# Are there any GOOD Thanksgiving specials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498 "2008-11-26T00:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/1 "2008-11-26T00:15:33Z")
Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving special is on tonight. It can’t hold up to the Halloween and Christmas specials. But it made me wonder, has there ever been a good Thanksgiving special? ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/2 "2008-11-26T04:10:52Z")
Hope you don’t mind a movie suggestion. I cannot think of a single Thanksgiving special! Anyway, “Home for the Holidays,” with Holly Hunter, is our MUST see for this time of year. It’s rich, brilliant, true, poignant and painful. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/3 "2008-11-26T05:21:53Z")
There is only one Thanksgiving movie: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/4 "2008-11-26T07:12:32Z")
While the Christmas special is more well known, _The Simpsons_ had a Thanksgiving special. It’s on the 2nd season. Really sentimental and heart-felt actually. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/5 "2008-11-26T08:59:05Z")
They’re episodes, not specials, but _WKRP_: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. _The Bob Newhart Show_: Moo Goo Goo Goo. ---
**Author:** ![Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hap\_Shaughnessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hap_Shaughnessy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/6 "2008-11-26T10:16:05Z")
I was gonna say that there is always at least one thanksgiving weekend matchup worth watching, and that was back in october. Then I remembered, oh ya! U.S.ian thanksgiving… Hope it’s a good one! ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/7 "2008-11-26T13:36:58Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > _WKRP_: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. They’re hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Oh, the humanity! 😃 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/8 "2008-11-26T13:51:22Z")
I think [Peices of April](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_April) is the best Thanksgiving movies out there. Not a special, but I’m suprised I haven’t seen networks playing it every Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/9 "2008-11-26T15:08:39Z")
There was a Thanksgiving ep of “The Beverly Hillbillies” which ended with a group shot of just about all of the casts of “Bevery Hillbillies,” “Green Acres,” and “Petticoat Junction” seated around the table. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/10 "2008-11-26T15:58:34Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I think [Peices of April](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_April) is the best Thanksgiving movies out there. Not a special, but I’m suprised I haven’t seen networks playing it every Thanksgiving. Oh, yeah! That was surprisingly good. We just watched it for the first time last year and I got a real kick out of it! ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/11 "2008-11-26T16:55:52Z")
I like [What’s Cooking?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197096/) ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/12 "2008-11-26T17:01:52Z")
+1 for **Pieces of April**. It has chick flick written all over it, but so what, it’s a smartly written, well-acted chick flick leavened with enough cynicism you almost don’t notice how sweet it is until it’s too late. And Katie Holmes is cute. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/13 "2008-11-26T20:36:02Z")
South Park - Helen Keller! The Musical - Season 4, ep 61 > **[Helen Keller! The Musical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller!_The_Musical)** > > "Helen Keller! The Musical" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the animated television series South Park and the 61st episode of the series overall. It is also the 13th episode of Season 4 by production order respectively. "Helen Keller! The Musical" originally aired in the United States on November 22, 2000 on Comedy Central. In the episode, the boys have to put on a "Thanksgiving Extravaganza" that is better than the kindergarteners'. Kief Davidson plays a guest role, voicing the... The kids put on a play for the school’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Gobbles! ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/14 "2008-11-26T21:00:17Z")
Chuck has had a good Thanksgiving episode these last two years. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/15 "2008-11-26T21:07:08Z")
If we’re talking about Thanksgiving episodes and not just specials, I’ve always been partial to _The Bob Newhart Show_’s version, where Emily goes to visit her family so the guys have to fend for themselves, and they wind up drunkenly ordering Chinese take-out. “You know you’re at a bad party when Elliot Carlin is the happiest guy in the room.” The West Wing had a couple of good Thanksgiving shows too, one where President Bartlett called the Butterball hotline and another one when when CJ said that the best looking turkey would be pardoned and the other one eaten and Bartett saod. 'If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch." ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-good-thanksgiving-specials/474498/16 "2008-11-26T21:49:29Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > If we’re talking about Thanksgiving episodes and not just specials, > \ Well, I was asking about specials, but threads have a life of their own and can take many directions… Besides, it seems pretty clear that there just aren’t that many good specials.