‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ Will Return for ‘Turkey Day’ Even Though the Show Itself Is Stalled

This Thanksgiving, families across the country will gather in their homes to express their gratitude for each other, for their bountiful feast and for Manos: The Hands of Fate.

This December will mark two years since Joel Hodgson’s beloved comedy series that celebrates/mocks forgotten schlock films from days gone by last put out an episode. Throughout the 1990s, Mystery Science Theater 3000 provided comedy and B-movie fans an outlet to embrace the weirdness of pop culture’s underbelly, and, in 2015, Hodgson led one of the more successful crowdfunded revivals as he brought Mystery Science Theater 3000 into the 21st century with a long-awaited Netflix deal. 

Flash forward to 2024 — MST3K is now, ostensibly, on its sixth distributor as Hogson and his team created the self-produced platform Gizmoplex to support the future of the show, but after the latest ambitious crowdfunding campaign to create a 14th MST3K season fell short last year, the franchise seems to be in limbo with no new content announced. However, a budget shortfall hasn’t stopped the MST3K team from continuing a hallowed tradition that began during its Comedy Central era — the Turkey Day:

According to MST3K’s Turkey Day partner Shout! Factory TV, this year’s Thanksgiving marathon of all the most beloved episodes in MST3K history will have a slew of celebrity fans who will introduce their favorite installment of the series. Mark Hamill, Kumail Nanjiani, David Dastmalchian, Felicia Day, Matthew Lillard and Mike Flanagan are all among the Hollywood invitees who will each introduce a classic MST3K episode and the cult film mocked therein, with Hodgson and current MST3K host Jonah Ray naturally adding their own contributions to the marathon.

The MST3K Turkey Day Marathon is a tradition that stretches back to 1991 when Comedy Central and Hodgson wished to commemorate the show’s third season with a string of its best episodes separated by custom bumper segments. Despite the show’s extended hiatus in the early part of the millennium, Shout! Factory restarted the tradition in 2013 upon acquiring distribution rights to MST3K, and the festive event has often been used as an opportunity to promote new MST3K content ever since the Netflix revival in 2017.

Sadly, no news of more MST3K has yet preceded the 2024 Turkey Day Potluck of the Stars after last year’s push to raise $4 million in crowdfunding to make Season 14 fell $1.3 million short of its goal. Since then, it’s been radio silence from everyone at MST3K and The Gizmoplex. But if Hodgson and his compatriots ever wanted to make a surprise announcement of the show’s fifth or sixth triumphant return, a high-profile holiday even would be the time for it.

And if the 2024 Turkey Day Potluck of the Stars doesn’t come with uplifting news, we’ll just have to put Season 14 on our Christmas wish list.