The good folks at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, who produce the Peabody Awards honoring excellence in storytelling that reflect social issues and emerging voices, sent out a list of notable Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes from shows that won or were nominated for Peabodys. They noted many shows, including Friends and Cheers, had memorable Thanksgiving episodes. The most famous is probably WKRP in Cincinnati’s 1978 “Turkeys Away” which saw the radio station misguidedly release live turkeys out of a helicopter. But other quality shows produced less well-known holiday-themed episodes viewers should consider, should they be looking for thoughtful entertainment available to watch on popular streaming services. Here is a recap with the Peabody reasoning. (P.S.: Peabody submissions are open until December 12.)
Mad Men, “The Wheel” (season 1, episode 13): “Ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) fights with his wife, Betty (January Jones), when he tells her he doesn't want to go to Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ house with their two children, saying the drive isn't worth the trouble. Don stays home to work instead, claiming he must now that he's a partner in the firm. In a theme-crystallizing moment for the entire series, Don puts together a riveting, emotional pitch for Kodak's new, wheel-shaped slide projector, using his own images of happy family moments while telling the clients, ‘This is not a spaceship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards and forwards, and it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. On Mad Men, the performance of an ideal — that happy family — is more important than the ideal itself, and it's always for sale.’ ” (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.)
