The New Girl Thanksgiving Episodes, Ranked By Kookiness
Because it's not the holidays without some classic mess arounds.
The holidays are a time for getting together with all the people you love most in the world... including the fictional ones. In fact, the holidays spent with fictional friends can be some of the best, mostly because you get to relive them year after year with repeat viewings. And there’s no group of fictional friends more fun to hang out with holiday season after holiday season than the New Girl characters. Jessica Day’s unbridled enthusiasm for all things crafty and festive makes her the perfect leader for all the loft holiday celebrations, and it makes all the New Girl Thanksgiving episodes a real treat to watch.
Out of the seven total seasons of New Girl, five of them include a Thanksgiving episode, making Turkey Day a big tradition on the show. Since so much of New Girl is centered on the loft roommates (plus Cece) hanging out in their downtown Los Angeles home, it makes perfect sense that the series did such a good job of celebrating Thanksgiving, which is the ultimate hang-out holiday. Of course, Jess' (Zooey Deschanel) plans for the perfect loft Thanksgiving often get foiled by all the guys' hijinks (and a few of her own), but that's what makes the New Girl Thanksgiving episodes just so memorable.
But which one is the *most* memorable? Here’s the list of New Girl Thanksgiving episodes, ranked by just how kooky they get.
5. Season 6, Episode 7: “Last Thanksgiving”
Let’s just clarify one thing right away: Even the least kooky Thanksgiving episode of New Girl is still pretty kooky. Nick (Jake Johnson) gets so upset that his girlfriend Reagan (Megan Fox) is missing Thanksgiving that he ends up trying to pass off half an onion and a bottle of whiskey as a side dish. I don’t think it gets more quintessentially Nick Miller than that. While Reagan doesn’t show up, Jess’ boyfriend Robby (Nelson Franklin) and Schmidt’s dad Gavin (Peter Gallagher) do, and they nearly ruin the perfect meal Jess is determined to get on the table. This episode gets a last-place spot, though, just because it’s a bummer that fans are constantly reminded it’s the last Thanksgiving in the loft.
4. Season 2, Episode 8: “Parents”
The New Girl Thanksgiving episodes usually have major Friendsgiving vibes, but this Season 2 episode brings some big family moments to the loft. Jess invites her divorced parents to Thanksgiving dinner in the hopes of pulling a Parent Trap to get them back together. On top of that, Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and his cousin Big Schmidt (Rob Riggle) have a “manliness competition” that results in some primo kookiness.
3. Season 4, Episode 9: “Thanksgiving IV”
For most people, Thanksgiving is all about spending the holiday with the people you love. For the New Girl gang, Thanksgiving is all about being with the people you want to hook up with — at least in this episode. Schmidt decrees the holiday as “Bangsgiving,” and everyone brings someone to set up with another member of the gang. This episode gets major kooky points for Winston’s (Lamorne Morris) resurfaced fear of lunch ladies coming out thanks to his date.
2. Season 3, Episode 10: “Thanksgiving III”
The New Girl Season 3 Thanksgiving episode might be a dark horse in the competition for kookiest episode. While all the other episodes take place in the loft, the gang heads to the woods for this one. But it’s this trip to the woods that makes this episode just so kooky. The gang decides to go back to their roots by spending Thanksgiving out in the wild, which results in one of Jess’ weirdest moments ever: She eats a rotten old fish and loses her mind... at least until a trip to the hospital sets her right again.
1. Season 1, Episode 6: “Thanksgiving”
The number one spot has to go to the original New Girl Thanksgiving episode. This Season 1 episode sets the tone for all the Thanksgiving episodes after it, primarily thanks to the wild antics that happen amid Jess’ quest for the perfect day. Thanks to a dead body and a turkey in a dryer, this episode rings in the holiday season with plenty of kookiness and laughs.
You can watch all these Thanksgiving episodes, along with the rest of New Girl, on Netflix.
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