The Simpsons love to celebrate with lots of food on Thanksgiving, as do we. From pumpkin pie, Cranberry Sauce A'la Bart, and the pièce de résistance, the grand turkey. Then, you'd probably want to catch the football game or the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, as Homer and Bart did. Whatever your tradition is for the holiday of great feasting, you'll laugh years after as something might ripple it.
With The Simpsons' Thanksgiving episodes, you'll laugh as ripples in the family dynamics occur. This is pretty much the scenario for most families, but depending on the situation, things usually smooth out. Such is the case with Homer and his loving, mischievous abode, including their beloved pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II.
In celebration of this year's Thanksgiving, we're ranking all three official episodes that honor the giving of thanks and the turkeys since the birds had to be sacrificed for our plates.
Ranking all 3 The Simpsons Thanksgiving episodes
"Holidays of Future Passed" (season 23)
While "Holidays of Future Passed" only makes a brief Thanksgiving scene, we love the family arc in this one. Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are now adults with kids of their own, but like the years before them, they share some trying experiances and trials. Bart's two boys forge a bond with Homer, and Zia, Lisa's daughter, connects with her in a special way. The Simpsons aren't perfect, but overtime, they learn how to appreciate and respect one another.
"Thanksgiving of Horror" (season 31)
The "spinoff" of "Halloween of Horror," Thanksgiving of Horror," has three stories reflecting a twist on the holiday. In Colonial Springfield, turkeys in The Simpsons' characters' likeness try to escape being a holiday dinner for the Pilgrims. Then, Marge uses AI to prepare a delicious Thanksgiving feast, only to have it backfired. In the last and futuristic segment, Lisa, Bart, and many other kids are now living on an ARK space station (hello, The 100), trying to survive from a lousy prep of Jello, only having the dessert desiring to be part of a meal.
"Bart vs. Thanksgiving" (season 2)
"Bart vs. Thanksgiving" follows the more traditional route of the holiday, as it brings in Grampa, Grandma Jackie Bouvier (Marge's, Patty's, and Selma's mother), and Patty and Selma to join in on the festivities. However, Bart makes a mess of things and leaves home with Santa's Little Helper, only to find that things at home aren't as bad as they are on the streets. The episode underscores a societal divide, much like the theme in several of Charles Dickens's stories. I don't know if that was the writer's intention to include this subtly, but as a kid watching it back in 1991, it flew over my head, as most things usually do at that age, but now, as an adult, I'm noticing the storyline more and more.
Also, "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" was the first episode that The Simpsons parodied themselves, with a TV airing of Bart's balloon in the Springfield Thanksgiving Parade.
Well, that was unexpected, but hilarious.