With everyone hopping on and off the couch, it’s not the best time to start a particularly involved series.
Thanksgiving Day is not the time to finally start “ Game of Thrones.” Perhaps people are coming and going from your home; perhaps they’re popping in and out of the kitchen. Regardless, no one is in full, focused couch-potato mode.
It is the perfect time, however, for a low-impact crowd-pleaser: nothing too racy, nothing too scary, nothing too complicated and nothing that’s fundamentally a downer. The goal here is to put on a show that the entire family can tolerate, and one that might even lead to some kind of daylong in-joke.
This Australian food-competition series is like “MasterChef,” but with a perky, psychedelic spin thanks to candy-colored sets and a general air of kookiness. Zumbo here is the master baker Adriano Zumbo, whose offbeat creations provide the inspiration for the challenges in the series. The cheftestants are talented and pleasant, and the show avoids the kind of feral-eyed back-stabbing that shows like “ Top Chef ” thrive on. (I mean, back stabbing is fun on some shows! But it’s nice to be nice on Thanksgiving.)
You might also like: “Next Food Network Star” ( Hulu); “The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass” ( Netflix).
Think “Law & Order: The Silver Years.” This British series is a straightforward procedural, about several detectives who come out of retirement to form a sort of cold-case squad. Everyone is grumpy! But also savvy! The show contains violent crime, yes, but it’s not really about terrifying torture the way, say, “ Luther ” is, or about the persistent misery of loss, like “ Broadchurch.” And there are 107 episodes, so if you wanted to watch this and only this all of Thanksgiving weekend, you could.
It’s a fish-out-of-water show, an opposites-attract buddy-cop show and a crime procedural — all set on an absolutely stunning island. (The series is set on the fictional St. Marie and films in Guadeloupe.) If your family likes the antics of “ Psych,” or the comforting stability of “ Murder, She Wrote ” but wants to glam it up a little, this is your ticket.
It’s so much more than just a crazy-hard obstacle course. (Though, holy smokes, that is a hard obstacle course.) The show is also rah-rah earnest, and each contestant delivers some kind of can-do monologue while recounting a back story. There’s a lot of downtime and chitchat on “Ninja Warrior,” which means you can step away for a surprisingly long time and not miss any of the real ninja activity. If you are watching this with kids, make sure there will be some kind of opportunity for them to run and jump on stuff. Heck, even easily motivated adults will watch this and want to see how well they can hang off something.
You might also like: “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge” (On Demand; CMT with a cable login), “American Gladiators,” both the original and the less fun but decent revival ( Hulu).
‘Thelma’s Big Irish Communions’ Where to watch: Amazon
If you’ve burned through all the wedding and party-related shows basic cable has to offer, this Irish series scratches the same itch — but the dresses (and a few suits) are even more ridiculous because they are for children.
You might also like: “Petal Pushers” ( Amazon).
This terrific afterlife comedy rewards close viewing, but it also has enough Easter egg gags to be worth rewatching — and enough silly one-liners and clearly articulated characters to be fun even in passing, without your needing to get involved in the show’s robust mythology. It’s best to start with Season 1, and second best to start with the season premiere of Season 2. The third-best way is just to start in on any episode you can. “The Good Place” is the best and most involved show on this list (by far), but don’t let a peak-TV, optimized-viewing mind-set stand in the way of fun, silly viewing.
