News What to Watch What to Watch This Weekend: 3000 Mystery Science Theaters? In this Economy? Plus: Stranger Things and the best movie about food ever made. By Matthew Byrd | Published on November 26, 2025 Photo: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Let’s be honest: Thanksgiving needs a little something special it currently lacks. Even in the typical Thanksgiving scenario where you’ve got friends, family, and food, the occasion is just missing that little something that gives Christmas, Halloween, and some of the other major seasonal players their powerful punch. Maybe this should be the year we all try to put some wild, personal spins on the whole thing in order to find what sticks. Or, even better, how about we forget the whole thing, do as little as possible, and enjoy a surprisingly bountiful offering of movies, TV shows, and other distractions? Since Molly is out this week and I never learned how to read, here are a few things to watch this weekend as you kick back, hopefully eat a lot of great food, and do your best to avoid seasonal storms both literal and familial. As always, do find time to reach out to your reps if you can. It’s Turkey Day, So It Must Be Time For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Marathon Ever since Comedy Central aired a Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon on Thanksgiving Day 1991 to celebrate the series’ third anniversary, everyone’s favorite show featuring robots riffing on unspeakably awful movies has become an unlikely holiday tradition. You won’t make many friends turning on MST3K on Thanksgiving and then turning the volume up whenever anyone asks you to turn the volume down, but you will make the right friends. This year, the Mystery Science Theater Turkey Day Marathon will run from November 27-30 (Thursday through Sunday). You can catch the marathon on a variety of accessible and free channels (including Twitch, YouTube, and Pluto TV), all of which are listed right here alongside the full schedule. As usual, the marathon will feature a curated collection of episodes as well as some special buffer segments featuring cast members and celebrity friends of the show. The big news is that the 2025 Turkey Day marathon will also include episodes from seasons 11 and 12 of the show (aka the Netflix years of the show). Funnily enough, we’ve recently taken time out of our busy schedules (just kidding, we’re all sleepy) to talk about some of our favorite MST3K episodes. Many of them will be shown at some point during this marathon, though I personally recommend finding the time to check out some of those Season 11 and 12 episodes. Not only are they a welcome addition to the usual marathon lineup, but the Netflix MST3K crew really did a fantastic, often underappreciated job of living up to the show’s standards while bringing the series into the modern age. That said, the best MST3K episode, “The Final Sacrifice,” is playing Sunday at 9 am EST. So make a note of that. Stranger Things Season 5 (Slowly) Brings the Sci-Fi Series to an End While Stranger Things Season 5 isn’t technically the end of the beloved show (the animated spin-off Tales From ‘85 is still on the schedule for 2026, and Netflix will almost certainly explore other ways to continue the series), it is certainly the end of an era. This is the end of the “main” series, that premiered in 2016 and became one of Netflix’s biggest and most surprising hits. And whether you are emotionally invested in the show’s characters, stories, and mythology, or you simply want to be part of the biggest streaming event of the year, you’re probably going to be watching the final episodes of Stranger Things at some point during the long weekend. Just keep in mind that the final season of Stranger Things only begins this weekend. Episodes 1-4 will be released on November 26th, while episodes 5-7 are coming to Netflix on December 25. The Stranger Things Season 5 finale, meanwhile, doesn’t drop until December 31, and will be available to watch on both Netflix and in select theaters as part of a special event. Oh, and most of the episodes this season will be longer than usual with the finale reportedly being an almost two-hour event. You can say it’s a bit much, but your cries will likely not pierce that swimming pool of cash. Put Your Knives Away, and Go See Wake Up Dead Man In Theaters If You Can Netflix giveth and Netflix taketh away, we suppose. While Stranger Things is getting one of the biggest red carpets the streaming service has ever rolled out, Wake Up Dead Man (the third entry in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movie series) is getting what appears to be a paltry theatrical release this weekend. It’s not clear how many theaters the movie is actually playing in this weekend, but the distribution could certainly be described as limited. Rian Johnson isn’t thrilled with the situation, and I’m not either. Still, at least some of you will be able to watch Wake Up Dead Man in theaters this weekend. The reviews of the third Knives Out film suggest it’s another brilliant entry in a series that has the remarkable ability to give you that comfort food feeling while constantly reinventing itself. And while Wake Up Dead Man will premiere on Netflix on December 12, do catch it on the big screen if you can. That’s the way Rian Johnson prefers it, and that man has been through enough drama. Bob’s Burgers Has The Best Thanksgiving Episodes Yes, there are many classic TV shows with annual (or semi-regular) Thanksgiving episodes. It’s not my place to tell you which classic episodes you should have in your holiday rotation (lots of people like Friends, I’m told), but there really is nothing like the Bob’s Burgers Thanksgiving episodes. Bob’s Burgers is one of the last great shows to regularly offer holiday-themed episodes. And while the animated series’ Halloween adventures are a consistent delight, the show’s incredible writers really do save their best stuff for Thanksgiving. From Linda’s Thanksgiving song (which really should be the holiday’s official theme) to Bob’s increasingly desperate attempts to make the perfect turkey, these episodes capture the feel of Thanksgiving while weaving a kind of mythology of their own. Pressed for time? Season 3’s “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” may be the best of the bunch. Blood Rage Deserves to Be Part of the Thanksgiving Movie Canon It’s not entirely fair to say there are no great Thanksgiving movies, but Thanksgiving certainly struggles to compete with Christmas, Halloween, and… ok, pretty much every major holiday on that front. So if the prospect of watching Planes, Trains, and Automobiles or A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving just doesn’t quite inspire enough joy, may this humble vessel suggest Blood Rage? Blood Rage (also known as Nightmare at Shadow Woods and Slasher) is a slasher movie that was shot in 1983 on a shoestring budget and didn’t receive a (limited) theatrical release until 1987. Despite everything you may be picturing as you process that information, the movie is really quite magical in its own… special way. It’s the story of a family torn apart (quite literally, as it happens) after one brother is sent away for a murder the other committed. It is also the rare Thanksgiving horror movie (or Thanksgiving movie, for that matter) that makes liberal use of the holiday’s staples, if only because it uses the line “That’s not cranberry sauce” more times than strictly necessary. Those of us whose “so bad, it’s good” plates are never quite filled by the MST3K marathon will find a lot to love in this movie’s inexplicable twists, alien editing/pacing, and a performance from the great Louise Lasser that should still be earning her Oscar nominations to this day. Big Night Remains The Best Movie About Food Ever Made I love shining a light on underrated movies as much as the next person of the internet, though the truth is that few films really deserve that title in the age of constant cultural reclamation. Yet, nearly 30 years after its release, not nearly enough words have been written about Big Night: the best movie about food ever made. Big Night follows two brothers who run a small Italian restaurant. Secondo, the restaurant manager, is frustrated watching the chef, his brother Primo, chase perfection as the gaudy Italian restaurant next door (spiritually an Olive Garden with more flair) takes all their business. The two brothers try to try to pull it together just long enough to throw a massive dinner party that they hope will save the restaurant and their relationships. Big Night is about making art in the age of capitalism and the battle to retain ourselves and the people who mean most to us despite the crushing weight of it all. Mostly, though, it is a very funny movie that features some of the best-looking food ever put on film. The final meal alone is the kind of testament to the power of family and food that you’re looking for when you’re trying to make sense of the holiday season. [end-mark] The post What to Watch This Weekend: 3000 Mystery Science Theaters? In this Economy? appeared first on Reactor.