The Official Guide To Thanksgiving Weekend TV

If you go home for the Thanksgiving holidays, you might find yourself in front of an antique piece of technology you haven’t used since the mid 2000s: A cable TV. You’ll be reminded of those days of flipping through hundreds of channels, with nothing to watch. Except on Thanksgiving weekend, there’s always something to watch.

The Thanksgiving TV schedule is jam-packed with marathons and holiday specials that could keep you glued on that LA-Z-BOY for hours. We're talking 12 hours of Godfather and 12 hours of Titanic. Back-to-back Long Island Medium. More Mythbusters than you knew there were myths. And, of course, the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

‘Tis the season to be jolly, and to be a couch potato. Here are the best holiday specials, movie marathons, and show marathons to keep your eye out for on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Thanksgiving.

Holiday Specials
The Real Story of Thanksgiving (8 - 9 a.m., History)
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (8 - 9 p.m, ABC)
iHeartRadio Music Festival (8 - 9 p.m., CW)
Elf (8:50 - 11:00 p.m, Freeform)
A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving Special (9 - 11 p.m., NBC)

Marathons
Sherlock (6 a.m. - 6 a.m. following day, BBC)
The Real Housewives of Atlanta (7 a.m. - 2 p.m., Bravo)
Titanic (9 a.m. - 3 a.m. following day, AMC)
That ‘70s Show (10 a.m - 2:30 p.m., Comedy Central)
Law & Order (11 a.m. - 2 a.m. following day, Ion)
Expedition Unknown (12 p.m. - 3 a.m. following day, Travel Channel)
Property Brothers (1 p.m. - 1 a.m. following day, HGTV)
South Park (2 p.m. - 1:00 a.m following day., Comedy Central)
Storage Wars (5 p.m. - 10 p.m., A&E)

Football
Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m., Fox)
Los Angeles Chargers at Dallas Cowboys (4:30 p.m., CBS)
New York Giants at Washington Redskins (8:30 p.m., NBC)

Holiday Specials
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (9 a.m. - 2 p.m., NBC)
Elf (6:40 - 8:50 p.m., Freeform)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (8:50 - 11 p.m., Freeform)

Marathons
VH1 movie marathon, including Pretty Woman and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (2:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., VH1)
Star Trek: The Original Series (6 a.m. - 11 p.m., BBC America)
Chrisley Knows Best (6 a.m. - 10:30 p.m., USA)
Forged in Fire (7 a.m. - 9 p.m., History)
Live PD (8 a.m. - 3:30 a.m., A&E)
Dirty Jobs (9 a.m. - 7 p.m., Discovery)
Mythbusters (9 a.m. - 12 p.m., Science)
The Godfather and The Godfather II (9 a.m. - 9:30 p.m., AMC)
Star Trek (9 a.m. - 12:00 p.m, Comedy Central)
Syfy movie marathon, featuring Carrie and Resident Evil (10 a.m. - 4 a.m. following day, Syfy)
Gone With the Wind marathon (11 a.m. - 12 a.m., SundanceTV)
Running Wild with Bear Grylls (11 a.m. - 12 a.m., National Geographic)
Blue Bloods (11 a.m. - 12 a.m., Ion)
Minions & Despicable Me marathon (11 a.m. - 11 p.m., FX)
Jurassic Park movie marathon (12:15 p.m. - 8 p.m., TNT)
Ridiculousness (12:45 - 6:30 p.m., MTV)
The Three Stooges (1 - 5:35 p.m., IFC)
Friends (1 - 5:30 p.m., TBS)
Food Paradise (1:30 - 7 p.m., Travel Channel)
Tanked (1 p.m. - 12 a.m., Animal Planet)
Long Lost Family (4 p.m. - 3 a.m. following day, TLC)
The Simpsons (8 - 11:30 p.m., FXX)
TCM Family Comedy Marathon (8 p.m. - 4:15 a.m., TCM)

Holiday Specials
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (8 - 10 p.m., NBC)
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (8 - 9 p.m., ABC)

Marathons
Star Trek: The Original Series (12:10 a.m. - 11 p.m., BBC America)
Alaska: The Last Frontier (12 a.m. - 4 p.m., Discovery)
Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta (3:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., TLC)
Law & Order (6 a.m. - 12 a.m., SundanceTV)
The ‘90s: The Last Great Decade? (9 a.m. - 12 p.m., National Geographic)
The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings movie marathon (9 a.m. - 8 p.m.)
The Karate Kid series (11 a.m. - 10 p.m, AMC)
Law & Order (11 a.m. - 2 a.m. following day, Ion)
The ‘80s: The Decade That Made Us? (12 p.m. - 12 a.m., National Geographic)
Ancient Aliens (12 - 9 p.m., History)
Mom (12 - 6 p.m., FXX)
John Gates’ Destination Truth (5 p.m. - 3 a.m., Travel Channel)
The Simpsons (6 - 11:30 p.m., FXX)
Long Island Medium (7 p.m. - 12:00 a.m., TLC)