50 Best ‘Friends’ Episodes of All Time

Every generation has a TV show that perfectly captures the experience of their formative years—or what they wish their formative years looked like.

For many old millennials and young Gen Xers, that show is Friends. The sitcom about six pals — Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) — living in New York City is one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

From the series premiere in 1994 to its finale in 2004, fans eagerly awaited each new episode, and a whopping 52.5 million people tuned in to watch the final episode live. Critics shared in the Friends fandom, as every lead actor on the series except Cox received an Emmy nomination over the show's 10 seasons.

Friends has also enjoyed a prolific afterlife long after the series finale aired, thanks in part to streaming services like Netflix, where it also found a new audience among Gen Zers. When news broke that Matthew Perry died on Oct. 28, 2023, Friends fans of all ages were heartbroken.

To honor Perry and to celebrate the show that means so much to so many, Stacker compiled IMDb ratings for all 236 episodes of Friends to come up with this list of the 50 highest-rated episodes. Ties were broken by the number of votes. From emotional cliffhangers that shocked audiences to hilarious moments that produced some of the show's most beloved jokes, this list runs the gamut. Read on to see if your favorite episode made the cut.