Every Thanksgiving Episode of ‘Friends,’ Ranked (2024)

When I heard the news that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer—a.k.a. Ross and Rachel—may or may not be dating IRL a few months ago, I experienced a surge of pure joy, followed by an inevitable crash upon learning that the rumor was totally apocryphal.

Still, the mere thought of a real-life Friends couple was enough to convince me to rewatch the classic sitcom before bed, while cooking dinner, and at pretty much every other time; with Thanksgiving on the horizon, it seems like the perfect time to practice the beloved art of ranking random things and suss out just which Friends rerun is best suited to enjoying leftover turkey and cranberry sauce in late November. Below, find an official power ranking of all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes:

10. Season 5, Episode 8, “The One With All the Thanksgivings”

There are so many things wrong with this episode. First of all, it’s a flashback episode, which...boring. Second of all, in one of the aforementioned flashbacks, Chandler cruelly calls Monica fat, which...do any of these men own mirrors? Third of all, while it’s very charming that uptight Monica puts a turkey on her head to try to win Chandler back after hurting him, leading to their first exchange of I-love-yous, I cannot stop thinking about the visceral sensation of what it must feel like to wear a slimy, raw, cold turkey carcass on your head. No, thanks!

9. Season 2, Episode 8, “The One With the List”

I have to rank this episode second to last because it’s the only Friends episode of the show’s entire 10-season run that doesn’t actually feature a Thanksgiving celebration. Sure, it’s fun to watch Monica try to devise Thanksgiving-centric recipes for a truly disgusting-sounding chocolate substitute called Mockolate, but I want my big, messy onscreen turkey dinner! (Also, Ross’s titular list of pros and cons about Rachel is so mean! Chubby ankles? Sir, have you seen what Rachel looks like? Do you own a mirror?)

8. Season 10, Episode 8, “The One With the Late Thanksgiving”

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of the final season of Friends (everyone’s too high-pitched and wild-eyed, for some reason!), but I do enjoy watching the whole gang try their best to ghost each other for such important reasons as a baby beauty pageant and a basketball game only to come together in the end, just as you’d assume they might.

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

Rachel’s incredibly cute assistant-slash-boyfriend, Tag, is featured heavily in this episode, and while their romance may not hold up in the #MeToo era, the chemistry between them is undeniable. This is also the episode where I learned the 50 States Game, which got me through some incredibly boring sociology lectures in college. It would have scored higher, except I can’t get behind any episode that prominently centers on dog hatred. Dogs rule.

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

I would have ranked this episode higher due solely to the fact that Brad Pitt appears in it, but (1) his eventual split with Jennifer Aniston leads the viewer to experience kind of a bummer vibe upon rewatching and (2) this half hour of television is transphobic as hell. Yes, the word transphobic was barely even used in the mainstream culture back then, but still...do we have to get LOLs out of the notion of a high school cheerleader who is, gasp, secretly a man?

5. Season 1, Episode 9, “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”

My long-standing fear of getting locked out of my apartment with the oven on was arguably ushered into the world during my first viewing of this episode, many Thanksgivings ago. This is the first Thanksgiving episode of Friends, and while everyone’s still settling awkwardly into their characters, it’s very sweet to watch them all enjoy grilled cheese together after their original plans fall through and sow the seeds of what will eventually be an eternal bond (or at least eternal in TV syndication).

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

Two words: Christina Applegate. While Reese Witherspoon shone brightly as Rachel’s spoiled, self-involved sister, Applegate came on the scene and stole the crown as Rachel’s other, even more spoiled and self-involved sister, who sort of (sort of) learns a lesson at the end. Honestly, Rachel and Applegate’s character, Amy, trash-talking Witherspoon’s Jill in her absence is as naturalistic a depiction of sisterly bonding as I’ve ever seen onscreen.

3. Season 4, Episode 8, “The One With Chandler in a Box”

True Friends scholars will remember Chandler falling hard for his roommate and best friend Joey’s girlfriend Kathy as one of the first times on the show when the always sardonic, wiseass character actually shows vulnerability. Thus, it’s extra-painful when a furious Joey forces him to spend Thanksgiving in a box as penance—and extra-rewarding when they finally make up and Chandler gets the girl. (I love love!)

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

I am a huge sucker for sitcom flashback episodes that reference weed use, such as the How I Met Your Mother episodes that winkingly refer to the protagonists “eating a sandwich” in college. This episode—which features Ross coming out to his parents as a former marijuana enjoyer while his sister, Monica, tries to hide from them that she’s living with her new boyfriend, Chandler—is a perfect example of the genre, and as an added bonus, there’s a delightfully insane Jacques Cousteau subplot.

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

This episode has everything: touch football, sibling rivalry, roommate conflict over a cute girl, a Troll doll (remember those?) of inexplicable import, and, most importantly, Phoebe Buffay in a ridiculously cute That Girl T-shirt.