Ten Halloween Episodes With No Halloween In Them

Here is something which annoys me, when a show happens to be set on a holiday but the plot has nothing to do with the holiday. I mean, at all. Even a lousy B story! For instance he Seinfeld episode “the Andrea Doria” is clearly set at Christmas But aside from the decorations the subject is NEVER brought up. Why bother then? Halloween is no exception to this. I think a lot of times setting it at Halloween is network mandated, because the episode is airing at that time. Other times it could be that the creators have a cute Halloween idea but it isn’t enough to carry an episode, so it gets a few scenes and then that’s it. Either way I think it’s a stretch calling them Halloween episodes.


Here are ten episodes where the show is set at Halloween, but you’d hardly know it. These aren’t bad episodes (mostly) by any means, they just aren’t good Halloween episodes in my opinion. And this is all in good fun by the way, there is no rule about what makes a good or bad Halloween episode.





The Cosby Show, “Cliff’s Mistake”

I guess this takes place on Halloween but the word is never used. There is a B story where the kids are making a haunted house (er, basement). So we get a couple scene of the kids dressed up and setting things up. But the A story takes up most of the time, and is about Cliff losing a drill he had borrowed from a neighbor. This isn’t the worst, you could watch this on Halloween and get enough to be satisfied, but I think that as far as Halloween episodes go it’s pretty weak. The syndicated episode ends with Peter being scared away by the haunted  house, the original ends with Cliff apologizing to his friend (he found the drill). The syndicated version is better.







Full House”It’s Not My Job”

This episode opens with a cute teaser scene where everybody is dressed up for Halloween. What is the rest of the episode about? Jesse deciding to resign from his job as an exterminator. Wow, scary! I am guessing that since the episode aired right before Halloween someone, the creators or the network, decided they needed some kind of nod to the holiday in there. But I hate it when the teaser promises something and you get something totally unrelated! This is one of those times when I bet it was easy to edit for syndication. There is also a Season Three episode called “Divorce Court” where Halloween (or a costume party anyway) is also very loosely connected to the plot. A little better than the season 2 episode, but not by much.







Growing Pains, “Fool for Love”

This is a very forgettable episode. I think I may seen it once, maybe twice. And while it is about Ben bringing a date to a Halloween party, it could have been any party. The Halloween stuff is mostly in the background as the main plot involves Ben finally having hormones. And the B story involves Jason and Maggie at Lamaze class, real spooky huh? It’s ironic that two years later this show would come up with one of the greatest Halloween episodes ever. This one is a bad episode, Halloween or otherwise.






Family Matters, “Best Friends”

This show could be very hit or miss with their Halloween episodes. Either they were amazing, or they were lackluster. This one may have been the worst. The plot involves Harriett trying a little to hard to fit in with Laura’s friends, and Waldo getting Eddie a job at fast food place where Steve also works. So, hi jinks! How is that a Halloween episode? There are decorations in the background. I’m not kidding, that’s it. Well Ok there is a trick or treat gag in the teaser (where we establish Halloween is a few days away!)






Friends, “The one with the Phoebe’s Birthday Dinner”

This one baffles me! Ok so the plot is that Phoebe wants to celebrate her birthday with her friends, but things come up keeping them from getting to the restaurant. So happens that the night is also Halloween (let’s forget that is a huge continuity flub). So at the start of the episode Phoebe shows up at Monica’s decorated apartment. And that’s all the Halloween we get!! Seriously, absolutely nothing else in the episode connects to the holiday so why set it on the holiday?????






Frasier, “Tales from the Crypt”

This episode is on the fence, it isn’t the best example on this list I’ll admit it. The premise is simple, after Bulldog embarrasses Frasier on Halloween he schemes to get revenge with an elaborate practical joke involving zombies. While the “Halloween” part is only in the first few minutes the episode keeps the mood enough to make it at least passable as far as Halloween episodes go. In the end Frasier teams up with Bulldog to get his father an Roz. Also a subplot with Daphne’s mother in a prank war with a neighbors kid.






Home Improvement, “Borland Ambition”

Yeah I’ve talked about how wonderful this show could be with Halloween, but meet the exception. I mean what a let down! It starts out well, with Tim playing a joke on Al, the boys playing a joke on Jill, and Wilson in a costume at the hardware store. The B story concerns the boys entering a costume contest and things look good at the start. But then the A plot takes over and the episode becomes Al co-owning the store and becoming a jerk, and Halloween basically disappears from the show. What he hell? Two years in a role The Taylor’s did Halloween huge and this years it’s barely a B plot? I was so pissed when I first saw this episode after the fantastic episode the year before.






Roseanne, “Satan, Darling”

Sigh. What haven’t I said about the atrocity that was the ninth and final season of this show? So was this episode ANY good? Even as a regular episode? I watched it and had never seen it before. And, it’s not really a Halloween episode. After a night of drinking Roseanne has a bizarre dream about Darlene and her baby in a spoof of the classic Rosemary’s Baby. Yeah it had the devil, so what? It could have almost been on my previous list but it isn’t even scary. It’s just stupid and I wouldn’t even count it as a Halloween episode at all except it appears on lists as one. And yes I know the Absolute Fabulous connection, still don’t care.






Scrubs, “My Big Brother”

This is set on Halloween but, again,  you’d almost never know it. The plot involves JD spending time with his brother while Dr.Cox gives Turk a hard time. Aside from the fact that everyone at the hospital is wearing costumes there is nothing really Halloween about it. In fact, I saw this pop up on a list and was surprised. I always remembered this episode but the fact that it was set on Halloween was news to me until I re-wtached it. It’s a good episode, and the fact that Dr.Kelso was the one running around in the gorilla suit is pretty funny, but overall fails. I think the Halloween stuff was supposed to tie into the moral of not letting go of the kid inside. I get it, it still fails.




The Big Bang  Theory, “The Good Guy Fluctuation”

In the teaser Sheldon gets a good scare by Leonard, Howard, and Raj. And it’s a pretty well done scene too! The rest of the episode the B story is Sheldon trying to get his revenge and scare his friends back. Which he fails miserably at, until the very end. But to be honest the teaser is the only part that feels like a “Halloween” episode, after that it’s just another “Sheldon is obsessed about something” episode that could have been set at any time of the year. The A story involves Leonard meeting a girl and wanting to date even though he is still with the always annoying Priya. This show did much better Halloween episodes than this one.







Gotta love Halloween on sitcoms! Even when it’s forced onto a premise that never wanted it there.