"Crazy for You"
This episode first aired October 27,1993.
Plot Synopsis:The Taylor's throw a Halloween party while Jill invents a stalker for Tim as a prank
Best Line:"The king of Halloween is dead, long live the queen!"....Jill
Nitpick of the Episode:I do have one gripe. It is established that the reason for Jill's prank is to get back at Tim for all the mean stuff he has done to her. One problem, we have never really seen that. Through the first two and a half seasons he has played pranks on the boys, and Al, but not so much on Jill. True in the episode Jill remembers some of the pranks he did to her (which she kindly informs us) which we never saw. So based just on the earlier episodes we've seen till this point, Jill has no reason to "get her revenge" here at all.
Standout Character:Tim, watching his freak out is so much fun
Episode Fun Fact:Ummmm
Syndication Edit:Jill's reaction to the boys "bleeding gum" prank at the top of the episode. A few lines are cut from Tim's talk with Wilson.
Final Thoughts:Like Roseanne, Home Improvement tended to get nuts on Halloween. More so at Christmas but that's another discussion. The first Halloween episode was a character episode for Brad, though the haunted house stuff was fun. And after this the Halloween episodes were hit..or very miss. For instance the episode where Tim and Jill play pranks on Brad and Randy (and vice versa) was real good. But the episode where everyone makes Tim think Wilson has been killed by a witch just came off as mean spirited. There is also one where Mark wants the family to star in a horror movie which has some good scenes in it. And one where Brad throws a party while his parents are away which feels as if Halloween was just forced into the plot because it happened to be that time of year (because Tim and Jill leaving home for an award show on Halloween makes no sense).
But this episode is is great and is my favorite. Even though most of it is kind of Halloween-light. Though the talk of the "obsessed fan" does make things a little creepy. There is a nice buildup as Tim goes from amused to flat out freaked about this fan. In some ways it is really just another episode, but I think that is one of the things that makes it work. Just like Roseanne, it doesn't rely on a gimmick of a "ghost" or something haunting the family. And it isn't a dream or made-up story taking place totally outside the series structure. It's just the characters acting like themselves doing what any normal people may do on Halloween. Dressing up, having fun, and pulling pranks.
The episode is good so what makes it great? It's when we get to the climax, and that scene at that Taylor's party is just awesome. The set designers went all out making the house look haunted and creepy. The make-up is even decent. And the payoff where Tim discovers that it was a prank works. If you watch that party scene you may understand what I mean when I pick on the 80's stuff, where the lights are on and the decorations are minimal. That isn't Halloween! What we get here, and yes on Roseanne too, is what a good Halloween party should be. You could almost argue it's a bit to much, but I love it anyway.
Guess the downside would be that the kids kind of get shafted. The gag about them dressing as the Three Stooges never really pays off and they get kind of forgotten by the plot. Wasn't Mark young enough to go trick or treating? They don't even get a kid at the door! But the good news is that the other characters are not forgotten, it would have been easy to leave Al and Heidi out of the main story but they are there and in on the joke. So is Wilson proving that while he is kind of stiff that doesn't mean he doesn't like a good joke.
Grade=A, Fantastic Halloween episode
That's it my friends, my favorite Halloween TV episodes. I hope you liked this because you can bet a Christmas version wont be to far off. I may do a list of horrible Halloween shows before the end of the month if I can get it together. But that will just be one whole list, I promise ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment