Your Thanksgiving week TV guide: Football, parades, ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Charlie Brown’ and more

Whether you’re watching football, a parade or a “Godfather” marathon, Thanksgiving Day is as much about being sprawled on the sofa in elastic-waist pants as it is the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie that got you there in the first place.

Sure, sure, holidays are about spending time with your family. But sometimes that family time goes smoother if you’re all sitting together quietly in a room staring at a screen.

If that sounds like your family, here are some of your Thanksgiving Day best bets (we included some pre-Thanksgiving Day shows, too, so you can start your couch-training early).

Monday, Nov. 20

▪ “Kevin Can Wait” at 8 p.m. on CBS – Kevin realizes he can’t handle cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner so he asks his flirty neighbor to help.

▪ “Superior Donuts” at 9 p.m. on CBS – Franco hosts an orphan’s Thanksgiving at the donut shop.

▪ “9JKL” at 9:30 p.m. on CBS – Nick mistakenly brings home the wrong woman from the nursing home when sent to pick up Nana Roberts for Thanksgiving.

▪ “Holiday Baking Championship” at 9 p.m. on the Food Channel – Seven bakers must create a Thanksgiving dessert using a mystery canned fruit. Later, bakers must combine two traditional desserts for one dish.

Tuesday, Nov. 21

▪ “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” at 9:30 p.m. on Fox – Jake and Amy attempt to get their parents to bond over Thanksgiving dinner. Also, someone steals Holt’s Thanksgiving pie from the office.

Wednesday, Nov. 22

▪ “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” at 8 p.m. on ABC – In the 1973 Charles M. Schulz special, Charlie Brown arranges a special dinner for the gang but, but his caterers – Snoopy and Woodstock – prepare toast and popcorn as a main dish. Also presented is a bonus film, “This Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers.”

▪ “Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving Special” at 9 p.m. on NBC – A collection of the show’s Thanksgiving-themed sketches, featuring memorable moments such as A Thanksgiving Miracle, Vincent Price’s Thanksgiving Special, Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving Special, an Adam Sandler song and more.

Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23

▪ Minnesota Vikings vs. Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m. on FOX

▪ Los Angeles Chargers vs. Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. on CBS

▪ NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins at 8:30 p.m. on NBC

▪ Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade at 9 a.m. on NBC and CBS – The 91st annual parade in New York City features 50-foot balloons, floats, Broadway musical performances, marching bands and lots of celebrities. It repeats on NBC at 2 p.m.

▪ McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade at 9 a.m. on WGN – This Chicago parade is an 84-year tradition.

▪ If there’s not enough family drama at your own house, “Chrisley Knows Best” delivers plenty on USA from 6 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

▪ “The Godfather” and “Godfather 2” run all day on AMC starting at 9 a.m. If you’re desperate to see “Godfather 3,” it’ll air at 2 a.m.

▪ “The Andy Griffith Show” marathon on TV Land runs from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., followed by a “M*A*S*H” marathon from 2-8 p.m.

▪ In case there’s any chance you’ve forgotten how hilarious “Martin” was, BET will remind you from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

▪ “Star Trek” – the original series that started in 1966 – will run all day starting at 9 a.m. (and going until 1 p.m. Friday, actually) on BBC America.

▪ FX has a family movie marathon starting at 7 a.m. with “Smurfs,” followed by “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2,” and back-to-back showings of “Minions” and “Despicable Me 2” throughout the day.　　

▪ The FXX comedy movie marathon starts at 8 a.m. with “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” followed by “Click” and “Fantastic Four,” and ending with “21 Jump Street” and “22 Jump Street.”

▪ Also on FXX, starting at 8 p.m., it’s eight of the best holiday episodes of “The Simpsons.”

For true crime fans, Investigation Discovery has three primetime programs about gruesome murders that took place on or near Thanksgiving. Happy holidays!

▪ “The Nightmare Before Thanksgiving” at 8 p.m. – A sleepy Washington town is rocked after Narleen Campton is found brutally murdered in her own home days before Thanksgiving.

▪ “Thanksgiving Evil” at 9 p.m. – In Waldorf, Md., 23-year-old Chris Mader is murdered on Thanksgiving, and the police have no suspects. Years later, an unlikely informant will lead police to his killer.

▪ “Horror for the Holidays” at 10 p.m. – Alice Hufnagle, 67, is murdered in her home days before Thanksgiving in 2002. 　　

▪ The National Dog Show is another Thanksgiving Day tradition. And this year, 10 dogs from the Triangle were vying for a spot. Noon on NBC.

▪ “Arrow” at 9 p.m. on The CW – Oliver celebrates Thanksgiving with his family, but Black Siren interrupts when she returns to wreak havoc on the holiday.

▪ “Life in Pieces” at 9:30 p.m. on CBS – Heather, Clementine and Jen offer to save Joan from the stress of preparing the Thanksgiving meal.

Don’t forget those Hallmark movies

Hallmark has a special “Thanksgiving week” of new movies. They’re Christmas movies, of course, but the special part is that we get new movies for five straight nights, not just on Saturdays and Sundays. They all air at 8 p.m.

▪ Wednesday, Nov. 22: “With Love, Christmas”

▪ Thursday, Nov. 23: “Mistletoe Inn”

▪ Friday, Nov. 24: “Finding Santa”

▪ Saturday, Nov. 25: “The Christmas Train” (this is the biggie, starring Danny Glover, Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams Paisley and Joan Cusack)

▪ Sunday, Nov. 26: “Switched for Christmas” (this one has Hallmark regular Candace Cameron Bure)

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Your Thanksgiving week TV guide: Football, parades, ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Charlie Brown’ and more."