There are beautiful, profound traditions for families to cherish over Thanksgiving weekend: breaking bread with loved ones; expressing gratitude for life’s blessings; getting a wholesome kickstart to the rest of the holiday season. In my family, no tradition is more cherished than my personal favorite: sitting on the couch, turning on the TV, and not moving from that spot for four days.
I take deciding what we’re going to watch over Thanksgiving weekend as a grave responsibility—a duty, even. It’s a recipe as delicate and important as any dish being served at dinner: We want to be a part of the zeitgeist and see what everyone in the water cooler is buzzing about. We feel rather nostalgic, and want to rewatch comfort entertainment that we’ve bonded over as a family over the years. We want to be on theme and watch something Thanksgiving-related. And we want to use the down time to just plain catch up—there’s so much content released at a relentless pace; what better time to catch up on what we’ve missed?
So this year there will be the Old Reliables: Starting the day with the Thanksgiving parade, me making some snide joke about the delightful derangement of the floats—why is Chaka Khan singing a song from The Greatest Showman on a polar bear-themed mountain sponsored by Hidden Valley Ranch?—and mandating complete silence during each Broadway performance. At least one Friends Thanksgiving episode will be put on.
There will be a pilgrimage to the cinema, which this year will obviously be to see Wicked. I’ll tell everyone in my family that they’ll love Conclave and Anora, and that we should see them too. We will make plans to go, and then skip them. I will suggest several broadly appealing TV series that we should watch that I’ve been enjoying—Matlock, Elsbeth, and Doctor Odyssey among them—and we will watch two or three episodes of one before getting sidetracked.
Then the rest of the weekend will be spent watching Shark Tank. Hours and hours of Shark Tank. I can’t explain this phenomenon, but Shark Tank is a TV series that is apparently on at all times, any day of the week, and is only available to watch at your parents’ house. I don’t think an episode of Shark Tank has ever been viewed in any location other than your parents’ house. And, oh, will it be watched over Thanksgiving.
But those are my plans. I wanted to get a better sense of what people are watching, or at least planning to watch, over the holiday weekend. So to curate an ultimate Thanksgiving TV Guide, I went around the Daily Beast newsroom and asked my colleagues what they’re planning to screen. Here are their (delightful!) answers, should you be looking for your own turkey weekend TV inspiration.
And I will say this: What started as a prompt for an article turned into me learning so much more about (and giggling about, and being touched by) my colleagues’ lives, interests, and families. For that, this year, I am thankful.
Stand-up Comedy
As official comedy nerd of my family, it’s my job to curate 2024 stand-up specials that are (more or less) appropriate for all generations. This year, those include Seth Meyers’ Dad Man Walking, Hannah Einbinder’s Everything Must Go, Ramy Youssef’s More Feelings, and Langston Kerman’s Bad Poetry. And on my own time, I’ll be watching Anthony Jeselnik’s very not-safe-for-Thanksgiving new hour Bones and All. – Matt Wilstein, senior entertainment editor
The West Wing
Oh, I actually do have a Thanksgiving tradition. Every year The West Wing episode “Shibboleth” must be watched. It has one of the most touching scenes in the whole show – there are no dry eyes when Bartlett gifts Charlie the carving knife. Plus the side-plot of C.J. dealing with the turkeys is just the best fun. It also works as just a great episode out of festive season too. – Benjy Wilson, head of social media
Wicked, But Not Really
I’m going to find time to watch this movie which was recommended to me in a friend group chat of former Daily Beast employees. [Editor’s note: Ali proceeds to send me this deranged movie poster for something called Feather Christmas: Love Spreads Wings.] The tagline is, “When an ailing pet chicken arrives at Martin’s animal sanctuary over the holidays, his family’s festive plans are turned upside down.” That said, I cannot go see Wicked in theaters until December so I’m living vicariously through these TikToks:
– Ali Philippides, director of product management
Turkey Trot, But at Home
I’m usually traveling over Thanksgiving, but this year I am staying home and can not wait to get on my Peloton bike at 10 am ET and do Robin Arzon’s Turkey Burn ride live instead of a few days later like I usually do!” – Sara Demenkoff, chief of staff
Diva Double Feature
Honestly, I usually try to fit in a few “classic” Hoarders episodes where they hoard food and refuse to throw out their moldy pumpkins or years-old milk. It helps keep me in check re: overeating leftovers. I will also be enjoying a Wicked–Conclave double bill, united as they are as stories (tangentially) about divas in fancy red shoes. – Alex Rees, deputy executive editor
Best in Show
Every Thanksgiving I genuinely look forward to watching the National Dog Show and then spending the rest of the day convincing my family to get me some obscure breed of puppy. While I’ve yet to be given such a gift, the competition always serves as inspiration for us to rewatch the movie Best in Show. Laughter feels like the best version of “exercise” I can muster after such an enormous meal. – Lindsay Speros, senior vice president, marketing
A Comfort Watch
We’re definitely going to try and see Wicked if we can, but apart from that… I’ve been enjoying re-watching King of the Hill and as an anxious traveler during one of the busiest travel periods of the year nothing helps me find a better outlook on my own situation than the episode where the bomb squad blows up Hank’s turkey and they all get stuck at the airport. (Hopefully this isn’t prophetic.)” – Jacob Banas, associate growth director
The Best New Entry From a Classic
Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home Franklin. – Eric Faison, deputy visual director
No Soggy Bottoms
This is the Thanksgiving I lose my gay card for sure. I want to see the Wicked movie, of course, so I can participate (two weeks late), at least by vague nodding, in a cultural conversation that will hopefully outlast my own tardiness. But first of all I have to see Wicked, the musical (I know, hence my shame, here’s the gay card etc). But, guess what, there are no tickets for love nor money for that damn Broadway show, because there never are and because of that f—ing film. So, somehow, this will be my Thanksgiving mission. Plus, The Great British Baking Show, I think final is out on Netflix later this week—and I am hoping, extremely fervently, that Dylan emerges triumphant. – Tim Teeman, senior editor
Halftime, Baby!
My family watches football on Thanksgiving (which, for me, means watching the halftime shows). Last year, Dolly Parton was phenomenal in her Dally Cowboys cheerleader get-up. This year we get Shaboozey for the Lions-Bears game and Lainey Wilson for the Cowboys game halftime show. – Mary Ann Akers, Washington bureau chief
How Far They’ll Go
We are going to a Thanksgiving celebration for a few days that will have a lot of older family and hardly any kids, so I am planning to take my boys to Moana 2 when they need a break from the adult conversation! – Martha Mercer, senior editor
The Parade, Natch
It’s almost instinctive: Every year, my younger siblings and I wake up to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, letting Hoda, Savannah, and Al into our living room as we hope our dad doesn’t light the turkey aflame for the third time in five years. We then finish the day, stomachs stuffed and wine bottles scarce, with a Christmas film, signally a passing of the seasonal torch. My brother, 13, mandates tradition, so we stick to it every year under threat of death (that is, his temper tantrum). – Corbin Bolies, media reporter
