With so many Thanksgiving TV marathons, and only so much time to watch between consuming your weight in gravy, you don’t want to get sucked into a single marathon — only to realize six hours later that you’ve wasted the entire day filling up on DIY’s “I Want That.”
Here’s a handy guide to help you cherry-pick the best episodes within each marathon so you’ll have plenty of time for extra pumpkin pie or that Thursday-is-the-new-Black-Friday sale.
“How I Met Your Mother Slapsgiving Marathon” (7 a.m. – 7 p.m. on FXX):
Twelve hours of this comedy could be a lot for anyone to stomach, but a couple of strategically placed episodes could get the whole family laughing, especially with the wide array of guest stars, ranging from “Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston to Britney Spears.
The one to watch: They never topped the anticipation of Marshall (Jason Segel) serving up a heaping helping of Thanksgiving smackdown on Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) after the former cheated and lost the “Slap Bet,” which culminated with “Slapsgiving” (5 p.m.) A close second is the episode that revealed Robin (Cobie Smulders) was a teenage pop star in her home Canada in “Robin Sparkles” (10 a.m.).
“Castle” (10 a.m. – 11 p.m. on TNT):
This fun detective series, which has resolved the romantic tension and has since moved on to wedding planning, dips back to 2009 and its premiere season, so you can see how it all began before Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) started picking out their China pattern.
The one to watch: In “A Chill Goes Through Her Veins” (2 p.m.), the writers finally seemed to “get” star Fillion’s appealing humor, and so begins the long, slow buildup of the chemistry between the partners as Kate shares the details of her mother’s murder with Castle for the first time.
“Thanksgiving with Friends” (10 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. on TBS):
Live the holiday all day long with all 10 Thanksgiving episodes of this NBC series, which was typically among the best episodes each season for this hit comedy. And they toss in four extra episodes as the whipped cream on the pie.
The one to watch: Among their comedic masterpieces was the first flashback episode,“The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks” (noon), where we see the plights of overweight Monica (Courteney Cox), the pre-nose job Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and the ’80s-inspired Ross (David Schwimmer) and Chandler (Matthew Perry). Morgan Fairchild guest-stars as Chandler’s mother.
“Modern Family” (9:30 a.m. Thursday – 1:30 a.m. Friday on USA):
Viewers got to pick their favorite episodes of this already aging comedy for this marathon. But before the kids hit puberty, this family gave us plenty to be thankful for.
The one to watch: When Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) sings “Ave Maria” over the scene as Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) tries to kill the pigeon that got trapped in the house — a la “The Godfather” — in “Family Portrait” (10 p.m.), the series set itself apart from the usual comedy fare by showing it could combine its best assets: a comically-gifted cast who could deliver slapstick stories with a heart-warming conclusion.
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” (8 a.m. Thursday – 5 a.m. Friday on BBC America):
This channel went off the deep end into “Doctor Who” land this month, so they apparently are embracing their inner sci-fi nerd by overloading their plates with Patrick Stewart’s Picard and the rest of the crew.
The one to watch: The wonderful guest villain Q (John de Lancie) forced everyone into a twisted revival of “Robin Hood and His Merry Men” in “Qpid” (3 p.m.).