10 of the Best Thanksgiving TV Show Episodes Ever

A little something to go with your pumpkin pie.

Fact: Thanksgiving has gifted us some of the most iconic TV episodes of all time.

After all, as a time for families and friends to come together, express gratitude and enjoy a feast, the holiday offers plenty of inspiration for our favorite shows to work with, from heartfelt reunions to wholesome found families and dysfunctional dinners – maybe a turkey mishap or two.

Naturally, all this good viewing is perfect for getting into the festive spirit. So whether you need a little something to watch while you prepare to put on a spread or enjoy with a blanket with a slice of pumpkin pie, we’ve done the hard work for you and rounded up 10 of the best Thanksgiving TV show episodes ever.

Scroll on to see them all.

1. Friends – “The One with the All the Thanksgivings” (Season 5)

Although every Thanksgiving episode from Friends is stellar, “The One with All the Thanksgivings” from season five, where each friend recounts their worst Thanksgiving, must be the clear winner. We’ll never not be amused by their ‘80s flashback hairstyles, plus, how can you beat Monica dancing with her head inside a turkey when Chandler says “I love you” for the first time? You can’t and we won’t hear otherwise.

2. Gossip Girl – “The Treasure of Serena Madre” (Season 3)

The word for this one? Iconic. While Gossip Girl is a series well-known for its dramatic Turkey Day episodes, this one from season three ranks among its best. Who could forget watching that scandalous secret-spilling scene around the Van der Woodsens’ dinner table to the tune of Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say”? Again: Iconic.

3. Gilmore Girls – “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving” (Season 3)

Gilmore Girls’ brand of ‘cozy family dramedy’ and almost eternal fall aesthetic are a match made in Thanksgiving TV episode heaven (if there is such a thing). Four Christmases-style, we see Lorelai and Rory attend – and attempt to eat at – four very Thanksgiving dinners hosted by their friends and family, where both humor and bittersweet emotions surface in a way that feels all too real.

4. Modern Family – “Three Turkeys” (Season 6)

Sometimes holidays are often a comedy of errors, and Modern Family’s “Three Turkeys” is exactly that. There’s father and son duo Phil and Luke botching their turkey duties and sneakily ordering a back-up, Claire secretly preparing her own for that very fear, and Gloria and Jay also hiding a turkey – along with the fact they never went on the holiday they claimed to – only for them all to wind up together anyway, three turkeys in tow.

5. Grey’s Anatomy – “Thanks for the Memories” (Season 2)

Like many of the episodes in this medical series, this season two Thanksgiving episode of Grey’s Anatomy is a total tearjerker. Between Meredith’s comatose patient waking up after 16 years to find out his family has moved on and Izzie’s speech about why Thanksgiving is so special to her, it’s a sob-starter that reminds us that sometimes holidays aren’t as warm and fuzzy as we’d like them to be – and there’s room for that, too.

6. New Girl – “Parents” (Season 2)

Any episode with Jess and the gang is a riotous, quotable time, but when her divorced parents show up for Thanksgiving dinner and Jess attempts to “parent trap” them into reuniting – there’s a special layer of holiday chaos that takes everything up a notch. Plus, you get Schmidt screeching, “I’ll kiss Winston all day!” and what more could you want?

7. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – “Talking Turkey” (Season 1)

What happens when the younguns are tasked with cooking and feeding the adults for Thanksgiving because they are too spoilt? Hilarity, naturally. When Will’s mother Viola helps Aunt Vivian realize her kids don’t help enough around the house, Carlton, Will, Hilary and Ashley are put to work, and it is, pardon the pun, a recipe for disaster, and we love to see it.

8. The Sopranos – “He Is Risen” (Season 3)

A ‘cosy’ family they are not, however, the Sopranos’ dysfunction and drama in “He Is Risen” make for oddly compelling holiday viewing. Realistically, this episode is hardly about Thanksgiving itself, but the day does grant us two brilliantly awkward dinner scenes and Tony’s sister Janice bringing along her new boyfriend, a narcoleptic Christian songwriter who keeps falling asleep at the table.

9. How I Met Your Mother – “Slapsgiving” (Season 3)

One of the show’s best episodes – Thanksgiving or no Thanksgiving – this one has it all: Lily and Marshall hosting their first Thanksgiving as a married couple, Barney dreading the looming slap bet where the third one is yet to come, a musical number, and some classic Ted-and-Robin tension to round it all off.

10. Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “Thanksgiving” (Season 1)

There’s no shortage of squad shenanigans in Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s first-ever Thanksgiving episode, and that’s just how we like it. You’ve got Amy trying to host the team dinner just to endear herself to Captain Holt but failing at cooking, Jake hating Thanksgiving, Boyle obsessed with Thanksgiving, Terry’s food getting ruined – the start of one of the series’ great running jokes – and general hijinks aplenty.