What are the best TV shows to watch this Thanksgiving?

The West Wing season 2 episode 8 — “Shibboleth”

Thanksgiving is home to one of the best American traditions in which the President pardons a turkey.

The whole thing is a little bit weird, but Aaron Sorkin did what he does best in picking up on the odd minutiae of American politics, and gave us one of the best Thanksgiving episodes of all time, pardoned turkey(s) and all.

“Shibboleth” is the eighth episode of the second season. Whilst press secretary CJ Cregg is worrying about having to lead the press in song and choose which turkey to pardon, a more complicated issue is going on in the Oval Office.

A group of Chinese refugees are seeking asylum in America, after being persecuted in their home country for being Christian. China claims no such thing and demands their return, leaving Bartlet to negotiate between doing the right thing and keeping close ties with an ally.

Again, as is the trend with all my favourite episodes, this is an excellent ensemble piece. We’ve got moments of President Bartlet being the best fictional President of all time (and giving us a severe case of President envy).

But we’ve also got Sam, Josh and Toby being actual children and stashing the live turkeys in CJ’s office, like the little brothers she never had or needed.

CJ and Donna get some much needed time together (their friendship being one of my favorites in the series), with the latter helping CJ with that aforementioned song-leading. And beautiful, perfect cinnamon roll Charlie gets given a very important gift by the President and honestly I don’t know who I love more. 

Once again, this show gives you the feeling of being part of something important and meaningful. Would that President Bartlet could tell us he’s proud of us all.

This is a heartfelt episode and a reminder of how good this show could be when at its best. The A plot is high stakes and the B plot far less so, but it’s all about the same thing — giving, whether that’s giving a turkey its life, granting Chinese Christians asylum or gifting an old family carving knife to someone to show you care. It’s all very emotional and I really love The West Wing.