Thanksgiving over the years has become a bit of a side note as retailers and other consumer interests tend to brush it aside in order to start the mad scramble of holiday gift buying season. However, to me the beauty of Thanksgiving is that it allows you to simply enjoy a good meal with those you love and reflect on the good things that are right on hand in your life.
Even in pop culture,Thanksgiving has been less emphasized in favor of the glitz and glamor of Christmas,so I intend to write a few posts this month about what can be found that celebrates Turkey Day as a way of stirring up the good gravy pot of vibes that day brings.
TV has been one of the better mainstays of Thanksgiving spirit,with a good numbers of regular series having at least one episode dedicated to the hectic nature that big family gatherings serve up along with pumpkin pie and stuffing. Of course, some of the best TV Thanksgiving moments focus on fighting or fretting about the day and here are a handful of classic examples of that tasty trope:
FRIENDS: This show had a good number of Turkey Day episodes,particularly since Monica was a chef and very controlling about the menu. One of the better ones was when she announced to her parents that she and Chandler were an item, not knowing that Ross had blamed him for a pot smoking incident while they were at college.
That gave the Geller elders a somewhat bad opinion of Chandler,which was quickly remedied when Monica revealed what Ross had done,along with a few other secrets he was currently keeping from them. That lead to a lightning round of confessions that spread to everyone else present and made Phoebe's hidden lust for Jacques Cousteau not so bad in comparison:
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: One of the things that Ray's wife Debra felt superior about whenever their two families got together was how well her mom and dad got along with each other. That balloon of bliss was shot down one Thanksgiving as Ray overheard them talking about going to a marriage therapy seminar instead of the faboulous vacation they claimed to be going on.
That revelation disconcerted Debra greatly and her understandable yet over the top distress caused a major turkey fumble. Those suckers are slippery even if you're not agitated at someone during prep:
GILMORE GIRLS: The blend of humor and drama that this series did so well is nicely highlighted in their ultimate Turkey Day episode entitled "A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving". The deep frying happens at Sookie's house,where she lets her husband cook the bird only to discover to her culinary horror just how he plans to make it.
The situation gets even worse for Sookie as Jackson's less than sophisticated clan troop in for dinner and encourage the Thunderdome antics of the turkey drop. One of the many reasons that Lorelai and Rory should relax over their hectic holiday schedule comes from this delightful disaster:
CHEERS: Family is not just the one you're born into,as this particular episode demonstrated when the "Thanksgiving orphans" at the bar head over to Carla's house for a Turkey Day feast together. The mishaps in the kitchen lead to a long wait to eat and the simmering frustrations boil over into a good old fashioned food fight that Diane in her pilgrim gear should've well appreciated:
I hope this whets your appetite for more Thanksgiving fun as the kitchen timer counts down to that day. It would be nice if more Hollywood fare featured Thanksgiving as a focal point for a good film these days but every now and then, they do come up with something suitable and sometimes served with a sweet slice of social justice pie:
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