksgiving episode of episodes: WKRP in Cincinnati.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
mbs235
I agree, the WKRP episode is the best Thanksgiving TV series episode of all time.
"Oh, the humanity!"
Granite
WTF!!! TDB forgot the greatest Thanksgiving episode of all time!
The WKRP IN Cincinnati episode where they drop live turkeys from a helicopter while Les Nessman reports it live on the radio as if it were the Hindenburg disaster. Mr. Carlson responds, "I swear by the God who made me--I thought turkeys could fly."
Old-Hippy
Amen brother ! ! ! When first saw that WKRP in Cincinnati episode, I nearly choked on what ever I was eating. All my friends around me were laughing so hard, they didn't realize I was choking, and laughing! That is one of , if not THE greatest gag of ANY sitcom ! ! Shame on you guys for missing that as one of the TOP 15 . . . Happy Thanksgiving Everyone ! !
cleobuck
"There's a banner being pulled by a plane, what does it say...
H...A...P...P...Y...T...H...A...N...K...S...G...I...V...I...N...G"
Gotta love Les.
redismyneutral
Ditto all the above!!! I couldn't believe WKRP in Cincinnati turkey giveaway wasn't here. I read this story, just hoping for another chance to watch that episode. It was the funniest Thanksgiving show ever.
nickmagoo
Really. ANY person doing a list of Thanksgiving episodes who leaves out WKRP's brilliant, and always hilarious dark take does not deserve the right to make said list. Period. It is the be all and end all of Thanksgiving episodes. Outside of Charlie Brown, everything here seems to be from the last decade or so - WTF?
DavidBarron
To sum up probably every comment before and after this one: No WKRP? List fail. Duh.
Basic research, people.
teriyaki
Not only is the WKRP episode missing, but what about The Bob Newhart Show's Over the River and Through the Woods episode with the "Moo Goo Gai Pan" segment?
ReyesHawk
Absolutely!!! Any list with WKRP is completely without credibility. And putting ANY Full House episode just worsens the credibility issues.
overdue
Dear TDB:
Please don't post videos from Hulu; people who live outside of the US can't watch them!
Hulu doesn't work outside of the US
:-(
crymeariver
"To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie."
-------------
Co-sign
snakesonablog
The turkey episode is my favorite.
Here is are two links to the episode (different scenes) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbW41Ewcm4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FXSnoy71Q4
The Friends turkey on the head episode is a rip off of a Mr. Bean Christmas episode, and Mr. Bean was funnier. From about 1:44 in -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnXsJAsCpkg
bengal
This must be rewritten to include the WKRP. I can't even think about it without tears.
jbates92
Have to echo the other comments. If you attempt this list and leave out the WKRP Thanksgiving episode, you lose all credibility. I'll take any future effort with a grain of salt, because this was a massive fail.
TheRudeDog
Oh, WORD!!! Any list that doesn't have Bob Newhart & WKRP in the Top Two is in serious danger of losing ALL credibility to those of us who know our Thanksgiving episodes. You should probably just go home.
Bob: I'll have some Moo Goo Gaa Gaa.
Howard:
Thank you.
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