When the winter holiday season comes around, it is impossible to not see an episode of a television show that has been themed to Christmas, Hanukkah, or some other December festivity. From children’s shows like Blue’s Clues to classic sitcoms like Seinfeld, Christmas episodes are a must for television.
But what of the other holidays? Throughout the year, there are plenty of holidays to celebrate and plenty of television episodes to revisit throughout the seasons. Listed below are some of the best episodes from the history of holidays on television, from big name events like Halloween and Thanksgiving to smaller-scale holidays like Leap Day and April Fools Day.
“Thanksgiving Orphans” from Cheers
Few Thanksgiving episodes of television are as iconic and hilarious as “Thanksgiving Orphans,” a season five installment of Cheers is. The conceit of the episode is that none of the patrons of the bar have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving so they decide to celebrate together. In classic Cheers fashion, everything goes awry almost immediately.
The culmination of the episode is a massive food fight that Diane (Shelley Long) even takes part in. No food fight has ever been so funny and none has lived on in the cultural consciousness as strongly as that scene did.
“Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps” from Community
Community always managed to produce holiday episodes that were a cut above those of many other comedies of its time. But the third season Halloween episode, “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps,” still ranks among its finest episodes ever, forget about the holiday disclaimer. It takes a classic sitcom format (characters telling stories to each other) and turns it on its head by hinting that someone’s story is stemming from the mind of a psychopath.
The psychology behind the episode is fascinating and, in classic Dan Harmon fashion, it takes the characters to the next level. The dean with a chainsaw is a famous image from the entire run of the show.
“St. Patrick’s Day” from The Office
The Office had a number of classic holiday episodes, but it is still one of the few comedies that actually boasted an episode themed to the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. The episode comes in the middle of season six during the growing pains of Sabre’s purchase of Dunder Mifflin. As a result, the employees of Scranton are on edge as they want to celebrate the Irish holiday, but they don’t want to upset their new boss, Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates).
The episode also features the great Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) creation, “Megadesk,” which he employs into action while Jim (John Krasinski) is on paternity leave.
“Leap Day” from 30 Rock
From the beginning of 30 Rock’s run all the way through to the end, it managed to generate fantastic comedy movements that lived well beyond the run of the show. One of the late stage creations was “Leap Day,” a season six episode that features Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy learning the meaning of Leap Day.
The episode also introduces the “Leap Day Williams” character, who is a Santa Claus figure that has since been turned into a fictional, in-universe movie starring Jim Carrey as “Dave Williams.” Andie MacDowell appears to complete the Groundhog Day parallels. It is hysterical.
“Galentine’s Day” from Parks and Recreation
In the second season of Parks and Recreation, right when the show began to find its footing, writer Michael Schur unleashed a concept that would soon live on well beyond the run of the show. “Galentine’s Day,” an event that is put on by Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) to celebrate the friendships she has with women in her life, has become a real celebration that people engage in outside of Pawnee, Indiana.
Taking place the day before Valentine’s Day, the “Galentine’s Day” episode also finally gives the viewers the hint that the character of Mark (Paul Schneider) was not long for the show, finally giving way for the comedy to blossom.
“Private Charles Lamb” from MAS*H
This season three episode of MASH, “Private Charles Lamb,” brings the holiday of Easter to the 4077th. It features all the hallmarks that helped define the early years of MASH, as all the characters are in well-defined form by this point.
The heart of the Easter celebration centers on Radar (Gary Burghoff), who embodies the true spirit of what Easter is founded upon. He does this by rescuing a lamb from being killed and cooked for the Easter feast. There is still plenty to eat, but Radar has too kind a heart to watch the lamb die. It’s a defining episode for Easter television and for the character of Radar.
“Fools in April” from SpongeBob SquarePants
This April Fools Day episode of SpongeBob SquarePants proved that even children’s television could create subversive and surprising narratives that kept the audience guessing.
The episode is short, but it sees SpongeBob playing pranks on people to such an extent that it results in a cruel retaliation from Squidward. After being eschewed by lookers-on, Squidward spends the rest of the episode racked with guilt and attempting to apologize to SpongeBob. Of course, by the end of the episode, the audience realizes the prank is not quite what they thought it was.
“The One with the Rumor” from Friends
Friends carved out a niche for itself throughout its run as one of the best comedies for Thanksgiving. Almost every season of the show featured a Thanksgiving episode and now, the series of installments are run annually as a marathon. The writers always nailed what it might be like to spend Thanksgiving with friends and, on occasion, family. But the most famous episode from Friends’ Thanksgiving run was “The One with the Rumor.”
This episode features a deep dive into the history of the characters, as supported by the guest turn from the Will Colbert character. Who played Will? Brad Pitt, of course, who has just been back in the headlines with Jennifer Aniston again. It remains one of the best television guest spots ever.
“Eggs for Days” from Bob’s Burgers
Bob’s Burgers is a perfect holiday show. Some of the best holiday episodes from any television show undoubtedly come from Bob’s Burgers. Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and more have been given the Belcher family treatment to near-universal success. Of course, Easter is just as ripe for the picking.
In the season seven episode, “Eggs for Days,” Bob and Linda hide Easter eggs for Tina, Louise, and Gene, but things quickly go awry when it is revealed that one egg has gone missing. No one can remember where it is, the rotten smell is creeping into their house, and hilarious hijinks ensue.
“Treehouse of Horror” from The Simpsons
One of the greatest traditions in television is the annual installment of the “Treehouse of Horror” from The Simpsons. Since the first episode of this came in 1990’s second season of the animated sitcom, they have parlayed that into a thirty episode series throughout the run of the show. Many of its viewers are not even that old!
But the first installment will always be the best. It remains among the spookiest and most unsettling episode of The Simpsons, namely for the closing segment, “The Raven,” based on the iconic Edgar Allan Poe poem. Any episode that employs James Earl Jones’ voice will certainly focus heavily on the creepiness of the story. It is a must-watch for Halloween.
