What’s Worth Watching: A James Bond marathon on Epix for Thanksgiving

Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again, 1983
Warner Brothers/Everett Collection
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, Sean Connery, 1983, (c) Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

Bond With Epix marathon, starts Thursday, Nov. 26, 7:15 am/6:15c, Epix

So you’ve already seen Spectre and are going into James Bond withdrawal. Thanks be to a premium movie channel like Epix, which is devoting all of Thanksgiving Thursday and the Friday that follows to a wall-to-wall Bond movie marathon, presenting the opportunity to compare and contrast the styles of the unsurpassed original, Sean Connery, and those who followed, through one-shot George Lazenby, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. (The most recent film being shown is 1989’s License to Kill, stopping before the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig eras.)

Oddly, the films are being aired in random sequence, so the prime-time attractions on Thursday—presuming you’re seeking a break from parades and football—include Live and Let Die (Moore) at 8/7c, followed by the classic Goldfinger (Connery) and License to Kill (Dalton). The Lazenby detour, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, airs in the wee hours at 2:20 am/1:20c, perfect cure for when your tryptophan-induced coma wears off. On Friday, the prime-time centerpiece at 8/7c is You Only Live Twice (Connery), followed by Octopussy (Moore) and Thunderball (Connery). The best way to avoid Bond whiplash: martinis, of course, and we don’t need to tell you how to prepare them.