Some TV shows have become staples when it comes to celebrating holidays with special episodes. While The Office has some of the best Christmas episodes and The Simpsons has some great Halloween moments, Friends remains unparalleled as far as Thanksgiving specials go. Starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, the late Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow, the show has several iconic holiday episodes through the course of its 10-season run between 1994 and 2004.
On Thanksgiving, here’s looking back at some Friends’ Thanksgiving episodes that we adore:
The One Where Underdog Gets Away – Season 1
In the first season, we see what seems like the initiation of the concept of friends celebrating Thanksgiving together instead of with their families. In its first Thanksgiving episode, the show made a strong case for a non-traditional celebration. Monica and Ross can’t go home since their parents are away so they decide to have dinner in New York City itself. Rachel misses her flight to Vail, Joey finds out that he is the face of VD awareness as his face begins to appear on posters. The highlight of the episode is when the Thanksgiving parade is ruined as the Underdog balloon is cut loose. As the gang goes to the roof to watch the spectacle, they accidentally lock themselves out.
The One with the Football – Season 3
Friends has largely had a three-camera set-up with familiar settings. But in some episodes, like the second Thanksgiving special from the show, the makers decided to switch it up. We see the gang make their own holiday tradition by playing some tag football. While everyone is delightful, Monica’s highly competitive nature during the games takes centre stage in a big way. We also get details about the Geller family’s history of holding the Geller Cup.
The One with Chandler in a Box – Season 4
In Season 4, episode 8, Chandler makes the mistake of kissing Joey’s girlfriend who catches them red-handed at Central Perk. This marks a falling out between the best friends. When Joey threatens to move out, Chandler tells him he’ll do anything including getting into an entertainment unit for 6 hours to think about how he let his friend down. That’s exactly what Joey asks Chandler to do. There is a lot of drama at Thanksgiving dinner as an eye-patch-wearing Monica brings the son of her old boyfriend as her dinner date. Chandler is at his funniest as he plays pranks and tells jokes while he’s in the box.
The One with All the Thanksgivings – Season 5
This is perhaps the best Thanksgiving episode because it capitalises on one of Friends’ most popular hooks – nostalgia. The episode that first aired in 1998, is essentially a flashback to previous Thanksgiving celebrations. It packs in a bunch of previously unknown Friends mythology and there is a lot of it. For starters, we find out about Chandler’s peculiar hatred for the holiday. It comes from the tragic memory of his parents announcing their divorce at Thanksgiving dinner. He finds out that his father slept with the houseboy who was serving him Turkey during that very moment. One of the flashbacks also has what is perhaps the funniest Friends moment – Monica and Joey getting their heads stuck in turkey. Few TV scenes are as funny as Monica doing a little dance with a whole turkey on her head.
The One Where Ross Got High – Season 6
Another packed Thanksgiving episode occurs in Season 6, episode 9. Things get chaotic when Monica and Ross’ parents come cover for the holiday. Ross is put in the spot as he has to reveal to his parents that while they thought Chandler got high years ago in college, it was he who smoked pot. The Gellers believed Chandler was a bad influence and the latter did a lot to convince them otherwise. Meanwhile, Rachel cooks up a crazy concoction of Shepherd’s pie and an English trifle because the cookbook’s pages get stuck together. Of course, Joey eats it anyway.
The One with the Rumour – Season 8
Season 8, episode 9 is funny on multiple levels. For starters, Jennifer Aniston’s then-husband Brad Pitt guest stars in the special episode as an old friend from high school, Will. And he hated Rachel for being mean to him at school. He hated her enough to start a nasty rumour that Rachel had both male and female genitals. Will doesn’t seem to be over what happened in the past. Through the course of the episode, we find out that Ross helped in spreading the rumour among the other students. The tension is at a peak. However, Joey still manages to devour turkey through all the drama and fighting.
The One with Rachel’s Other Sister – Season 9
In Season 9, we meet Rachel’s other sister, Amy. There’s family drama over dinner as Amy is enraged about not being selected as Emma’s guardian although she is her aunt. Slowly, Chandler and Joey also begin to express their annoyance over not being in contention for guardianship. Christina Applegate’s performance is the highlight of the episode (sidenote: she can’t even remember the baby’s name). Meanwhile, Monica fusses over her fancy China, offering a generous helping of laughs.
The One with the Late Thanksgiving – Season 10
This is the last Thanksgiving episode and the last holiday celebrated by the gang together. It is bittersweet. It starts out with Monica and Chandler refusing to host dinner at their place before Phoebe convinces them. Ross and Joey end up going for a hockey game while Phoebe and Rachel are busy entering Emma in a beauty pageant. As they are all late for dinner, Monica decides to get revenge by locking them all out. Of course, Joey gets his head stuck in the door. While most of it is one bad turn after another, the episode wins points for literally giving the gang something to be grateful for – Monica and Chandler find out that they have been selected to adopt a baby.
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