Why Abbott Elementary Has No Thanksgiving Episodes

Why Abbott Elementary Has No Thanksgiving Episodes Lisa Ann Walter's Melissa smiles in the staffroom in Abbott Elementary

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

By Cathal Gunning Published 27 minutes ago Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

While Abbott Elementary has never released a Thanksgiving episode in the ABC sitcom’s first five seasons, there are a few good reasons for this. Abbott Elementary’s cast of characters is one of the funniest sitcom lineups on TV. After only five seasons, the series can already go toe to toe with The Office as an all-time great workplace sitcom.

However, while Abbott Elementary’s season 4 finale was almost perfect, the sitcom hasn’t quite managed to hit every classic sitcom staple yet. Abbott Elementary season 5 episode 1 highlighted the show's iconic custodian, Mr Johnson, but the show has allowed other supporting characters to fade from the spotlight as the series focused mostly on Janine, Gregory, and Ava.

Similarly, although Abbott Elementary has featured plenty of Halloween and Christmas episodes in its time, the show has not yet released a Thanksgiving episode. This is a surprisingly common approach among many sitcoms, even though Friends famously made a point of acknowledging the American holiday regularly.

Abbott Elementary’s Release Schedule Makes Thanksgiving Episodes Difficult

Barbara and Melissa making funny faces on Abbott Elementary

Abbott Elementary's Melissa and Barbara making funny faces to someone off camera.

The reasoning behind Abbott Elementary’s lack of Thanksgiving episodes has less to do with the show’s storyline and more to do with the timing of its release schedule. As a traditional network sitcom, Abbott Elementary typically starts its seasons in September or October and ends them around May.

More pertinently, Abbott Elementary generally breaks for a hiatus in late November, as was the case with seasons 5 and 4, or starts its season after November, as happened in seasons 1 and 3. Season 3’s premiere was delayed by the 2023 industry strikes, whereas season 1’s later release was due to the show’s status as a mid-season premiere.

Since Abbott Elementary season 5 episode 1 aired early in October, the show needed a multi-week hiatus midway through the season to release 22 episodes by May 2026. Thus, Abbott Elementary season 5, episode 6, “No Phones,” aired on November 5, and episode 7, “Goofgirl,” won’t air until December 3.

This timing means that Abbott Elementary season 5 squarely misses out on Thanksgiving, even though every earlier season of the series has featured both a Halloween episode and a Christmas episode. While unfortunate, this does suit the show’s themes and story as well as its release schedule.

Abbott Elementary’s Focus On Christmas and Halloween Makes Thematic Sense

Janine handing someone paper on Abbott Elementary

Janine Teagues on Abbott Elementary, working at the school district.

As its title implies, Abbott Elementary is set in a large public school and focuses largely on the titular institution’s teachers and pupils. Both Halloween and Christmas are holidays that are a massive deal for kids, whereas Thanksgiving is more of a family affair. Without presents or trick-or-treating, it doesn’t impact the pupils as much.

Teachers are also traditionally less likely to receive a midterm break around Thanksgiving than they are at Christmas or Halloween, thus making the holiday even less relevant to the show. In the world of Abbott Elementary, Thanksgiving isn’t a huge deal because the holiday is about family, and the show is about a workplace.

Admittedly, Christmas is also family-centric, but Abbott Elementary’s Christmas episodes work around this by portraying the colleagues as a type of unlikely found family. However, while this is moving in Christmas episodes, it risks feeling a little forced in Thanksgiving episodes, thanks to the final issue with the holiday.

Abbott Elementary’s Lack of Thanksgiving Episodes Is Secretly A Good Thing

Abbott Elementary's teachers hugging Janine

The cast of Abbott Elementary hugging.

Ultimately, Abbott Elementary avoids Thanksgiving for the same reason that The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory, and most other classic sitcoms have more Christmas and Halloween episodes than Thanksgiving ones. If these shows covered all three holidays, then every second episode from October to January would be a holiday special.

Cutting Thanksgiving makes the most sense since it is a region-specific holiday, unlike Christmas and Halloween. Viewers across the world celebrate Christmas and Halloween, making these events more universal, whereas only Americans celebrate Thanksgiving in late November. This makes it understandable for Abbott Elementary to focus on more universally popular holidays.

Abbott Elementary could pull off a Thanksgiving episode, since plenty of schools put a lot of work into celebrating the holiday. However, this would be needlessly culturally specific to the US, while Christmas and Halloween episodes translate easily overseas. Abbott Elementary's season 4 highlighted this reality by featuring two Christmas specials in lieu of another holiday episode.

It remains to be seen whether season 5 will include one or two Christmas episodes, as “Goofgirl” airs on December 3, and episode 8, “Birthday,” airs on December 10. Plenty of sitcoms have released Christmas specials in November thanks to the quirks of network TV programming, so it would not be a shock if both outings were festive specials.

That said, it is unlikely that Abbott Elementary will set up an outing focused on Thanksgiving any time soon. As noted above, the show already has plenty of holidays to celebrate between October and January without adding another Abbott Elementary festive special into the mix and overstuffing the series in the process.

Abbott Elementary Season 3 TV Series Poster

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We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.

Do you think Abbott Elementary is missing out by not having Thanksgiving episodes, or is it better to focus on more universally celebrated holidays like Halloween and Christmas?

Cathal

Cathal

Cathal #JD414179 Member since 2023-10-24 0 Reviews 0 Ratings Following 0 Topics 0 Users Follow Followed 0 Followers View 27 minutes ago Some viewers might feel that Abbott Elementary is missing an opportunity to explore the characters' personal lives and family dynamics by not featuring Thanksgiving episodes. However, others may argue that focusing on more widely recognized holidays allows for more relatable and inclusive storytelling. The show's setting in a school also makes Halloween and Christmas more relevant to the plot. Reply / Post Images Attachment(s) Please respect our community guidelines. No links, inappropriate language, or spam.

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