Thanksgiving is right around the corner and no show gets you more ready for turkey and football than Friends! So here is my ranking, from worst to best, of the ‘Friends’ Thanksgiving Episodes…
10. The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs (season 7).
Chandler’s fear of dogs is at the center of the storyline in this episode, but doesn’t bring much to the table. Ross trying to name all 50 states and Rachel’s budding romance with her assistant Tag make up the funniest parts of this episode. There are almost no actual Thanksgiving festivities and you may not even realize it’s a Thanksgiving episode.
Quotable Moment: “This is all a moo point … It’s like a cow’s opinion. You know, it just doesn’t matter. It’s moo.” Joey
9. The One With The List (season 2)
This episode leaves much to be desired when it comes to Thanksgiving. While the story revolves around Ross making a pro/con list about Rachel and Julie. Little actual Thanksgiving festivities happen, and the classic Ross-Rachel drama takes center stage instead.
8. The One With the Late Thanksgiving (season 10)
Friends doesn’t save the best for last when it comes to Thanksgiving episodes. Monica is tricked into preparing Thanksgiving dinner for everyone, but when it comes time for dinner everyone is late. Rachel and Phoebe enter Emma into a baby beauty pageant, while Ross and Joey go to a Rangers game. Again, little attention is paid to Thanksgiving other than Chandler’s excitement over making the cranberry sauce and the whole gang isn’t together until the end of the episode.
7. The One With Rachel’s Other Sister (season 9)
In this episode Rachel’s younger sister Amy causes chaos when she gets upset that Rachel and Ross don’t want to leave Emma to her if they die. The whole gang is together for this episode, but the drama of Rachel’s sister takes center stage.
6. The One Where Underdog Gets Away (season 1)
Monica decides to host Thanksgiving, but when the Underdog balloon flies loose over Manhattan the gang gets locked out of the apartment and Monica’s dinner is ruined. Although nostalgic, this episode’s comic relief falls mainly on Joey who has been put on a public health campaign poster about venereal disease and little time is spent enjoying actual Thanksgiving festivities.
5. The One With Chandler in the Box (season 4)
There’s drama in the Friends tight knit circle this Thanksgiving when Joey is mad at Chandler for kissing his girlfriend. In order to prove his loyalty Chandler spends Thanksgiving in a box. Monica invites ex-boyfriend Richard’s son to dinner providing the gang with endless funny comments about Monica dating her ex’s son. While Ross and Rachel fight, after Ross finds out that Rachel exchanged a necklace he got her. In the end, this episode has both comedy and heart giving it all the ingredients for a great Thanksgiving episode.
Quotable Moment: “Fine. Judge all you want to, but [to Ross] married a lesbian, [to Rachel] left a man at the altar, [to Phoebe] fell in love with a gay ice dancer, [to Joey] threw a girl’s wooden leg in a fire, and [to Chandler] live in a box!” —Monica
4. The One With The Rumor (season 8)
Brad Pitt makes a special appearance in this Thanksgiving episode and reveals he was a founding member of the “I hate Rachel Green Club” alongside Ross. Will’s (Brad Pitt) hate for Rachel continues and over dinner he informs her that he and Ross made up a rumor that Rachel was born a hermaphrodite and still has “a hint of a penis,” To top off the hilarity of this episode, Joey in an attempt to eat an entire turkey, puts on Rachel’s maternity pants. The gang’s all together and spend their time around the table like any traditional American Thanksgiving.
3. The One Where Ross Got High (season 6)
Ross and Monica’s parents are coming to dinner but they don’t like Chandler. In an attempt to change Jack and Judy’s opinion of Chandler, past secrets come out in a hilarious scream-off between Monica and Ross. The episode features the whole gang together and is topped off by Rachel’s horrible trifle. Between Monica and Ross telling each others secrets and the group trying to hide their disgust for Rachel’s trifle, this episode is one of the absolute funniest. With Monica’s parents acceptance of Chandler at the end, it has all the comedy and heart a Thanksgiving episode needs.
Quotable Moment: “What is with everyone today? It’s Thanksgiving not truth day!” – Ross Geller
2. The One With the Football (season 3)
In this episode Monica and Ross rekindle a childhood rivalry over a touch football game. Their rivalry makes for comedy gold, as Monica, Phoebe and Joey play against Ross, Rachel and Chandler. Things heat up when Monica decides to make the game boys vs girls. Between Monica and Ross’s childlike shenanigans, Joey and Chandler’s fight over a girl and Rachel’s lack of athleticism this episode has more laughable moments than I can count. In the end no one wins, but the antics of the game provide the perfect backdrop for a great Thanksgiving episode.
1. The One With All the Thanksgiving (season 5)
Topping the list is the episode with All the Thanksgivings. Complete with not one, but two flashbacks that are full of hilarious moments. The gang discuss their worst Thanksgivings and when Rachel reveals that Monica has had a worse Thanksgiving then the rest of the group, we get two flashbacks to when Monica, Rachel, Ross and Chandler were younger. Monica in a fat suit, Rachel pre-nose job look, Chandler and Ross’ eighties hair, Monica’s use of carrots and a steel knife to seduce Chandler, and Joey getting his head stuck in a turkey make this episode take the top spot as the best Friends Thanksgiving episode.
Quotable Moment: “That’s why I lost my toe! Because I called you fat!” – Chandler Bing