The One with All the Thanksgivings

Background

Ross calls his divorce and eviction the worst Thanksgiving ever, so the others tell theirs: Chandler's parents announcing their divorce over dinner, Phoebe losing an arm as a nurse in a past life, and the year Joey got a turkey stuck on his head. Monica's worst is 1987, when Ross brought Chandler home from college and she overheard him call her Ross's fat sister, which made her stop overeating. Rachel knows a worse one: in 1988 a slimmed-down Monica tried to seduce Chandler to humiliate him, dropped a knife and cut off his toe, which was then mixed up with a carrot at the hospital.

Chandler storms off, and Monica wins him round by dancing with a turkey on her head, which makes him say he loves her for the first time. The writers built the show from "worst Thanksgivings" stories, pre-shot several scenes for the effects and costumes, and had a foam turkey made for sanitary reasons. It finished second in the week's ratings with a 16.0 Nielsen rating, earned Debra McGuire an Emmy nomination for costume design, and is regularly ranked among the show's best episodes.

Kevin Bright said the episode tied Monica's rejection by Chandler, Chandler's rejection by Monica and their present-day romance together.