It’s impossible to imagine a typical TV show not having a Christmas or Halloween episode. Such storylines are staples of conventional programs, especially broadcast network shows with 20-22 episodes a year to fill. Having a go-to spooky or Yuletide episode is a good way to immediately check off go-to storylines for those seasons. However, one holiday that isn’t nearly as ubiquitous on TV is Thanksgiving. Sure, some TV shows like Friends and Bob’s Burgers have a plethora of Thanksgiving episodes for viewers to choose from. However, most other TV programs never even touch the holiday. Why is that? What’s kept Thanksgiving from being nowhere near as ubiquitous in television history as other end-of-the-year holidays?
Thanksgiving Ain’t Valuable (Commercially)
Sometimes, the simplest explanations are also the correct ones. In this case, Thanksgiving TV episodes aren’t especially common because this holiday isn’t especially commercialized. When you walk into your local Wal-Mart or Dillard’s in October or December, you can’t escape the Halloween or Christmas decorations. In sharp contrast, Thanksgiving paraphernalia is a lot scarcer, and there isn’t a mystical icon like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny to hinge the holiday on. Nor is there an opportunity to sell people on candy or toys that you simply must have for Thanksgiving — it’s a social holiday where stores can sell food, but not necessarily all the extra trappings other holidays have in spades.
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Thus, there’s been little commercial pressure for executives to constantly make sure TV shows are producing Thanksgiving-themed episodes advertisers would love. Plus, Thanksgiving is a bit messier than other end-of-the-year holidays, which could curb writers from coming up with special Turkey Day episodes. Halloween is tied into childlike excitement over getting free candy or spooky ambiances. Christmas, Hanukkah, and other December occasions are connected to all sorts of emotions, both good and bad. Thanksgiving, meanwhile, is a day-long celebration often mostly fun for adults reconnecting after being apart. That doesn’t instill the nostalgic love for Thanksgiving that propels people to create iconic Halloween or Christmas episodes.
Thanksgiving Needs More Clout
Plus, at this point, the long tradition of Christmas or Halloween-themed episodes on TV cast a long shadow that Thanksgiving can’t escape. Halloween is connected to an endless string of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror installments. Christmas is intertwined with various holiday specials (like A Charlie Brown Christmas) or beloved sitcom episodes celebrating the spirit of the season. There are older Thanksgiving-themed TV exploits like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or Turkey Day marathons of Mystery Science Theater 3000. However, competing with the tremendous pop culture legacy of Halloween and Christmas TV programming is a tall order for any Thanksgiving-themed production. Most TV shows opt to never even try.
There’s also the fact that Thanksgiving is a decidedly American holiday, which can make episodes about these festivities hard to translate for global audiences. Many TV shows are produced with hopes of getting them viewed worldwide, after all. Several countries beyond America celebrate either Christmas or Halloween. Thanksgiving, meanwhile, is intertwined forever with the founding of America and a version of its past. That’s not the kind of material that every TV viewer around the world will instantly understand, especially within the confines of a fluffy sitcom episode. These are the kinds of small-screen shows built to be easily digestible, not alienate potential viewers with strictly American customs.
There are endless reasons for why Thanksgiving is nowhere near as ubiquitous on television as other major holidays. This even includes the lack of extensive build-up to Thanksgiving compared to nearly every day in December tying into big holidays. That reality leaves little room for broadcasters and streamers to properly schedule a Thanksgiving-themed episode that will be timely to viewers. However, even with all of these challenges, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any Thanksgiving episodes out there in the pop culture landscape.
On the contrary, the 2010s saw a string of cheeky subversive TV comedies stepping into the fill the void of Thanksgiving program left by classic sitcoms and broadcast network shows. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, and Veep are a few of the programs in this era that took messy, jagged characters and plopped them into Thanksgiving-centric episodes. It’s quite fitting this holiday, often so rife with family drama, would end up getting connected to grimy shows full of comedic turmoil. Meanwhile, the 2010s also saw the debut of Bob’s Burgers, a show all about cooking and familial wackiness. No wonder this animated show began doing regular Thanksgiving episodes that have become part of many people’s holiday traditions.
Even with these departures from TV norms, Thanksgiving episodes remain an anomaly in television. This is especially true in the streaming era of television, where programs create fewer episodes each season and often drop episodes all at once rather than sprinkling them throughout eight or nine months. This practice leaves little room for even episodes directly tied into the biggest holidays on the planet, let alone Thanksgiving. Come the final Thursday of this November, plenty of people will be chowing down on Thanksgiving treats. However, history suggests it’s doubtful they’ll do so while a Thanksgiving-themed episode of their favorite TV show blares in the background.
