‘Friends’: All 10 Seasons, Ranked Worst to Best
In trying times, you can always call up your Friends — at least, as long as the show is still available to stream on HBO Max and/or you’ve (wisely) invested in physical copies of the show. The gentle-humored sitcom has been there for us as TV comfort food for decades now, and even though some elements of the show have not aged well, most of the jokes still land, and the relationships between the six Central Perk regulars still feel personal and authentic.
Some seasons of Friends are better than others, though, so if you’ve only got time for one barca-lounger binge session, you might want to stick with the seasons that will keep you clap-clap-clap-clapping along with joy the whole time.
Here’s our ranking of all 10 seasons of Friends, from worst to best.
10. Friends Season 9
As much as group newcomers Mike (Paul Rudd) and Emma bring to the table during this season, there are so many weird elements to it — Phoebe’s (Lisa Kudrow) rat babies, Ross’ (David Schwimmer) fake funeral, e.g. — that there are actually skippable episodes. Worse, the end of the season soft launches the Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) hookup in a way that makes them seem suddenly dense, impulsive, and frankly unkind. One saving grace of the season is the arrival of Rachel’s other sister, Amy (Christina Applegate), in all of her slap-fighting, dish-destroying glory.
9. Friends Season 6
There are some decent moments in this season, including Monica’s (Courteney Cox) proposal (and all of the goofy confusion that leads up to it), the “unagi” showdown, the routine, and the hysterical fight that ensues as Rachel reluctantly moves out of the apartment. Still, a lot of this season is packed with filler episodes like Ross’ neon teeth, the whole apothecary table dustup, and Ross dating a way-too-young student in Elizabeth (Alexandra Holden)…. and Rachel dating her father Paul (Bruce Willis), too.
8. Friends Season 10
The final season of Friends ends on a high note with the “I got off the plane” closer that finally brings Ross and Rachel back together for good — and forever associates planes with phalanges. What leads up to it, though, is a season filled with uncomfortable moments between Joey and Rachel and some tough dramatic beats with Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Monica’s fertility struggles. It all adds up to an uneven season.
7. Friends Season 7
Chances are, most people will remember this season as the one when Monica and Chandler finally say “I do” (and we end on the cliffhanger of Rachel’s surprise pregnancy), but there’s a lot more to it than that. This is also the season with so many standout subplots, like the magical healing chair, the cheesecake, and the holiday armadillo, all of which were prime examples of great situational comedy. Dragging the season down, though, is the horrifying episode with Ross’ cousin Cassie (Denise Richards) that can really only be watched through fingers.
6. Friends Season 8
The arc of this season is Rachel’s pregnancy, and man alive, does the show capitalize on that, comedy-wise. The videotape episode alone makes this season an automatic best-of, but we also get the birthing tape, the shower meltdown, and the whole sweater incident out of it, too. It’s also the season where Joey first realizes he has romantic feelings for Rachel, and in this case, it’s handled with so much heart that it’s harder to hate it here. Other standout moments of the season include the Halloween party, the “I Hate Rachel Green” club reveal, and the bath. It’s the finale that stops this one from a higher ranking on this list because it’s just too contrived.
5. Friends Season 5
There’s a lot to love about this season. It’s the one when Ross (with his annoying air purifier) moves in with Joey and Chandler and has his “my sandwich” meltdown, when Rachel keeps making a fool of herself at work, when Phoebe gives birth to the triplets, and when the anniversary trip to Vegas takes place. Most importantly, though, it’s the first season where Chandler and Monica become a real-deal couple, resulting in the classic “they don’t know that we know they know we know” debacle, and also where the show’s physical comedy reached its apotheosis with “pivot.”
4. Friends Season 2
The actors were already deeply familiar with the inner workings of their characters by the time this season — which was brimming with physical comedy triumphs, by the way — rolled around. This was the season when Ross and Rachel finally became, well, Ross and Rachel (after a couple of key setbacks, of course), and the season also boasted standout moments like Joey’s stalker, the prom video, Chandler’s wackadoodle roommate, and Rachel’s double birthday party bonanza, to name a few highlights.
3. Friends Season 4
Right from the start, this season is on a mission to re-separate Ross and Rachel in a way that is truly believable, and all it takes is one 18-page letter (front and back!) to get it done. From there, the season is off to the races, with both pursuing serious new love interests — Emily (Helen Baxendale) and Joshua (Tate Donovan), respectively. The former takes the whole gang to London for what’d prove to be a disastrous wedding event and another signature finale cliffhanger. Elsewhere, this is also the season where Monica first falls in love with Richard (Tom Selleck), Chandler gets cuffed to Rachel’s boss’ filing cabinet, Monica and Rachel lose their apartment to Joey and Chandler in another fantastic bottle episode, Phoebe has her brother’s babies, the girls drink beer in wedding dresses, everyone’s lives become overrun by “free porn,” Chandler and Joey get robbed, and, well, Chandler ends up in a box for kissing Kathy (Paget Brewster).
2. Friends Season 3
“The One Where No One’s Ready” is often cited as one of Friends‘ greatest episodes, and for good reason: It was a true bottle episode that gave us the iconic image of Joey wearing all of Chandler’s clothes at once. Season 3 also featured a surprise flashback with unexpected backstory elements of the characters, the arrival of the chick and the duck, and, perhaps most memorably, the “we were on a break” saga that would live in infamy.
1. Friends Season 1
It’s not uncommon for a show’s first season to be its best, but that was especially true with Friends. The show hit the ground running with its smart pacing and three-story arc structure in the pilot. The first season also briefly included cold opens, which worked well for its quick-witted crew (and should’ve stuck around longer), but more importantly, the situations were just downright hilarious.
Throughout the first 24 episodes, we get the first taste of the themes that would inform the entire series: the will-they-or-won’t-they arc of Ross and Rachel and the friends’ new Thanksgiving tradition. The season also featured a rare crossover with fellow NBC Thursday night comedies Seinfeld, Mad About You, and Madman of the People, via the blackout episode. It was also the one with Marcel the monkey and his many hijinks, and most importantly, it was a season of discovery for all of the characters as they settled into the archetypes we’d all come to know and love.
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