Television is no stranger to theme episodes, especially when it comes to holidays. Halloween brings about its own fair share of those theme episodes, with every cast of characters in their array of costumes, ranging from comical and colorful to sexy and sleazy. With the holiday (and its celebrations that seem to last two weeks at a time) just around the corner, I thought I’d make a list of some of my favorite television Halloween specials in case you might find yourself like me: someone who loves the silly aspects of Halloween and absolutely hates the scary ones and may not always have the attention span for a movie.
Disclaimer: These are my favorite Halloween episodes, meaning I’m sure I missed a few of yours. These are in no particular order, so let’s get right down to it.
- The Office, “Halloween:” For a show that puts forth a Halloween special just about once a season, The Office puts its best foot forward the very first time around. In one of Steve Carrell’s funniest performances, Michael spends the episode with a papier-mâché version of his own head on his shoulder as his costume, frantically dealing with the fact that he’s known that he needed to fire someone by the end of the month and the end of the month has arrived. While the rest of the office celebrates Halloween in a great array of costumes, Michael’s tormented. It makes for great TV. (Netflix)
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Who Got Dee Pregnant?” (You’re going to notice a pattern here. Most of them are comedies. Comedies just happen to do Halloween very well.) Dee shows up and reveals to the gang that she’s pregnant, which is all fun and games until she lets them know that one of them might be the father of her child. After the boys spend the episode losing their minds and sleuthing to determine who the father is, Dee lets them know that none of them are. The costumes in this one are way too fun. (Hulu)
- It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! I don’t even feel the need to explain why you should check this out. If you’ve never seen it, you’re seriously missing out on one of the most iconic cartoon specials ever. (Unavailable to stream)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Halloween:” The first of three Buffy Halloween specials, this episode is a fun exploration of what the holiday means in a town where real-life monsters wreak havoc every night. Turns out, the monsters usually take the night off! It’s the humans you have to watch out for in Sunnydale on Halloween, Buffy and her friends learn when they all turn into their costumes for a night—Buffy an 18th century princess, Xander the commando, and Willow a ghost. And this year, the monsters aren’t taking the night off, especially with the Slayer a bit incapacitated. (Hulu)
- Boy Meets World, “And Then There Was Shawn:” So, this is technically not a Halloween episode, but this is my list, so I’ve decided to allow it. Cory and his friends get locked inside the school during detention only to find a dead body, and a message telling them that they won’t make it out of the school alive. Together along with Eric and Jack, they run around the school, attempting to solve the mystery of who the killer is, only to get picked off one by one. There’s a cameo by Jennifer Love Hewitt, fitting from the star of I Know What You Did Last Summer in an episode that follows every teen horror movie trope. (Hulu)
- Grey’s Anatomy, “Haunt You Every Day:” I break with tradition once again here as this episode is decidedly less funny than the rest on the list, but it’s certainly the superior Grey’s Halloween showing. Meredith finds herself convinced that her mother’s ashes are haunting her after an awful Halloween nightmare, and the hospital comes together to perform a surgery to give a boy ears. Meredith ends up washing her mother’s “cursed” ashes down the sink, a result of their strained relationship coming to an end. The fact that Dr. Callie Torres drops one of her most iconic lines ever (“Because she’s been sleeping with my husband.”) in this particular episode is an added bonus. Also, who doesn’t love hot doctors in Halloween costumes? (Netflix)
- How I Met Your Mother, “Slutty Pumpkin:” As much as I cringe typing that title in 2018 when, let’s face it, that title wouldn’t make it anywhere near network television or any kind of television, this episode still makes me crack up. At the rooftop Halloween party their apartment building throws every year, Ted waits in his recycled Hanging Chad costume from Halloween 2001, searching for a girl whose number he’d lose after the party all those years ago, only referred to as “the Slutty Pumpkin,” due to the choice areas of cutouts in her costume all those years ago. Marshall and Lily’s b-story about their couple’s costume coupled with Ted’s customary inability to just let shit go makes for a fun holiday spin on a now-classic sitcom. (Hulu)
- Parks and Recreation, “Greg Pikitis:” Another show that did Halloween well several times, Parks knocked it out of the park with the introduction of Leslie’s arch-nemesis Greg Pikitis, a 16 year old high school student with a penchant for graffiti, a natural born enemy for the queen of the parks department herself. Every time you put this particular gang in costumes is good enough for me, if I’m being honest. (Netflix)
- Freaks and Geeks, “Tricks and Treats:” Having gifted the world with one perfect season, we were gifted with one perfect Halloween special. Lindsay won’t spend Halloween with her mom because of her desire to hang out with her newfound friends, hurting her mother’s feelings. Lindsay takes her Halloween pranks too far by accidentally egging her own brother, who didn’t want to go out in the first place. Lindsay wants to grow up, and Sam, somewhere in there, still desperately wants to be a kid. After realizing she’s really hurt her brother, she ends up passing out candy with her mom, who’s realizing that, pretty soon, her kids are going to be grown up. You laugh, you cry. It’s perfect Freaks and Geeks. (Netflix)
- Friends, “The One With the Halloween Party:” I strongly prefer the Thanksgiving episodes that Friends does really rather well—a holiday many shows tend to neglect—but “The One With the Halloween Party” is worth it even for that idiot Ross’s “Spud-nik” costume. I love any appearance of Phoebe’s twin sister Ursula, but I could do without seeing Sean Penn literally anywhere. Maybe that’s just me. (Netflix)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Fear, Itself:” This is the second time that Buffy makes this list for several reasons. 1. It’s my favorite show, and this is my list. 2. They really knew how to do Halloween. The second of three Halloween specials throughout the series’ seven season run, “Fear, Itself” is kind of terrifying. Frat boys accidentally cast a spell on their house, causing everyone’s biggest fears to manifest inside the house. It’s the first time we hear about Anya’s deathly fear of bunnies, and it’s the first time anyone expresses concern about Willow’s overreliance on magic. Annoying things? Riley Finn, but that’s for another article. In a season all about foreshadowing and attention to detail, this one gets it right, even as it celebrates a holiday. (Hulu)
- Frasier, “Halloween:” It’s a classic comedy of errors on the menu for Halloween, but it’s also another case of series-altering bombshells dropped while everyone is fun and dressed in costume. Roz lets on to Frasier that she might be pregnant, and, while attending Niles’ literary-themed bash, everyone starts to get the wrong idea. Overhearing a conversation between Frasier and Daphne, Niles assumes that his brother has gotten the housekeeper pregnant, even though she’s the woman Niles’ has spent years pining after. Martin thinks Frasier got Roz pregnant instead, and Roz can’t seem to catch a break, and while Frasier shouts to the party guests that the baby isn’t his, she appears, announcing from the top of the stairs, tears in her eyes, that she’s with child. As funny as it all is, you can’t help wondering what’s next to come. Niles in that goofy nose gives this episode, like, 15 bonus points. (Netflix)
There you have it. I’ve ranked a few of my favorite Halloween (and Halloween adjacent) specials so that you don’t have to! Tweet us @LocoMag with what you think I missed. Happy watching!
