Start out with these 5 Thanksgiving Episodes

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Continuing with the holiday theme, here are five Thanksgiving-themed episodes to get you started on thinking about the Turkey holiday. No particular order here, and stay tuned next Monday for more suggestions!

The Cosby Show: ''Cliff's Wet Adventure". It's a downright hilarious episode. It's later in the series, and as the family is preparing the Thanksgiving meal, they keep sending Cliff out to the store in the pouring rain. He forgets items and keeps having to go back out. Meanwhile, Denise invites Martin's ex-wife to dinner, in a kind gesture that ends up filling her in on why the marriage ended. Here's a clip of just the Cliff scenes:


The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: "Talking Turkey." This season one holiday episode features Will's mom coming out to visit, and the boys' professor coming for dinner. When Will's mom sees that the children do no work around the house, she gives all of the help time off, and forces the children to come up with a way to cook the holiday meal. Well, obviously this is not ideal, so it gets funny to the point of ridiculousness. (couldn't find a clip of this episode)

Home Improvement: "Thanksgiving." (even Wilson and Willow are going out of town!) while Tim schemes about how to ask if they can spend it elsewhere. When he finally asks, Jill is really happy that she can sleep in and not cook, so the Taylors go to see the Lions game in a box seat for Thanksgiving. While Tim manages to black out all the lights, the rest of the family has a good time hanging out with Rodney Dangerfield and a few other random celebrities.


Roseanne: "Home is Where the Afghan Is." There's a lot of funny jokes in this one... the final season's Thanksgiving. THe house has been redone, caterers are doing the dinner, and Bev comes out of the closet. Merriment continues as the Connor family realizes that money isn't everything and they donate a lot of food to the needy people of Lanford. Here's the opening:

Frasier: "A Lilith Thanksgiving." The Cranes go to visit Lilith and Frederick for Thanksgiving. Not a bad premise, until Lilith and Frasier go to meet the dean of a prestigious school (so Frederick can get the best education). They continue trying to make a good impression while making fools of themselves time and again. Meanwhile, Martin is playing with Frederick and he keeps getting hurt. And, Niles is making the turkey... hahahahaha. The whole thing always gets me rolling. The clip included begins with Frasier and Lilith's THIRD trip to see the Dean, and keeps going until the end of the episode (I truly believe you should watch the entire thing tho, it's so good. Part 1 and Part 2):