Once you’ve consumed Thanksgiving dinner, there’s very little you want to do besides flop down onto the couch, and just rot a little bit for the next few hours. And if that’s not your preference, well, more power to you. Either way, you might be looking for something to watch.
As always, there’s a whole slew of offerings this Thanksgiving, beginning bright and early with the Macy’s parade and capping off with a transition into the Christmas season. It can be hard to know where everything is though, so we’ve got you covered.
You can find a whole list of movies and TV to watch this Thanksgiving below.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
If you’re a fan of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, you need to be up pretty early to catch it all. The broadcast of the parade — opened by Cynthia Erivo this year — starts at 8:30 a.m. in all time zones on NBC and Peacock. An encore telecast will air at 2 p.m. ET/PT.
The National Dog Show
Do you know anything about show dogs? Probably not. Does that stop you from being offended if the wrong dog wins the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving Day? No, never. That’s the joy of watching it. This year, you can catch the canine event on NBC at noon.
Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol
It’s been nearly 15 years since the last “Prep & Landing” special graced our screens, but 2025 brings us a new one. “Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol” airs on Disney Channel at 7 p.m. EST/PST on Thanksgiving. It’ll be available to stream on Disney+ starting Nov. 28.
Christmas Movie Marathons
For those who wait until Thanksgiving dinner is done to start the Christmas movies, you’ll have a lot of options.
Beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT, TBS will have a Christmas movie marathon of “The Year Without Santa Claus,” “The Polar Express” and “Four Christmases.”
TNT’s Christmas movie marathon begins at 1:30 p.m. ET/PT with “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” followed by “Candy Cane Lane” and “Elf.”
“Friends” Thanksgiving Episode Marathon
As always, the classic “Friends” Thanksgiving episodes will play back-to-back on the big day. You can watch your favorites from 12:30 p.m. ET/PT to 6 p.m. ET/PT.
The Beatles Anthology
The rollout of “The Beatles Anthology” on Disney+ actually starts the day before Thanksgiving, but you can watch it in full over the weekend, if you want to wait a bit. The first three episodes premiere on Nov. 26, followed by three more on Thanksgiving, and then three final episodes on Nov. 28.
NFL Games
There are three football games for fans to watch this Thanksgiving. You can see who’s playing and where to watch them below:
- Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions — 1 p.m. ET on Fox and Fubo
- Kansas City Chiefs at Dallas Cowboys — 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+
- Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens — 7:20 p.m. on NBC and Peacock
Mary Poppins
Once you’ve had several spoonfuls of potatoes and stuffing at dinner, you can plop on the couch and enjoy a spoonful of sugar. “Mary Poppins” will air on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Thanksgiving night.
Wizard of Oz
Odds are, “Wicked: For Good” might leave you wanting to revisit “The Wizard of Oz.” The good news is, that’s super easy to do. It’ll be airing on TBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Thanksgiving.
