'Friends' Thanksgiving episodes, definitively ranked, from Chandler in a box to Brad Pitt

What's the point of Thanksgiving without your "Friends"?

The classic NBC sitcom was known for its beautiful cast, its coffee shop setting and its Thanksgiving episodes. Holidays make great TV, and nobody did the day of turkey, football and family fighting better than "Friends," which featured a Thanksgiving episode in nine out of 10 seasons (Season 2 was the exception).

It's almost always a treat when Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Ross (David Schwimmer), Joey (Matt Le Blanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry, who died at 54 last month) gathered around the table for stuffing, pie and laughs. The Thanksgiving installments have everything, from big guest stars to big turkeys to football to beef in an English trifle. They include some of the best episodes of "Friends," even if a few are best left forgotten. And watching them might be the only thing your family can agree on this Thanksgiving.

We rank all nine turkey-day episodes that aired during the show's 10-season run.

9. “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister” (Season 9, 2002)

Awkward, unfunny and surprisingly morbid, the Season 9 episode, featuring guest star Christina Applegate as Rachel's sister Amy, was a big miss. The meat of the episode is focused on a discussion of who will care for Ross and Rachel's daughter Emma if they die (cheery!) While a big guest star can make an exciting holiday episode (see below), Applegate's presence wasn't enough to elevate the poor and often cringeworthy material.

8. “The One With the Late Thanksgiving” (Season 10, 2003)

The final "Friends" Thanksgiving episode was a fitting plot for the series' last season. After convincing Monica to host a Thanksgiving she didn't want, the rest of the friends arrive late. So naturally, Monica and Chandler lock them out of the apartment. It's all fun and games and Joey getting his head stuck in the doorway until they get the best news that will change Monica and Chandler's lives forever − they've been chosen to be adoptive parents. Like many Season 10 episodes, the shtick of "Friends" is a bit forced in this episode, even if it has a very sweet ending.

7. “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs” (Season 7, 2000)

This Season 7 outing is bit nondescript, more like an average episode than a special holiday treat. Chandler fakes a dog allergy while Phoebe sneaks a pup around the apartment. Ross tries to remember all 50 states and just can't. Rachel has low-stakes drama with her puppy-like boyfriend Tag (Eddie Cahill). It was all fine, but not nearly as good as most of the other Turkey Day episodes.

6. “The One With the Rumor” (Season 8, 2001)

A better title for this episode might have been "The One With Brad Pitt." The movie star (who was married to Aniston at the time) shows up as a former high school classmate of Monica, Ross and Rachel's. Big and bullied as a teen, he is now, well, Brad Pitt-level hot, and holding on to a grudge against Miss Popular, Rachel Green. Many of the specifics of this episode have not aged well (including that the rumor that was seemingly so horrible was the suggestion that Rachel was intersex), but it remains the most brilliant and exquisitely executed bit of stunt casting for a sitcom, possibly of all time. He's not known for comedy, yet Pitt commits to his Rachel-hating character with every ounce of his Academy Award-winning acting prowess.

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5. “The One Where Underdog Gets Away” (Season 1, 1994)

The Thanksgiving that started it all was kind of a disaster for our friends, who are locked out of Monica and Rachel's apartment on the holiday. Rachel misses a flight to go skiing with her family, and the dinner Monica has labored over (and customized with three versions of mashed potatoes) burns to a crisp. Fights and recriminations lead to laughs and forgiveness, perhaps like your own Thanksgiving. They end up eating grilled cheese sandwiches with Chandler, who has hated Thanksgiving food ever since his parents announced their divorce on the holiday. It was such a success for the show, the writers cooked up eight more Thanksgiving feasts.

4. “The One With the Football” (Season 3, 1996)

The relationship between siblings Monica and Ross is as complex, fraught and inevitably loving as any of the romantic pairings over the series' 10-season run. This football-centric Season 3 episode is one of the best examples of the comedy they could wring from the ūber-competitive brother and sister. The friends decide to play some casual touch football on the holiday, but when Monica and Ross are team captains no game can be casual. Their rivalry borders on the absurd, but writers keep the stakes (and the troll doll trophy) from being too ridiculous.

3. “The One With Chandler in a Box” (Season 4, 1997)

Sometimes "Friends" drew its strength from witty comedy, and sometimes from its exceptional cast and their chemistry. And then other times it just went for the weird and absurd. This Season 4 outing falls in the third category, sticking Chandler in an actual box for most of the episode as penance for kissing Joey's girlfriend Kathy (Paget Brewster). It's also the episode where Monica tries to date the son of her ex, Richard (Tom Selleck), and is wearing an eye patch. It's silly, hilarious and heartfelt, and it represents some of the most creative years of "Friends."

2. “The One Where Ross Got High” (Season 6, 1999)

Monica and Ross's parents Judy (Christina Pickles) and Jack (Elliot Gould) make a welcome appearance at the Thanksgiving table in Season 6 for an episode full of Gellar high jinks (literally and figuratively). Monica and Ross get into childish fight, revealing their secrets, after Monica discovers her parents don't like Chandler (now her live-in boyfriend) because Ross once blamed him for the stench of marijuana in their dorm room. This is also the very memorable Thanksgiving where Rachel makes an English trifle with ingredients for a shepherd's pie because the pages of the cookbook were stuck together. But don't worry, Joey eats it anyway.

1. “The One With All the Thanksgivings” (Season 5, 1998)

This episode is not only the best Thanksgiving "Friends," it's one of the best episodes of the series, period. Overstuffed from Monica's Thanksgiving dinner, the gang swaps stories about bad Thanksgivings past, and we learn where Chandler got his hatred of the holiday, that Monica accidentally cut off Chandler's toe and that Joey thought it would be a good idea to put a turkey on his head. The turkey-on-head-image (which also includes Monica later in the episode) is iconic all by itself, but the episode is so smartly written and hilariously acted by the cast, it's nearly flawless. If only it didn't smell so bad inside a dead turkey.

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