The best TV seasons to watch over Thanksgiving weekend

You might be searching for quality TV to curl up in winter, as Thanksgiving approaches and the holiday season is just around the corner. Whether you’re looking for something to watch with your family or a way to escape from them, we’ve got some picks for you.

Polygon and I compiled a list with compelling TV that could be viewed in just a few hours (or even a whole weekend depending on your endurance). These are contained, single seasons of television — some are limited series with only one season, while some are multiple-season shows but with a single season we’ve picked that stands alone and is well worth your time.

We’ve got a similar list for the best single-season anime to watch, if you’re looking for that as well. You can find some amazing TV that you can quickly watch during the holidays season, without much further delay.

Little Drummer Girl

Image via ABC

How much? 6 Episodes, each 57 mins

Watch! Did you know Park Chan-wook adapted a John le Carré story, it stars two of the biggest movie stars in the world, and it’s one of the best limited series released this century?

Do it.

A young actress (Florence Pugh) meets a handsome stranger (Alexander Skarsgård) while on vacation. What appears at first to be a summer fling soon comes into focus as a recruitment operation — the stranger works for Israeli intelligence, and he brings the young woman into the dangerous world of espionage.

Little Drummer Girl It is an ideal match between talent and source material. Le Carré’s espionage stories are intricate and nuanced, never inclined to take the easy way out. Park’s filmmaking operates in much the same way, and his attention to detail and skill in creating tense moments and memorable images make this transcendent television. Add in a group of generational talents in Pugh, Skarsgård, Michael Shannon, and Charles Dance, and you have spy television at its finest.

For me it was a treat. Le Carré is my favorite author — I grew up with his books and have fond memories talking about them with my dad — and Park may very well be my favorite director working today. It’s rare to get a combination like this, and Little Drummer GirlThis opportunity is taken advantage of.

It’s easy to find: Little Drummer Girl AMC Plus is also available through Prime Video and AMC Plus via the Roku Channel. It can be digitally rented or purchased on Amazon, Apple or Google Play.

You want more? For more Park “dangerous romance” intrigue, check out Decent to Leave You can find Mubi in the theaters nearest you. The Handmaiden on Prime Video. For espionage TV, check out Slow Horses Apple TV Plus. —Pete Volk

Derry Girls Season 1

Photo: Peter Marley/Channel 4, Netflix

How much?6 Episodes, Each 24 Minutes

Watch! This 20-minute comedy is the unreachable recommendation for TV. It is simple to watch and so is gone too quickly when your face hurts from the laughter. That standard is used. Derry girls is a double-edged sword: It’s hysterical, easy to watch, and, thus, over far too quickly.

Each episode is its own impeccably designed Rube Goldberg machine, taking the titular Derry girls (including the one British boy cousin who’s dragged into their mess) from what should be a simple conundrum to absolute chaos in just a handful of minutes. It’s all the more impressive since Derry girls is set against the backdrop of the Troubles in the ’80s. It’d be easy for Derry Girls to completely disregard the time past a few period jokes, but the show is very much of its time and its place, informing everything from its characters’ sense of religion to their commutes. It is an entertaining show that shows how Irish Catholicism can help you pass your exams. However, it also leads to fake miracles that rock the churchgoing community. Wow!

Let’s face it, what really makes a difference? Derry girls so perfectly delightful is that it’s just simply zany and farcical and the platonic ideal of what a half-hour comedy should be, troubles or no.

It’s easy to find: All Three (that’s right, threeNetflix offers a variety of seasons.

You want more?Blessedly, we still have two more seasons. Derry girlsAfter you have finished the first one, every subsequent is superb. The bad news is that they go quickly. Here’s to many rewatches. —Zosha Millman

Giri/Haji

Photo by Luke Varley/Netflix

How much? 8 episodes. 56-60 minutes each

Watch! Are you looking for a crime thriller that is both international and emotional? Do you want a cast of talented actors who deliver outstanding performances? Let me introduce you. Giri/Haji.

Joe Barton directed and wrote the script.Ritual, Lazarus Project), the series follows Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira), a Tokyo detective who journeys to London to find and arrest his allegedly deceased brother, Yuto (Yōsuke Kubozuka), a former yakuza accused of murdering the nephew of a high-ranking yakuza member and subsequently eliciting an all-out gang war. Kenzo arrives in London to attend a course on criminology. He meets Sarah Weitzmann (Kelly Macdonald), who is a former yakuza member and then teams up with him.

The death of the Yakuza boss’s nephew in effect becomes a gravitational sinkhole, drawing the disparate lives of several colorful and interesting characters together in unexpected ways, including Kenzo’s rebellious teen daughter Taki (Aoi Okuyama) and a charismatic, fast-talking half-Japanese/half-British drug addict named Rodney (Will Sharpe).

Giri/Haji is the rare kind of thriller That has a little bit of everything — action, comedy, romance, drama — done extremely well. It’s a genuine gem of a series whose obscurity is not on account of its own merit, but at the fault of the streaming landscape inundated with an overabundance of content. Honestly, you’ll have to force yourself not to watch the entire thing in one weekend — it’s that good.

It’s easy to find: Giri/HajiIt is streaming on Netflix.

You want more? Unfortunately, Giri/HajiThe broadcast of the first and only season was interrupted by its cancellation. If you’re looking for an international thriller of a similar bent, we heartily recommend the first episode of Tokyo ViceMichael Mann, director. Heat fame and based on Jake Adelstein’s 2009 memoir of the same name. —Toussaint Égan

Galavant

Photo by ABC

How much? 8 episodes each, 22 minutes

Watch! ABC’s fantasy sitcom musical feels like an attempt to parody Game of ThronesYou can pack it with tongue in cheek songs and give it the self-aware meta ton of The Princess Bride. The story begins with a medieval hero who is abducted by an incredibly cruel king. Galavant Before the second episode ends, it starts to upend its tropes. Creator Dan Fogelman (who wrote Disney’s Get Tangled And BoltTogether with This is Us) and his crew keep the writing light and lively, but this wouldn’t work without the stars’ over-the-top commitment to the goofy material — particularly Timothy Omundson as the king and frequent screen thug Vinnie Jones as his surprisingly soulful enforcer. The first episode launches with a song that rushes through the setup, boasts about Galavant’s hot sex life, and describes the story as “epic, wild, a real butt-clencher.” By the end of that first song, you’ll know for sure whether this series is for you.

It’s easy to find: Season 1 Galavant is available for purchase on Amazon and other platforms, but if you don’t want to commit, the Vevo site has a bunch of the songs posted.

You want more? Season 2 also is available digitally. It isn’t as punchy, but its 10 episodes take more time to develop the characters and bring in elaborate new situations for them to navigate, and the songs are just as bouncy and ridiculous. —Tasha Robinson

Russian Doll season 1

Netflix Photo

What is the price? 8 episodes of approximately 25 minutes each

Watch! There’s an eternal appeal to the idea of the Groundhog Day Story where one person is trapped living the same day every day. It’s a terrific story device for exploring possibilities, considering the roads not traveled, and digging into how much the choices we make do matter. It’s also a surefire way to really hork off a protagonist. Natasha Lyonne in the lead role Russian doll, is particularly hork-offable: She’s a hot-tempered, hard-partying addict who gets furious when she realizes she’s stuck in a loop that keeps ending with her dying. There’s a little comedy and a little drama to Russian DollThis is a wonderful film with a lot admirable detail about the characters and setting. The story, which runs for about four hours, is akin to a movie. It tells one story about responsibility and burdens in human life in an entertaining, bitterly cynical manner.

It’s easy to find: Russian DollNetflix allows streaming.

You want more? There’s now a second season of Russian DollBut streamers are hungry for more Groundhog DayHorror-comedies could be viewed by those who enjoy a horror-story-style story. Happy Death DayAnd Happy Death Day 2U, a pair of surprisingly lively, entertaining films starring Jessica Rothe as a college student who keeps reliving the day of her murder and has to figure out who’s killing her. There’s also the martial-arts-meets-Groundhog Day Short Rope-a-DopeThe motion capture stunt man of Kratos is starred in this film. —TR

Robots, Love and Death

Image by Netflix

How much?18 Episodes, 6-17 min each

Watch! Producers Tim Miller (DeadpoolDavid Fincher (Fight Club, The Social NetworkIf you insist, keep calling Robots, Love and Death a series rather than a shorts collection, and the first batch of shorts a “season” of TV. Ok, so why not? The shorts, each made by a different team, are about what you’d expect from the kind of touring themed animated-shorts programs that had their heyday decades ago — the Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation-type programs, where startling works of animated art alternated with “OK, that was fine I guess” installments. The advantage of watching one of these collections in a streaming format, though, is that you can just skip past anything that doesn’t grab you.

Some of these “episodes” are funny: “Three Robots,” which has three postapocalyptic bots on a tour of human wreckage, is a banter-filled hoot. Some are dramatic: “Good Hunting” is visually startling and intense. And some split the difference: “Suits,” about a group of redneck farmers in homemade mechs, fighting aliens, is a total riot, but it’s thrilling, too. Since each short tells its own story, this one doesn’t have the same escapist pull as the seasons here that have one propulsive character arc, but it also supports short bursts of viewing better than most. Warning: Part of the theme here was “adult animation,” which quite a few of the animators decided meant “tits and profanity” rather than, well, stories fit for adults. Individually, it’s no a big deal, but if you watch them all at once, the cavalcade of naked boobs can make you feel like you’re watching something aimed at horny 13-year-old boys who haven’t yet figured out that there’s porn on the internet.

It’s easy to find: Robots, Love and Death Is streaming available on Netflix

You want more? Netflix has a second and third season available! —TR

The Garden Wall

Cartoon Network Image

How much? Ten episodes each, approximately 12 minutes in length

Watch! Two young brothers are lost in a mysterious woodland where magical creatures and sentient animals abound. This animated short follows them. Although they often meet friendly individuals, their encounters are sometimes eerie or unpredictable. Worrywart Wirt, Elijah Wood), struggles to contain his younger brother Greg (Collin Dean). He seems much more able to adapt to strange situations than he is. The animation is luscious, with the deep autumnal look of the forest hovering menacingly over Wirt and Greg whenever they’re alone, then providing a warm and cheery background when they fall in with one group or another. It’s a strange and compelling series, in part because it’s impossible to guess what’s going to happen next — even the seemingly obvious antagonist is a complicated mystery.

It’s easy to find: The Garden WallYou can stream it on Hulu and HBO Max.

You want more? You’re out of luck; this was a one-off miniseries. But there’s an extensive line of comics to go with it, and an ongoing trickle of new song releases. —TR

Good Omens

Image: Amazon Studios, BBC Studios

How much?6 Episodes, 51-58 Minutes Each

Watch! This one’s on the longer end of short, clocking in at close to six hours total, but it’s a delight every step of the way. The story is based on the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett book of the same title. Good OmensAs the end of the world unfolds, a demon as well as an angel remain on Earth. They are both content with their lives on Earth, but not prepared for Armageddon. There’s also a witch and a witchfinder, a gaggle of precocious children, manifestations of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and a batty psychic. Starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen as the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale — a pairing fans have seized on to represent everything from a passionate gay couple to the sweetest asexual buddies — Good OmensThis faithful translation of the book includes additions that enhance the story. There’s as much fantasy action as there is humor and heart.

It’s easy to find: Good OmensAmazon Prime Video allows you to stream it.

You want more? An additional season of the series is planned for 2023. For more Neil Gaiman adaptations visit: The Sandman Netflix and American Gods on Starz. —Petrana Radulovic

High School Musical: The Musical Series

Image: Disney Plus

How much? Ten episodes, each 26-34 mins

Watch! Original fans High School Musical, fret not. This series, while catering to Disney Channel’s tween audience, does not disappoint tweens-at-heart. High School Musical. The Musical. follows a drama club’s production of High School MusicalThis is the scene that took place in the same high school as the original DCOM. It’s full of references for longtime fans, a self-awareness that some of the zanier parts of the original lacked, and overall, a more grounded approach to high school life than the original HSM. It is a charming and well-rounded cast. You will be captivated by the show’s reimagining of classic songs as well as some brand new tunes.

It’s easy to find: High School Musical: The Musical SeriesYou can stream it on Disney Plus.

You want more? There’s a holiday special, and a second and third season are out. Disney Plus also has old Disney Channel programs like The Suite Life of Zack & CodyAnd Lizzie McGuireYou can find a Disney Channel Original Series on YouTube if this helps you feel better. —PR