The 20 best Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes

"Chloe persuades (June) to come to her parents' house for Thanksgiving, but June begins to feel uncomfortable." This description does not include the part where Chloe makes June pretend she uses a wheelchair or the part where June had previously hooked up with Chloe's dad (who is still married to Chloe's mom...who actually does use a wheelchair). This really was the best show.

♪ I get to cut you open ♪

This is the schmaltziest of the six original recipe "90210" Thanksgiving episodes, but it's also the one where Andrea tries (and fails) to prove her woke status by befriending the homeless man Brandon brings home. (She fails at that, too.)

Oh, Bryce Larkin, you beautiful jerk. That’s the moral of this episode — and “Chuck” as a whole when you really think about it. Let us forever appreciate this line: “I'm thankful Bryce Larkin is dead and not in my bedroom making out with my new girlfriend.”

There are 10 "Friends" Thanksgiving episodes to choose from, so you really can't go wrong with any of them. But while there are definitely some major sanitation issues to think about outside of the episode itself, there is perhaps no Thanksgiving "Friends" image more iconic than Monica with the turkey on her head. No wonder Chandler tells her he loves her upon seeing it.

Alexa, play "You Just Got Slapped."

Just admit it: This episode makes you cry. They all make you cry, but this one specifically makes you cry cheese dog-flavored tears.

Sure, Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner make their first "New Girl" appearances here as Jess' divorced parents, but the real highlight of the episode is Schmidt vs. his cousin Schmidt (Rob Riggle). "ALL DAY!" (And unlike the first Thanksgiving episode for this show, thankfully, there is no Turkey-in-a-dryer adorkableness.)

Dave reaches peak Dave in the form of his "1/16th Navajo" status leading him on his own personal Thanksgiving day quest.

This is such a good episode of "Gossip Girl" that the title pun is more heartbreaking than it is obnoxious.

This is a classic "O.C." episode in the Seth/Anna/Summer saga, and while we all know now that both young women were too good for Seth Cohen, sometimes it's nice to go back and remember simpler times.

The titular Gilmore Girls have to hit four Thanksgivings in one day, and Kirk adopts an abusive cat. This is one of the classics.

With every passing year, it feels like "That '70s Show" isn't remembered as fondly as it should be. A lot of that is because of just how rough the later seasons got, but the early stuff still deserves to be remembered. Which is also the case for series' first season Thanksgiving episode, in which, well, we hear Red call Eric a "dumbāss" for the first time.

This is an episode nine seasons into a series' run — a series that is still cranking out maximum laughs well into its 13th season — and it relies on the previous eight seasons of these characters' terribleness to explain why they would finally want to apologize in any way for anything. The squashing of the beefs fails miserably, but of course it does.

The second season of "Master of None" was very uneven — except for when it didn't focus on Dev. In fact, it was just plain good then. No episode illustrates that more than "Thanksgiving" — the episode that focused on Denise (Lena Waithe) and her struggles with her family and her sexuality over the years on Thanksgiving.

It's possible there's a "Buffy" episode for pretty much any holiday-related TV list you can make — and for good reason. (The reason: "Buffy" is the best.")

As mentioned in the recent Megan Mullally gallery: "The best 'Will & Grace' episodes typically aren’t the best for just one character; they’re the best for the whole group. And 'Moveable Feast' perfectly captures that, as Will and Grace and Jack and Karen decide to spend Thanksgiving together — and do so by making all of their necessary family Thanksgiving visits together (each getting one hour) before they can go back home and eat the turkey they cooked."

♪ Kill the turkey! ♪

This is technically the final piece of the Eve puzzle (it's weird Dawson just found out Eve was Jen's half-sister and did literally nothing about it), but it's somehow a really good episode of "Dawson's Creek." And the only one where the whole gang spends Thanksgiving together — somehow. (They eventually spend Christmas together, but Audrey drives Pacey's car to the Leary house. It's a whole thing.)

LARMY ASSEMBLE! This is the "Cougar Town" episode in which Laurie changes her outfit with every passing scene, and that's worth the price of admission to this Thanksgiving feast alone.