Our Ranking of the ‘Friends’ Thanksgiving Episodes from Worst to Best

Thanksgiving may be the time to give thanks, but it’s also a time of chaos, making it the perfect holiday for any television show.

With travel complications and cooking antics, no other show chronicles the simultaneous joy and chaos of Thanksgiving like Friends, which has a dedicated Thanksgiving episode for almost every season. And while the term, Friendsgiving, didn’t come directly from Friends — the idea that every friend group should get together for the holiday might have.

In nine out of its ten seasons, the six friends celebrate the holiday together, sometimes with parents, lovers, or other friends (they have those?) and every time, an iconic episode is delivered. So what better way to celebrate the holiday of breaking bread and giving thanks than by binge-watching Friends while binge-eating turkey? And thankfully, we’ve compiled the perfect ranking of Friends Thanksgiving episodes.

Worst: “The One With the Late Thanksgiving” (Season 10, Episode 8)

Very few episodes of Friends are bad, and in all honesty, even the worst Thanksgiving-themed Friends episode is still a solid one. In “The One With the Late Thanksgiving,” everyone convinces Monica to cook a Thanksgiving dinner after she plans not to. But after all of that, everyone shows up late, naturally upsetting Monica and Chandler, who both worked hard to create a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner. While it’s a fine episode of television, it didn’t give us any big quotable or memorable moments, aside from the floating heads in the door physical comedy bit. 

Beyond that, the episode suffers from separating the friends for most of the episode — Rachel and Phoebe are together, entering Emma into a beauty pageant, which makes them slightly unlikable in the episode; Ross and Joey are together at a Rangers game; and Monica and Chandler are home preparing dinner. One of the great joys of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes is that they’re all together. While separating them may have been a conscious choice to prepare us for the end of an era, it made their last Thanksgiving together less enjoyable for all of us.

8. “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs” (Season 7, Episode 8)

For the dog-lovers of the world, “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs” is both a hated and beloved episode. The mere inclusion of Clunkers, an adorable Powderpuff dog, makes all ogle at our screens, wishing for our own adorable pup, but the fact that Chandler hates him (and all dogs!) makes him an almost unforgivable character. The episode definitely has its high points, though, from one of Joey’s most famous malapropisms, “a moo point,” and the 50-states game that took America by storm afterwards. However, without any big character-building moments or heightened gags, it’s definitely one of the more lowkey Friends Thanksgiving episodes.

6. “The One With the Rumor” (Season 8, Episode 9)

In another star-powered episode, Brad Pitt features as the Rachel-hating Will Colbert in “The One With the Rumor” (back when he and Jennifer Aniston were married – what a time to be alive!). The introduction of the “I Hate Rachel” club adds a whole new layer to Ross and Rachel’s will-they-won’t-they plotline. This episode shows what happens when an outsider is invited into the safety of the six friends and how it can sow seeds of chaos. From start to finish, this episode is an even-keeled, enjoyable Thanksgiving episode, but the downside is that the content just doesn’t hold up. 

The rumor that Rachel is a hermaphrodite doesn’t feel as funny now that the modern world has a better understanding of gender. The reveal that Ross made out with the 50-year-old librarian feels ickier than Young Ethan from “The One With the Ick” as we’ve learned more about consent in the past two decades. But Brad Pitt keeps this episode in a canon of fans’ favorites.

7. “The One With Chandler in a Box” (Season 4, Episode 8)

While some would rank “The One With Chandler in a Box” quite highly, its absurdity pulls the show and the characters almost too far from reality to be relatable. There are some truly hilarious bits, such as Chandler sticking his fingers out of the hole of the box he’s forced to atone in and Monica leading Thanksgiving in an eye patch. But her “crush” on the son of her ex-boyfriend, Richard, is just a little too weird for comfort, walking the sitcom’s line of funnily absurd versus straight-up inappropriate. It does make for some top-tier comedic writing, such as Monica’s astute reference to Oedipus Rex and Phoebe asking her, “Do you actually want to be in a relationship where you can actually use the phrase, ‘That’s not how your dad used to do it’?” 

5. “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” (Season 9, Episode 8)

We already met Jill in Season 6, played by Reese Witherspoon, but luckily, Christina Applegate came in hot as Rachel’s “other sister,” Amy. For her Emmy-winning performance alone, “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” is getting a higher ranking than many would expect since it’s part of Friends’ later, less beloved seasons. But beyond Christina’s spot-on comedic timing, the antics in this episode between Monica’s obsession with the china to a hilariously difficult but very real family conversation about what happens to a baby when the parents die made it a Thanksgiving classic.

4. “The One Where Underdog Gets Away” (Season 1, Episode 9)

In the debut Friends Thanksgiving episode, the friends are forced to experience their first Thanksgiving together after all of their plans to go home fall through. It’s an episode that makes them true New Yorkers — no more going home for the holidays, they are adults in New York and they’ve made a family with one another. Watching it back as a fan, this episode is a huge part of their origin story (and is even referenced with callbacks later in the series). Plus, the storylines are truly the pinnacles of comedy from Joey’s fake VD to the multiple mashed potatoes to following the loose Underdog balloon flying over New York City. The only reason this episode is not higher on the list is because the rest of the episodes are just that good.

3. “The One With the Football” (Season 3, Episode 9)

One of the most memorable episodes of the series is easily “The One With the Football.” From the iconic costumes worn by the girls (Phoebe’s That Girl shirt will always be a favorite) to the introduction of the Geller cup (a troll doll glued to wood), this episode holds a special place in many fans’ hearts. It holds the same nostalgia as looking through a family photo album, and it somehow achieved this when it premiered in 1996. Plus, it’s easily one of the most feminist episodes of Friends as the women harness their energy to take down the guys in tag football. And when Joey and Chandler fight over a beautiful foreign woman, she sets them straight by picking neither. From its jokes to its themes to its Thanksgiving tradition, this is high on the ranking for a reason.

2. “The One Where Ross Got High” (Season 6, Episode 9)

The written comedy of “The One Where Ross Got High” is easily what catapults it to second place. This episode has everything you want from a Friends Thanksgiving episode all stemming from crossed lines of communication. Ross is no longer the “perfect” child he appears to be, and with the unforgettable performances of Christina Pickles and Elliott Gould as Judy and Jack Geller, this episode is one of the best. Rachel puts beef in the trifle, which leads to one of the show’s dirtiest jokes, Ross lied about Chandler getting high, and Phoebe loves Jacques Cousteau. The episode is full of goofy jokes, physical comedy, and quotes that have long outlasted the show’s ten seasons.

Best: “The One With All the Thanksgivings” (Season 5, Episode 8)

Season 5 is often considered one of the best seasons of Friends because of how Monica and Chandler’s relationship develops, so “The One With All the Thanksgivings” is a perfect microcosm of the season, while still honoring classic Thanksgiving traditions. In this episode, we go all the way back to how Monica and Chandler met when Chandler was in college, and we learn how their relationship actually set the events in motion for the friends to end up where they are today. Plus, this episode introduces the trademark ‘friend in a turkey’ motif when both Joey and Monica wear turkeys on their heads. Comedically, there are so many good moments, but as a piece of Friends history, “The One With All the Thanksgivings” is the whole (pumpkin) pie.