Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers! For us at PopWrapped, Thanksgiving means being grateful for all that life has put your way and spending time with family and friends. It also means turkey and a very possible food coma. And, of course, lots of TV. While we count down the hours until Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life premieres (is it midnight yet?), some of us wanted to share with you some of our personal favorite Thanksgiving TV episodes.
Dani: Gilmore Girls – “A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving”
This is my favorite Thanksgiving episode for many reasons but mostly because it’s so damn relatable. The best part about Gilmore Girls has always been its heart, and the holiday episodes are no exception to that rule. Throw in some Tofurkey, Sookie melting down over the death of cooking decorum, Lorelai freezing out her parents for pushing Rory toward Yale, and you’ve got all the makings of a perfect forty-minutes of holiday bliss.
Amanda: General Hospital – “Episode #1.8877”
When I think of TV Thanksgivings, I immediately think of the Quartermaine family on General Hospital. The show’s most prominent family hosts dinner at their mansion for the extended family and close friends. They have a chef, but something always goes wrong, and it’s a rare occasion when the turkey makes it to the table unscathed. They usually end up ordering pizza. My favorite Thanksgiving episode goes back to 1997. The pizza was pre-ordered and delivered by robbers dressed as pilgrims. When they only have $64 between them, they start suggesting expensive pieces of art they’d love to get rid of. As they’re leaving, the local mob enforcer aka estranged grandson shows up with a turkey and the robbers leave. Sadly, the turkey hit the ground, and the dog got into the pizza. Classic Quartermaine Thanksgiving!
Rain: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – “My First Thanksgiving With Josh”
Aside from it being a landmark for Filipinos in American television, the episode is really notable for its accuracy. Let us face it, American media does not always get other cultures right. Especially in a sitcom setting, it can come out as stereotypical and offensive. It was also not pandering; they showed the good and the bad side of Filipino families and characters, poked fun at all of it, made it really funny, without it being offensive! I haven’t seen anything like it before; they were able to balance it out without sacrificing the entertainment value and the truth of it.
Sydney: Gossip Girl – “Blair Waldorf Must Pie!”
Thanksgiving was an annual feature on Gossip Girl, unlike other shows where these holidays seem to come and go. And, for a show filled with actors who look like they have haven’t sniffed toward a food-filled table in years, they always had a dramatic spread. This episode was the first Thanksgiving we shared with our Upper East Side friends. We got flashbacks to pre-settled down (if that’s what she was) Serena, and it might even be the first time we feel bad for Blair, as her daddy issues and eating disorder come back to the surface. Sometimes family is a lot more about the people we meet than blood relation, and we don’t always have to get along to feel a lot of love for each other. It’s also good to look back and see JUST. HOW. ADORABLE. Little Jenny Humphrey was back in the beginning (before the raccoon eyes attacked).
Ursula: Friends – “The One With All The Thanksgivings”
Of course it had to be this one! I love all of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes; they are all classics (Rachel’s trifle which “Tastes like feet!”, Brad Pitt, and this gem of a quote: “A moo point?” “Yeah, it’s like a cow’s opinion, you know, it just doesn’t matter. It’s ‘moo.’”), and it was tough to pick one from the whole bunch, but, if I really, really had to pick just one, it would be this one. I’m a sucker for flashbacks, and this episode goes way back (all the way to Phoebe’s 1862 Thanksgiving). We get to see Rachel’s old nose and Joey’s head stuck in a turkey, we are introduced to Ross and Chandler’s band’s new song “Emotional Knapsack” and we learn the reasons why Chandler hates Thanksgiving and why Monica decided to lose weight. And the cherry on top is at the end of the episode when Chandler tells Monica he loves her for the first time. What more can a TV viewer ask for?
What are your favorite TV Thanksgivings? Let us know!
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