Kara Kovalchik
4 Turkey Day TV Specials (and Some Surprising Facts Behind Them)
by Kara Kovalchik - November 25, 2009 - 11:10 AM

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What does Thanksgiving mean to you? Is it a day of gathering together with beloved family members to share a bountiful repast, or is it the chore of getting up at six o’clock in the morning to shove croutons up a dead turkey while the rest of the family slumbers contentedly? Wherever your emotions fall in the overall Thanksgiving spectrum, we hope to give you some temporary relief by revisiting some of our (and hopefully your!) favorite TV turkey moments.

1. Cheers reveals what Vera Looks Like (Briefly!)

normswife.pngIn the “Thanksgiving Orphans” episode, most of the regulars who frequent Cheers have no special plans for Thanksgiving, so they accept Carla’s invitation to a potluck dinner held at her home, with Norm in charge of bringing the turkey. Norm, however, unskilled in the nuances defrosting a bird before roasting it, brings an enormous frozen turkey to the party. Tempers begin to flare when it seems like the turkey will never be ready, and a food fight breaks out. Norm’s oft-mentioned but never seen wife, Vera, arrives during the melee, but before viewers can get a good look at her, she receives a pie in the face. So, who played Vera? That role was given to George Wendt’s real-life wife, Bernadette Birkett.

2. The Drunken Origin of the Bob Newhart Drinking Game

bobphone.pngTV Guide rated the “Over the River and Through the Woods” episode of The Bob Newhart Show at #9 of the 100 Greatest Episodes Ever. It’s also Newhart’s personal favorite. Emily is going home to Seattle for Thanksgiving and Bob decides to stay home because his “patients might need him” (when in reality he can’t bear the thought of skipping stones across Puget Sound with his in-laws). His friend Jerry brings a large jug of vodka and cider, and starts taking slugs from it every time his alma mater (William and Mary) is scored against during the Big Game. Joined by Bob’s neighbor and a patient, the quartet plays the drinking game throughout several more televised football games until they realize that they should probably eat something. Bob drunkenly tries to order Chinese food on the phone:
“I’d like some Moo Goo Gai Pan. What do you want, Jerry?”
“I, too, want the Moo Goo Gai Pan.”
“Another Moo Goo…Goo Goo…”
“Bob! You said ‘Moo Goo Goo Goo!’”
“Maybe I’m ordering Chinese baby food!”
This episode inspired the “Hi, Bob” drinking game, where participants down a shot every time those words are spoken during an episode of the show.

3. WKRP’s Strange (and True) Turkey Day Promotion

Arthur Carlson, the station manager on WKRP in Cincinnati, longs to play more of an integral role in daily operations. So, in the “Turkeys Away!” episode, he secretly plans a special Thanksgiving promotion – dropping live turkeys out of a helicopter over the Pinedale Shopping Mall. The station’s earnest but clueless news reporter Les Nessman is on the scene reporting live, and at first states that skydivers are jumping out of the copter. But when no parachutes open…he suddenly realizes that he is witnessing live turkeys hitting the ground “like sacks of wet cement.” Mr. Carlson hadn’t intended any animal cruelty; “As God is my witness,” he states after the event, “I thought turkeys could fly.” Oddly enough, this episode was based on an actual radio station promotion that one of the show’s writers had witnessed. The stunt was inspired by an annual “turkey drop” festival held in Yellville, Arkansas, which was finally halted in 1989 after animal rights activists got wind of it.

4. Will and Grace struggle to Keep the Story Straight

willgrace.pngWill and Grace fans learned the entire back story of all the main characters in the “Lows in the Mid-Eighties” episode (which originally aired as a one-hour special in November 2000.) Flash back to 1985, when Columbia student Grace brings boyfriend Will home with her for Thanksgiving. After dinner, Grace is all hot and bothered when they retire to her bedroom, but Will feels conflicted and rushes to the bathroom to call Jack, whom he’d met briefly earlier that day. Jack has already correctly noted that Will is gay, which Will vehemently denied at the time. “If you’re all hot for your girlfriend, then why are you on the phone with me?” Jack asks him. In addition to clarifying quite a bit, the show does bring up one inconsistency. This episode briefly shows Diane, the only woman with whom Will was intimate, but she’s a redhead played by a writer’s assistant. In a later episode, Diane is portrayed by blonde Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino.

Since you’re probably reading this at work while marking time until the long weekend begins, why not chime in with your favorite Thanksgiving TV episodes?

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Comments (55)

  1. While it’s not necessarily a favorite, I can’t help but smile when I look back on that Friend’s episode where Monica ends up putting the turkey on her head. Quite inspired. As for actual favorites, the Slapsgiving episode of How I Met Your Mother was great. Proving it’s not the act of getting slapped that’s terrifying so much as it’s the anticipation.

    posted by Nate on 11-26-2008 at 11:39 am

  2. I love the Thanksgiving episode of The West Wing that finds Charlie tasked with finding the perfect carving knife for the First Family’s turkey. Despite hours of research, the president nixes every suggestion. Ultimately, we discover that the president is so picky because the Bartlett family has been using the same carving knife for generations — a gift to the family from Thomas Jefferson, passed down from father to son. President Bartlett ups the “aww” factor by giving the knife to Charlie.

    posted by Chelsea on 11-26-2008 at 11:41 am

  3. I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Pangs” episode.

    Buffy: Native American. We don’t say Indian.
    Giles: Oh, oh, right, yes. Always behind on the terms. Still trying not to refer to you lot as bloody colonials.

    Buffy cuts the Indian with his own knife, thinking she can defeat him. Instead, he changes into a huge bear.
    Spike: A bear! You made a bear!
    Buffy: I, I didn’t mean to.
    Spike: Undo it, undo it!

    posted by Laura on 11-26-2008 at 11:50 am

  4. The Turkey Trot in Yellville is still going on. I attended in 2006. They fly a small plane over downtown and drop turkeys out of it. The turkeys kind of half fly/fall to the ground and then the townsfolk chase them and if you catch the turkey you get to keep it. My best friend and I actually saw a turkey whose blindfold was not removed fall like a stone and die right in front of us before it was scooped up by about 100 kids. It is an awesome spectacle and should be attended by all.

    posted by Patrickgre on 11-26-2008 at 11:51 am

  5. Patrickgre…lol.
    the visual image of kids jubilantly picking up a dead turkey and tearing it apart is either wrong or really, really funny.. (im leaning more towards funny.)

    posted by Jill on 11-26-2008 at 12:03 pm

  6. It’s not a Thanksgiving episode, but in Mr. Beans Christmas, when Rowan Atkinson winds up with a turkey on his head is so ridiculously funny…..

    posted by Chris Thorpe on 11-26-2008 at 12:31 pm

  7. I like the ep of Friends where Joey wears maternity pants to eat. Scary clownish maternity pants. yikes

    posted by qt314159265 on 11-26-2008 at 12:57 pm

  8. Chelsea…Sorry to be a nudge…but the Bartletts’ carving knife was made by Paul Revere and bore the initials PR which Charlie has not seen before.

    I would agree though, that is a great Thanksgiving episode. Especially with the turkeys showing up in CJ’s office.

    posted by Matthew on 11-26-2008 at 1:05 pm

  9. Every Mental Floss reader should enjoy the Thanksgiving 2000 episode of Friends: “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs”. That’s the episode where Chandler challenges everyone to name all 50 states in 6 minutes, and Ross is driven crazy when he can’t do it.

    posted by gmsc on 11-26-2008 at 1:06 pm

  10. On the WKRP turkey drop. I believe it came from an event at WQXI in Atlanta. Not sure about the Arkansas deal. Sandy being from GA may remember the event.

    posted by Kev in GA on 11-26-2008 at 1:25 pm

  11. The Friends epsidoes are classic…especially when they played football. How I Met Your Mother’s Slapsgiving was great too.

    The funny thing is, if he really did think the turkey’s could fly, why would he drop them out of a helicopter to people on the ground? Wouldn’t the birds just fly away after being dropped from the helicopter and nobody on the ground would get a turkey anyway?

    posted by Mike James on 11-26-2008 at 1:51 pm

  12. That’s my fav episode of the Bob Newhart show too!! I like the part later in that phone call when he says the order is for Dr Newhart. As in Drrr

    posted by Emmie on 11-26-2008 at 3:00 pm

  13. Remember on Mad About You when they kept ruining the turkey and buying new ones at the corner store?

    posted by Karen on 11-26-2008 at 3:13 pm

  14. @GMSC – I remember that episode! I think all of my friends who saw it immediately tried to write down all 50 states as quickly as possible! :)

    posted by Dawn on 11-26-2008 at 6:11 pm

  15. GMSC: I bet my dad’s friend that I could do that at the last Thanksgiving. We had a race–and I won! That was pretty hilarious…

    posted by Allison on 11-26-2008 at 6:39 pm

  16. ok, Slapsgiving on HIMYM was seriously genius TV. as was the Buffy, Pangs. but the best line EVER from Pangs has to be from Spike about political correctness around Native American cultures:

    You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That’s what conquering nations do. It’s what Caesar did, and he’s not goin’ around saying, “I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.” The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story.

    posted by mri on 11-26-2008 at 7:52 pm

  17. I cannot believe that the turkey drop event continued for almost ten years after the WKRP ‘Turkey’s Away’ episode!

    posted by billy on 11-26-2008 at 7:59 pm

  18. How is this Turkey Trot in Yellville thing even legal, is that not animal cruelty? I’m disgusted that so many people would be involved in killing animals this way and make it into a fun event.

    posted by Brittany on 11-27-2008 at 11:58 am

  19. mri- i’m really glad that you find giving disease ridden blankets to women and children under false pretenses as acceptable warfare.

    and had the nazi’s won WWII, they could use the same excuse about jews…so i’m thinking that quote is a little shortsighted.

    posted by Em on 11-28-2008 at 2:37 am

  20. I really loved the episode of Murphy Brown in which she tried to cook dinner in a homeless shelter, only, of course, to have it all go awry. I still giggle when I think about “almost turkey.” :-)

    posted by Mark on 11-29-2008 at 1:13 pm

  21. MRI was quoting from the show – chill out

    posted by to em on 12-1-2008 at 5:46 pm

  22. “It is an awesome spectacle and should be attended by all” posted by Patrickgre

    By all what? Cro-magnons? Neanderthals? Knuckle-dragging, mouth-breeding inbreds who have the collective intelligence of a pice of turd?
    They’re the only ones who would enjoy something as disgusting as a turkey drop.

    posted by TenpoleTudor on 12-3-2008 at 2:02 pm

  23. Les Nessman “like sacks of wet cement” had to be the best, although I have played the Newhart game..every time my NFL team scored..makes for a short night!

    posted by Hargo on 12-4-2008 at 6:53 pm

  24. Tenpole Tudor, it is “Mouth-breathing”. Not Mouth breeding.

    posted by GreySkyGrl on 12-7-2008 at 5:36 pm

  25. Re: Friends Episode. I thought everyone was weaned on the “Fifty Nifty United States” song in middle school choir? All 50 in alphabetical order, and a space to shout your own state as “the Best!!”. That and the alphabet backwards I learned in kindergarten have gotten me many free drinks in bar bets. God bless small town schools and their teachers.

    posted by Flower on 12-13-2008 at 3:03 pm

  26. The Thanksgiving episode of Roseanne where Jackie is pregnant and Roseanne invites Fred over even though Jackie doesn’t want him there. The best part is when their great nana mary exposes that their mom was pregnant before she got married and Beverly storms out yelling “nobody loves me, I’m all alone” and they all go chasing after her and Fred stops Jackie to ask if she’s ok with all of the excitement going on and she responds “out of my way fred i’m not missing this”

    posted by Jenn on 12-16-2008 at 1:05 am

  27. I so agree with you, Laura! And the best was Spike’s statement:

    Spike: Watch the heart!

    posted by Jen Pen on 1-11-2009 at 5:29 am

  28. Jenn: I totally agree with you, that episode of Roseanne is probably the funniest Thanksgiving show ever. I love (and, sadly, completely understand from experience) the whole family dynamic there, my mother is just as crazy as Bev (although to my knowledge she never turned out to be a lesbian).

    posted by Kritti on 11-25-2009 at 12:08 pm

  29. dont forget the thanksgiving episode of friends, the one with brad pitt and joey’s maternity pants.
    there’s also the thanksgiving episode on roseanne where beverly comes out of the closet

    posted by beth on 11-25-2009 at 12:17 pm

  30. Two things that can’t be topped:

    1. Chandler’s Bing’s aversion to Thanksgiving.

    2. “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

    posted by Zane on 11-25-2009 at 12:24 pm

  31. The Sports Night (greatest show that no one watched) episode where Dana was defrosting a turkey on the lighting grid.

    posted by Chris on 11-25-2009 at 12:30 pm

  32. All are great remembrances, however, after spending a lifetime being compared to the main character I’ve got to go with a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special. Snoopy’s inspired attempt at making dinner for all matches my first attempt at cooking when I knew the turkey was done because the smoke alarm went off.

    posted by Not a Chef on 11-25-2009 at 12:39 pm

  33. Okay, is the slap bet of HIMYM the same as the one where Robin and Ted go to work in the food shelter and find Barney working? Was that one a Thanksgiving or Christmas episode? My boyfriend and I have been binging through whole discs in one sitting, so everything’s starting to blur together. :)

    Um, favorite thanksgiving day specials – I second the “Mad About You” with all the turkeys and the aforementioned HIMYM episodes.

    I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of any right now…

    posted by OkieMelissa on 11-25-2009 at 12:41 pm

  34. oh duh! That Will&Grace episode is one of my favs — I remember watching that and just thinking it was hyserical/brilliant. I love the part where Will thinks he’ll just rectify the proposal in the morning, only to hear Grace and her family playing the piano and signing…

    hyseterical.

    posted by OkieMelissa on 11-25-2009 at 12:51 pm

  35. i’m sorry to complain, and i’m sure somone will put up a comment telling me not to, but this is the same post from last year. i’ve noticed recently a lot of posts are recycled. sorry if i have a good memory, but i for one feel let down by the lack of new information here. and for those of you out there who are going to then turn around and say that i should stop reading the site, i have much faith in our flossers and hope that we will get new information.

    posted by beatlesfanpa on 11-25-2009 at 12:51 pm

  36. @ beatlesfanpa–shouldn’t the flossers who provide us with such great trivial bounty all year take time off?

    I much prefer this to nothing for a few days; and I’m sure newer viewers appreciate what they’ve been missing.

    posted by Wayne on 11-25-2009 at 1:50 pm

  37. Cheers Thanksgiving episode where they had dinner in the bar. Classic!

    posted by JFRANKO on 11-25-2009 at 2:07 pm

  38. Wasn’t the Friends episode with Brad Pitt in it a Thanksgiving one? “YAMS!” That scene still cracks me up!

    posted by Kate on 11-25-2009 at 2:35 pm

  39. My favorite quote from WKRP was the same episode, Les Nessman again:
    “Oh the humanity!”

    posted by Helenann on 11-25-2009 at 3:12 pm

  40. Hmmm…wish I had read this post BEFORE taking the quiz…probably would have had a 100.

    recaptcha: Bills mel – Yes, recaptcha I know, I’m broke.

    posted by melly on 11-25-2009 at 3:45 pm

  41. @Chris

    I can’t believe someone beat me to it! The Sports Night episode where Dana thaws the turkey in the light grid for the “dry run of Thanksgiving” has got to be my favorite Thanksgiving episode of anything!!

    When it falls on the anchor desk, and she says, “I’ve named this Thanksgiving. I’m calling it ‘The Thanksgiving of Mom’s Disapproval.’ Included on the 2-record set are the hit songs ‘Why Aren’t You Married?’ And ‘Sports Is No Place for an Educated Woman’ and ‘Didn’t Anyone Ever Tell You How to Cook a Turkey?’” I lose it. Every time.

    posted by Amauriel on 11-25-2009 at 4:00 pm

  42. I just did a “Oh the humanity!” today. How funny…I never use that term.
    Oh, and this year’s HIMYM was pretty good, too. My bf and I had been arguing about how many slaps were left (he said there none) so I was stoked to see I still had a slap to look forward to. And it was AWESOME!

    posted by chrilew on 11-25-2009 at 4:08 pm

  43. For those of you who like the “Roseanne” Thanksgiving episodes, you can watch them on TV Land Thanksgiving night. Find these and many more Holiday programs on this awesome list: http://tvtango.com/news/detail/id/120

    posted by GobbleGobble on 11-25-2009 at 4:08 pm

  44. The best “Friends” thanksgiving episode was the one where Rachel made the “traditional” trifle with custard and beef sauteed with peas and carrots.

    The Brad Pitt one with the rumour is a great episode too…

    posted by Martin on 11-25-2009 at 5:02 pm

  45. My personal favorite Thanksgiving special is How I Met Your Mother’s “Slapsgiving” and was thrilled to see that this year was “Slapsgiving 2″

    posted by Erica on 11-25-2009 at 5:52 pm

  46. I don’t remember the plot of one “Cheers” Thanksgiving episode too well (I do recall someone dressed as a Pilgrim), but have ever since then referred to the turkey as “Birdzilla”. ;)

    posted by Seanette on 11-25-2009 at 6:03 pm

  47. NORM!!!!!!!!!!!

    posted by BD on 11-25-2009 at 7:24 pm

  48. Without a doubt, the WKRP episode is the funniest Thanksgiving episode ever. But (and I did not like the show) I remember the Mad About You episode, already mentioned above, that was very, very funny.

    posted by _dss on 11-26-2009 at 12:32 pm

  49. @Chris

    Your right Sports Night is by far the best show no one ever watched.

    posted by DC on 11-26-2009 at 1:27 pm

  50. Oh gosh I love that Friends episode with the rumor and I watched the one where Joey get the Turkey stuck on his head that was funny.

    posted by Kari on 11-26-2009 at 2:51 pm

  51. Oh the West Wing has to be the best, with the Turkey’s in CJ’s office. Bartlet pardoning the second Turkey, oh so great. And Paul Revere’s knife that gets me every time!

    posted by Brit on 11-27-2009 at 3:03 pm

  52. Les Nessman’s commentary (“Oh, the humanity”) was taken from the radio report of the crash of the Hindenburg, widely considered the first out of studio radio news report.

    posted by CapitalCat on 11-27-2009 at 3:47 pm

  53. @ Brittany – you don’t understand it because you didn’t grow up there and that’s why you don’t live there. It’s ok for people to be different. /You/ choose not kill or consume animals but other people do and that’s /their/ choice.

    Do a little research, the Turkey Drop releases /wild/ turkeys and they can fly (and land safely). So it’s not cruelty and therefore isn’t illegal. The turkey drop is part of a reintroduction of a natural species into the area.

    Tudor said, “…Cro-magnons? Neanderthals? Knuckle-dragging, mouth-breeding [sic] inbreds who have the collective intelligence of a pice of turd? They’re the only ones who would enjoy something as disgusting as a turkey drop.”

    @ Tenpole Tudor
    Yes, it is too bad that not everybody can be a pretentious, hypocritical, arrogant and pompous hater.

    Is that really how you view rural peoples Tenpole? How very sad.

    posted by roi_ratt on 11-30-2009 at 2:13 am

  54. Rre: the Will & Grace episode: Is it that odd for the character to have different colored hair at different moments in her life? Most women I know have colored their hair occasionally for a new look. Of the episode itself, I love the setup that prompts the memories, where the clueless girl doesn’t realize her boyfriend is gay. I also love Karen’s memory of dancing in a disco to The Power Station’s “Some Like It Hot.”

    posted by Rob on 11-30-2009 at 9:01 pm

  55. My favorite is the classic WKRP episode. Gordon Jump, who played Arthur Carlson in WRKP, went on to become the Maytag Repairman. I met Mr. Jump at a Maytag event, and spoke with him briefly. Despite his new persona, he told me the most frequent question he was asked was to repeat that famous line, \As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly.\

    posted by Gordon Daily on 12-8-2009 at 7:43 am

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