Want to know the best episodes to watch in preparation for Thanksgiving? Look no further, because as a professional Friends viewer, this is my official ranking of the Thanksgiving episodes.
Friends has some of the best cozy episodes to get you in the holiday spirit. After watching these Thanksgiving episodes thousands of times, for many years now, especially with my mom on Thanksgiving Day, I have made a list ranking these episodes from the worst to the best.
9. The One with the Late Thanksgiving (Season 10).
This episode, taking place in the final season of Friends, is just generally not all that memorable to me. Honestly, I can’t really remember the specifics. Monica makes Thanksgiving dinner for the gang and gets irritated when everyone shows up late. Rachel’s daughter Emma is also around a year old here, and Phoebe tries to convince Rachel to enroll Emma in a baby beauty pageant. However, the best part is the end where Monica and Chandler find out that a pregnant mom picked them to adopt her baby. Still, like all the shows’ episodes, it is lighthearted and funny, just not the most memorable of them all.
8. The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs (Season 7).
In this episode, Phoebe had been hiding a small dog that she was pet sitting in Monica and Chandler’s apartment. Monica tells her to get rid of it when she finds out because Chandler is severely allergic. Later, it is revealed that Chandler is not allergic, he just does not care for dogs, to which everyone makes fun of him for. During this episode, Rachel is also at the very beginning of her relationship with her assistant, Tag, whom she invites to their Thanksgiving dinner. Again, it has its funny moments, but still not the first episode you think of when you think Friends Thanksgiving episodes.
7. The One with Rachel’s Other Sister (Season 9).
During this episode, Rachel’s sister Amy, played by Christina Applegate, comes to visit on Thanksgiving. She meets Emma for the first time and insists that Rachel and Ross appoint her as Emma’s guardian, if they were to pass away. In this episode as well, Monica desperately tries to protect her Wedding China, which ultimately gets destroyed. Joey also misses the parade that he was supposed to be in with his television castmates. Applegate adds great humor to this episode with her character’s blunt remarks, and of course, we get more scenes of Monica’s overprotectiveness for her nice things.
6. The One Where Underdog Gets Away (Season 1).
In the first season of Friends, we see the gang spend their first Thanksgiving together. Rachel tries to make enough tip money to go on her skiing trip since her father won’t pay for it. Elsewhere, Joey books a modeling gig for a VD ad, causing women to run away from him after seeing the posters, which were all over New York. Later, the group gets locked out of Monica’s apartment in the middle of her cooking Thanksgiving dinner. This episode is funny and has that comforting feel like all the first season’s episodes do.
5. The One with Chandler in a Box (Season 4).
In this fourth-season episode, we see Chandler trying to gain Joey’s forgiveness after he kisses Joey’s girlfriend, Kathy (played by Paget Brewster). Joey tells Chandler to spend their Thanksgiving Dinner in a box, to which Chandler accepts. In the end, Kathy comes back to apologize to both guys, and to say goodbye to Chandler. Chandler doesn’t respond with respect to Joey, so Kathy leaves, and then Joey tells Chandler to go after her, and that he forgives him. This episode really focused on the friendship dynamic of the show, and how important these characters are to each other. It was nice to watch Chandler do anything to save his friendship with Joey, even risking losing someone else he really cared for.
4. The One with the Football (Season 3).
This is a comforting episode for me and many others. On Thanksgiving Day, the group splits up and plays a game of football, evoking a very competitive past for the Gellers. Monica and Ross go head-to-head with their teams, and when the game ends with a tough call, the two stay out there all-night fighting over who won. It is fun to watch their sibling dynamic, and how the other team members react to it. It is also fun watching the friends play against each other and try to figure out how to beat one another.
3. The One with the Rumor (Season 8).
This episode features Brad Pitt as Will, someone who went to school with Ross, Rachel, and Monica. Monica invites him to their Thanksgiving dinner after running into him, and it is revealed that Will has hated Rachel since high school. This episode has hilarious components, from Rachel and Ross’s banter about high school, to Joey trying to finish an entire turkey by himself, and Phoebe who flirts with Will the whole time. It is always fun to learn more about the characters’ pasts, and we get to see a bit more of Ross and Rachel’s new dynamic with their new baby on the way.
2. The One Where Ross Got High (Season 6).
This episode has some of the best moments from each of the characters. Monica and Ross’s parents join them and their friends for Thanksgiving dinner. Chandler tries to impress her parents so that they can tell them that he and Monica are dating. It is revealed that Monica’s parents do not like Chandler because they think that he was using marijuana back in high school when really Ross told them that so that they would not find out it was him. Meanwhile, Rachel tries to make dessert for everyone, and ends up adding the wrong ingredients, Joey spends the night trying to leave the dinner early, and Phoebe has dreams about Monica and Ross’s father. This episode has some of the best dialogs from the entire series, especially when Monica tells her parents that Ross was the one that got high, and Ross responds by telling them that Monica and Chandler are living together, while the rest of the characters yell out other random things. Overall, it is so funny and shows more of the Gellers’ family dynamics. But of course, the Geller parents are what made this episode as amazing as it is.
- The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks (Season 5).
Finally, the best Friends Thanksgiving episode of all time is of course the one with possibly the most memorable moment of the entire series. Throughout the episode, the gang goes around sharing their bad Thanksgiving stories, debating on who has the worst one. Ross says that his story is the worst because of his current divorce from his wife, Emily. Chandler argues that he is the worst, bringing up his parents’ divorce story. Phoebe shares how Joey got Monica’s turkey stuck on his head during what was supposed to be a prank. Phoebe also talks about her past life during the war, saying that her Thanksgiving was worse. Monica and Rachel share stories from their teen years, when Ross brought Chandler home from college to their family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Here, Monica overhears Chandler calling her fat, which she says was her worst Thanksgiving. They then talk about the year after, when Monica lost weight and was determined to get revenge, which ends with Chandler in the hospital. Chandler gets upset by this story and leaves, and to make him feel better, Monica gives us the most iconic scene from the entire show. When we think of Thanksgiving, we think of Monica dancing with the turkey on her head. It is a widely known reference that everyone understands, regardless of if they’ve ever even watched the show. The episode is funny and heartfelt, which sets the tone the perfect Thanksgiving Day.