The Simpsons: Thanksgiving Episode Guide

The Simpsons has touched Thanksgiving only a handful of times — eight episodes, from the genuinely poignant "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" to the Emmy-nominated anthology "Thanksgiving of Horror." All of them stream in the U.S. on Disney+. Since Rotten Tomatoes doesn't score individual Simpsons episodes, ratings below are from IMDb.

Episode Synopsis

Bart vs. Thanksgiving (1990) — The most purely Thanksgiving-focused episode the show ever made. Bart accidentally wrecks the centerpiece Lisa built for the table, refuses to apologize, and runs off. He ends up mistaken for a homeless kid at a soup kitchen before reconciling with his sister back home. Quieter and more dramatic than the show's later style, with an early hint of the social commentary The Simpsons would lean into more over the years.

Homer vs. Dignity (2000) — Money troubles push Homer into taking humiliating gigs from Mr. Burns for cash, culminating in a widely-mocked stunt involving a panda costume during the town's Thanksgiving parade. Thanksgiving itself is mostly a backdrop here; the plot is really about Homer's spiraling desperation and Burns' cruelty. It's often cited as one of the show's rougher outings.

Homer the Moe (2001) — Moe reinvents his bar into a trendy hipster hangout after some career burnout, leaving Homer, Lenny, Carl, and Barney feeling unwelcome. Homer opens a makeshift bar in his own garage, disguised as a hunting lodge to dodge liquor laws. The holiday connection is thin — mostly a few scenes of the barflies marking Thanksgiving together as their own found family.

The Wettest Stories Ever Told (2006) — A dinner gone wrong at the Frying Dutchman leads the family to pass the time telling three nautical tales, the first of which recasts the Mayflower's voyage with Homer and Marge as reluctant Pilgrims, ending on the first Thanksgiving and a rueful nod to the fate of the Wampanoag. The other two stories (a Bounty mutiny riff and a capsized-cruise-ship tale) have nothing to do with the holiday.

Holidays of Future Passed (2011) — Opens on a Simpson family Thanksgiving before jumping thirty years ahead to see Bart and Lisa as parents themselves, each struggling with their own kids over the holidays. Frequently ranked among the show's best latter-day episodes and a favorite pick for what a series finale could have looked like — its themes of gratitude and generational patterns tie back neatly to the holiday it opens on, even though most of the runtime plays as a Christmas story.

Thanksgiving of Horror (2019) — A "Treehouse of Horror"-style anthology built around the holiday instead of Halloween: a Black-Mirror-inspired tale about an AI mishap during dinner, a bloody Apocalypto-style hunt tied to the "first Thanksgiving," and a sentient, murderous blob of cranberry sauce menacing the family in space. The longest episode the show had made at the time, and Emmy-nominated.

Treehouse of Horror XXXII — "Poetic Interlude" (2021) — Not a standalone episode but one segment inside the XXXII Halloween special, styled after Edward Gorey's illustrations with Vincent Price-style narration (via Maurice LaMarche). It runs through a year of Bart's pranks month by month, including a Thanksgiving turkey-carving stunt, before ending on a dark twist involving Maggie.

Step Brother from the Same Planet (2022) — Grampa's new girlfriend comes with a young son, and Homer bristles at watching his own father dote on this new "step-brother" over Thanksgiving. Bart and Lisa, meanwhile, throw parties at Grampa's retirement home to boost Lisa's social standing. The plot deliberately echoes the season 4 episode "Brother from Another Planet," just with Homer now playing Bart's old role.