Friends – Thanksgiving-Themed Episodes

Thanksgiving was Friends' true signature holiday — one episode every single season, ten in all — home to the Geller Bowl, Brad Pitt's "I Hate Rachel Club," and Monica dancing with a turkey on her head. The complete run streams in the U.S. on Max. Ratings are each episode's IMDb user score.

Worth flagging: "The One with Rachel's Other Sister" is a well-liked entry in the Thanksgiving lineup, and its solid 8.7 IMDb score reflects that.

Episode Synopsis

The One Where Underdog Gets Away (Season 1, Episode 9) — the very first Thanksgiving episode, and it set the template. Monica wants a quiet holiday with just Rachel, but everyone else keeps showing up anyway. Things spiral once the Underdog balloon breaks loose from the Macy's parade outside, and in the chaos, most of the gang ends up locked out on Monica's balcony in the cold while dinner sits waiting inside. It aired November 17, 1994.

The One with the List (Season 2, Episode 8) — the Thanksgiving element here is lighter, mostly a footnote via Monica's "mockolate" (a fake chocolate) recipe experiments. The real story is Ross torn between Rachel and his girlfriend Julie, so he makes a pros-and-cons list to decide between them. Rachel finds the list, and the cons about her sting badly enough to nearly end things before they've started.

The One with the Football (Season 3, Episode 9) — the friends organize a casual Thanksgiving football game, but it reopens old sibling wounds for Monica and Ross, whose fierce childhood rivalry (the "Geller Bowl") comes roaring back. The two end up wrestling over the ball long after everyone else has given up and gone inside to eat.

The One with Chandler in a Box (Season 4, Episode 8) — Joey is still furious at Chandler for kissing his girlfriend Kathy, so as punishment, he makes Chandler spend all of Thanksgiving dinner sealed inside a box. Meanwhile, Monica injures her eye while cooking and, at the doctor's office, meets Timothy, who turns out to be the son of her ex-boyfriend Richard, leading to an awkward dinner invitation.

The One with All the Thanksgivings (Season 5, Episode 8) — a flashback episode that jumps between past Thanksgivings, including the year Chandler lost a toe, the year Monica wore a fat suit to feel better about herself, and the moment Chandler and Monica first met at one of these dinners years earlier. It aired November 19, 1998.

The One Where Ross Got High (Season 6, Episode 9) — dubbed "Truth Day" in the episode itself, this one has Chandler discovering Monica never told her parents they're together. That unravels into Ross admitting he once blamed Chandler for his own marijuana use to avoid getting caught by their parents years earlier. Meanwhile, Rachel attempts an English trifle for dessert that goes disastrously wrong.

The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs (Season 7, Episode 8) — Phoebe has secretly been keeping a dog in the apartment, and it comes out that Chandler doesn't actually have a dog allergy, he just dislikes dogs. On the side, Rachel invites her work crush to Thanksgiving dinner, and Ross ends up losing a state-naming game after mocking everyone else for failing it first.

The One with the Rumor (Season 8, Episode 9) — Brad Pitt guest stars as Will, an old high school friend of Ross's who's coming to dinner. It turns out Will nursed a grudge against Rachel for years over a rumor that she started an "I Hate Rachel Club" back when she was overweight in high school. Elsewhere, Chandler and Phoebe scheme to avoid kitchen duty.

The One with Rachel's Other Sister (Season 9, Episode 8) — Rachel's younger sister Amy shows up unannounced, initially just to borrow a hair straightener, but she ends up staying for dinner after her own plans fall through. Amy's blunt, self-centered commentary throughout the meal (including some particularly tone-deaf remarks about baby Emma) ruffles just about everyone at the table.

The One with the Late Thanksgiving (Season 10, Episode 8) — the series' final Thanksgiving episode splits into two timelines that eventually converge: one follows the friends racing across town, Fast-and-Furious style, to make it to dinner on time, while the other picks up once they've finally arrived, running late and dealing with the fallout. It aired November 20, 2003.