Thanksgiving is a time when family and friends can come together with an attitude of gratitude and enjoy a festive meal and good company. It’s a time when, at least in America, we remember where we came from and think back on those early pioneers who traveled sat down at that first Thanksgiving feast. But if you’re anything like this author, this time of year puts you in the mood for a good, old-fashioned Western. So, we’ve put together a list of some of the best Thanksgiving episodes of popular Western TV shows for your holiday enjoyment.
Admittedly, there are a surprisingly small number of Thanksgiving episodes of traditional Western television. Perhaps that’s because the holiday was still generally pretty new in the time period the genre usually takes place in. Although various “Thanksgiving Days” were celebrated in early American history, the holiday as we know it wasn’t instituted as an official national event until 1963, smack in the middle of the American Civil War. The date itself wasn’t fixed as “the fourth Thursday in November” until 1941. Either way, those in the Old West were likely a bit more focused on Christmas rather than Thanksgiving, but there are still a few Western television programs that made sure to celebrate the national holiday.
7
‘Daniel Boone’
(“The Thanksgiving Story,” 1965)
Running for six seasons between 1964 and 1970 on NBC, Daniel Boone was an adventure series that featured Fess Parker as the titular frontiersman, who would travel across the American West long before the traditional Western time period we think of. Set somewhere in the 1770s and 1780s, this was nearly a century before Thanksgiving was established by Abraham Lincoln as a national holiday, but as we noted, Americans were still celebrating some form of Thanksgiving before the Civil War. Thus, “The Thanksgiving Story” takes Daniel Boone and Jericho Jones (Robert Logan) off on an adventure when a Choctaw war party arrives to threaten his family. But things get wild when Rebecca Boone’s (Patricia Blair) father, Timothy Patrick Bryan (Wagon Train‘s John McIntire) arrives and causes a stir by trying to replicate that famed first Thanksgiving, inviting Chief Gabriel (Rodolfo Acosta) and his men to dinner.
All to impress his grandson, Israel (Darby Hinton), Bryan’s actions lead to an impromptu revisitation of the traditional 1621 Plymouth story, complete with a turkey dinner. While not set in your usual late 1800s Western setting, Daniel Boone still offers that historical frontier feel that one craves when engaged in a good horse opera. It’s a bit traditional (and perhaps a bit oversimplified), but there’s nothing wrong with that. This Season 2 episode is a good one to kick off the holiday with, and will have you craving turkey for sure.
6
‘The High Chaparral’
(“For What We Are About to Receive,” 1968)
Speaking of turkey, if you’re hoping to revisit another NBC classic this November — particularly one that feels a bit more like a traditional TV Western — then The High Chaparral ought to be the next on your Thanksgiving watchlist. Season 2’s “For What We Are About to Receive” begins the day before Thanksgiving as Victoria Cannon (Linda Cristal) and the ranch hands try to secure a turkey for the big day, only to have to deal with a man squatting near Big John Cannon’s (Leif Erickson) land. So, a turkey shoot ensues as the cowboys struggle to find just the right bird. It’s a hilarious look at an Old West Thanksgiving celebration and is the perfect horse opera to revisit this time of year, full of plenty of levity and upbeat family squabbles that’ll feel both familiar and refreshing.
When speaking about the episode, which aired the day after Thanksgiving on November 29, 1968, actor Henry Darrow (who played Victoria’s brother Manolito Montoya) recalled to the Ames Tribune that, “The bird falls off my wagon, and in one scene, we’re all out in the desert making various turkey sounds trying to catch it. That was a fun episode.” Because The High Chaparral was largely focused on a blended family of white and Mexican Americans coming together, you might expect that the show delved further into the divisions going into a holiday episode. But while it dips into that, it mostly focuses on bringing everyone together. “Instead of fighting, we ended up sharing the meal,” Darrow explained. “It was like the first Thanksgiving all over again — a wonderfully written episode for the season.”
5
‘Little House on the Prairie’
(“The Little House Years,” 1979)
Okay, so here is where we fudge what it means to be a Thanksgiving episode, proper. The truth is that there’s no actual Thanksgiving episode of Little House on the Prairie. This was because, as Laura Ingalls herself, Melissa Gilbert, noted in her book, My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours, Thanksgiving wasn’t in the 1870s what it is to America now. While the show tackled Christmas episodes in its day, the Midwestern program never saw the Ingalls clan enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal — at least not on the show itself. However, in 1979, NBC ran a holiday special during the show’s sixth season (just in time for Thanksgiving) called “The Little House Years,” which reflected on the show’s best moments as the Ingalls family gather around for a turkey dinner.
“The Little House Years” is essentially a clip show, but one that uses Thanksgiving as a vantage point for the Ingalls’ festive gathering and trip down memory lane. It’s a great television special that harkens back to simpler times — at least from Charles (Michael Landon) and Caroline’s (Karen Grassle) perspectives — and allows each of the characters to note what they’re thankful for. It may not be your usual Western fare, but it’s a delightful reminder of what’s important in life as spoken by those who struggled against the American frontier. But if you’re in the mood for a turkey hunt after all this, go and revisit Season 3’s “Journey in the Spring.” It’s not set during Thanksgiving, but it’s all about Carrie (Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush) befriending the Ingalls’ prized dinner bird. Gulp!
4
‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’
3
(“Giving Thanks,” “Thanksgiving,” “One Touch of Nature,” and “The Tempest,” 1993-1996)
Another non-traditional Western series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is a vast departure from the usual shoot-’em-up horse operas, but it’s still set firmly in the late 1860s/early 1870s, meaning its perfect for a list like this. Another thing that makes Dr. Quinn such a profound addition here is that there isn’t just one Thanksgiving episode to choose from: there are several. For four years straight, this six-season Western drama took the time to produce an annual Thanksgiving episode, with Dr. Michaela Quinn (Jane Seymour) and her eventual husband Bryon Sully (Joe Lando) often right in the middle of the festivities. This is just perfect while we wait for that long-ancipated revival! Beginning with Season 2’s “Giving Thanks,” Dr. Quinn urges its audience to remember to be grateful when the townsfolk of Colorado Springs are hit with a nasty drought around turkey time.
From there, hop over to Season 3’s “Thanksgiving,” which features the newly married Kid Cole and Sister Ruth (played by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash) joining Sully and the doc through hostile Native territory. The following season’s “One Touch of Nature” challenges Dr. Mike and Sully, as they struggle with giving thanks while being unable to conceive. Lastly, Season 5’s “The Tempest” threatens the very day itself as a storm brews on Colorado Springs as Dr. Mike fights tooth-and-nail to cook a traditional Thanksgiving feast. By the end of each of these four Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman adventures, the true meaning of Thanksgiving will become clear.
2
‘Yellowstone’
1
(Select Episodes, 2018-2024)
While at least Little House on the Prairie had a Thanksgiving special to fall back on, the truth is that there is absolutely not a single Thanksgiving-themed episode of Yellowstone. Sorry to disappoint. While Season 4’s “Under a Blanket of Red” and Season 5’s “Horses in Heaven” both aired around Thanksgivingtime (an intentional move on the Paramount Network’s part), neither feel all too festive nor holiday. Indeed, anyone who has watched a single episode of the Taylor Sheridan-created neo-Western knows that any time the Dutton family sits down for a meal together, it usually ends with Beth (Kelly Reilly) having some sort of temper tantrum and John (Kevin Costner) secretly wishing he’d never had children. But just because Yellowstone doesn’t have a Thanksgiving episode doesn’t mean it isn’t perfect for the holiday season.
For one thing, your family probably isn’t as openly nasty to one another as the Duttons are, so that’s something to be thankful for this November. But more than that, the Paramount Network almost always runs a four-day Yellowstone-themed Thanksgiving marathon on its platform every year. While that’s often coincided with new episodes in the past, now that the drama is over, the entire Yellowstone saga can be enjoyed from beginning to end. While Paramount has yet to confirm if its bringing Yellowstone back for a Thanksgiving marathon this year, chances are looking good after its previous Fourth of July and Labor Day marathons. At this point, it’s just old-fashioned American tradition, right?
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