Here Are All of the Fourth of July Marathons Airing on TV Today
The Fourth of July is the absolute perfect holiday for a TV marathon. After having had enough of the hot sun, there’s nothing better than kicking back in the air-conditioning and tuning into some movies or TV shows that will get you in the holiday spirit.
So what are the Fourth of July marathons happening this year? What channels should you be tuning into? Here’s what you need to know.
Jaws — AMC
Jaws | Universal
Jaws is to Fourth of July what A Christmas Story is to Christmas and Halloween is to Halloween, and a lot of fans try to watch it every single year. If you’re one of those people, AMC is the place to be today.
The network is having a Jaws marathon starting with the original movie at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. They’ll then run through the sequels before circling back around to the original Jaws again at 7:15 p.m.
If you’re up early, AMC will be actually starting off with Piranha, the 2010 remake of the original movie from the 1970s that was clearly inspired by Jaws.
Captain America — FX
Captain America: The First Avenger | Paramount Pictures
If you’re in a more patriotic mood, why not celebrate the holiday with Steve Rogers himself?
Over on FX is a marathon of the Captain America movies. Well, sort of; the network only has the rights to the first two, so from 3:30 p.m. onward, they’re playing The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier twice each.
Unfortunately, Civil War isn’t part of the marathon, but if you want to add that in yourself, it’s available on Netflix.
A Nightmare on Elm Street — SyFy
A Nightmare on Elm Street | New Line Cinema
SyFy is known for hosting an annual Twilight Zone marathon every Fourth of July, but sadly, it’s not happening this year.
In its place is a marathon of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. The original begins at 6:30 a.m., followed by the second, third, fourth, and fifth installments. Neither Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare or Wes Craven’s New Nightmare are a part of the lineup, though, so SyFy will just be skipping right from The Dream Child to the 2010 remake.
Starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, SyFy will switch into Lake Placid: Legacy, and then to National Treasure: Book of Secrets at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Twilight Zone — Decades
The Twilight Zone | Source: CBS
Luckily, there’s a Twilight Zone marathon happening elsewhere. The network Decades is hosting a marathon that they’re calling Rod, White and Blue.
You’re probably wondering to yourself what, exactly, Decades even is. It’s a fairly obscure channel, but you may actually have it as part of your cable package without even knowing it. You can check what channel it would be here.
The marathon begins at 7:00 a.m., although some of the absolute best episodes have been saved for the evening, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” at 7:00 p.m and “Eye of the Beholder” at 9:00 p.m.
South Park — Comedy Central
South Park | Comedy Central
If you’re looking for something completely different, Comedy Central is holding a South Park marathon from 9:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m.
Most of the episodes seem to just be completely random, although some of them sort of do tie into Independence Day; for instance, the episodes “Red Badge of Gayness” and “I’m a Little Bit Country” will both play in the late afternoon.
Indiana Jones — Paramount Network
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones | Paramount Pictures
Although you might not associate the Indiana Jones movies with the Fourth of July, when you think about it, what better way is there to celebrate than to watch Harrison Ford fight Nazis?
The Paramount Network will be hosting an Indiana Jones marathon today. It starts at 9:00 a.m., for whatever reason kicking off with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. From there, they’ll be playing all the movies in order, but after The Last Crusade, they’ll just be circling back around to Raiders again. It appears someone at Paramount made the wise decision to get Crystal Skull out of the way early.
America: The Story of Us — History Channel
America: The Story of Us | History Channel
The History Channel will be taking a break from its regular lineup of shows about aliens and pawn shops to actually broadcast some content about, you know, history.
From 8:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m., the network will be airing every episode of the documentary-drama series America: The Story of Us.
The Three Stooges/National Lampoon — IFC
National Lampoon’s Vacation | Warner Bros.
IFC is sort of holding two different marathons back to back, both of which are fairly enticing.
Starting at 5:30 a.m., the network will be airing a Three Stooges marathon. This will last until 3:00 p.m., when the National Lampoon movies will begin: Vacation starts at 3:00 p.m., with European Vacation starting at 5:15 p.m.. And if you feel like a little bit of Christmas in July, Christmas Vacation starts at 7:15 p.m., followed by the original Vacation again at 9:30 p.m.
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