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3 best (HBO) Max shows to watch for Thanksgiving

Blair Marnell
By

When you’re a subscriber to Max, you have plenty of options for your Thanksgiving-related viewing. But the truth is that most of those programming options are for reality-based TV shows and tied into Discovery’s original series. If that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll find it here.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for laughter to carry you through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, then you’re in luck. Here are our picks for the three best Max shows to watch for Thanksgiving.

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Friends (1994-2004)

The cast of Friends.
Warner Bros. Television

This one was a no-brainer, because few shows have devoted themselves to annual Thanksgiving episodes like Friends. All 10 seasons featured Thanksgiving hijinks, most notably when Monica (Courteney Cox) put a turkey on her head to cheer up Chandler (the late Matthew Perry), only to get an unexpected declaration of love from him.

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Watching the six main characters on this show come together for Thanksgiving was one of Friends‘ best traditions. Nearly two decades after the series went off the air, Friends still feels like an indelible part of this holiday season. It’s hard to picture what the show would have been like without episodes like these.

Watch Friends on Max.

The Middle (2009-2018)

The cast of The Middle at the Thanksgiving episode.
Warner Bros. Television

The Middle is significantly less famous than Friends, but the two shows shared a devotion to putting out a Thanksgiving episode every season. Everyone Loves Raymond veteran Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn starred in the series as Frances “Frankie” Heck and her husband, Mike, the parents of three kids: Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher), and Brick (Atticus Shaffer).

While this series is a comedy, there were some serious moments in the Thanksgiving episodes, particularly in the eighth season when Frankie clashed with her oldest son, Axl, about his relationship with his girlfriend, April (Greer Grammer).

Watch The Middle on Max.

South Park (1997-Present)

The kids from South Park with a Pilgrim.
Comedy Central

South Park isn’t the kind of show that typically celebrates holidays like Thanksgiving, but series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker know a lot of about pushing people’s buttons with their South Park holiday episodes. Case in point is t, the season 15 episode A History Channel Thanksgiving, which skewers Thanksgiving, History Channel, and itself.

This episode also had an especially well-deserved mockery for the people who have turned History Channel into a channel that traffics in flimsily supported alien shows.

Watch South Park on Max.

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Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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