Halloween TV Episodes I Don't Love

The last few weeks I’ve been talking about my favorite Halloween TV episodes. But what about the other side of the coin, when a sitcom does a Halloween episode that just fails for one reason or another. It can happen, I already covered one:



Roseanne : “Halloween: the Final Chapter” (1995)


Yeah I already talked about this but it had to be mentioned here.  How can I sum this one up in a way that makes any sense? Roseanne and the family are playing with a Ouija board while 4th wall gags keep happening. Then Roseanne goes into labor and has a dream (or hallucination) that is such a non sequitur I can’t possibly describe it. There are clips of past Roseanne Halloween episodes which really makes us realize how much this one sucked. Then it just gets nonsensical as Roseanne talked to the ghost of Jerry Garcia (?) before she wakes and up and discovers her new baby in a moment totally devoid of any heart. The stuff about Jerry Garcia is kind of nice but this episode is bad. Really bad. In the end Roseanne had to literally come out and defend it, seriously watch the credits of the uncut version of the episode. I will say this, I can see what she was TRYING to do. But man does it fail.


But that’s not the only Halloween episode I consider a major fail. Here are five other episodes I also just don’t like very much.



Fresh Prince : “Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect” (1990)


The Halloween stuff in this episode is really good. To bad that it takes up an entire ten minutes in this hour long episode! So what is in the rest of the episodes? I sense a clip show!! Yes folks for some reason even though the series had only been on for two months at this point, we get a clip show. There is some good stuff here, it’s not the worst episode, but man is it boring if you’re not into the clips. There is also an extended sequence featuring celebrity cameos. Remember this was early on, before anyone knew what a hit the show would become. So the cameos feel like Will Smith called all his friends and asks if they could do him a favor. Can you say painfully transparent? I knew you could.

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#1

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Halloween sitcom episodes. So I've done a lot of talking about Halloween episodes from all kinds of 80's and 90's shows. But you may have noticed one glaring omission. It was a popular show that did a Halloween episode almost every year. Well today we're going to get into it. Which show is this? My #1 favorite Halloween episode ever comes from a little show called:

"Crazy for You"

This episode first aired October 27,1993.

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#2

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Halloween sitcom episodes. Last time I discussed an episode from a series which you would expect to do a great Halloween episode…and rarely disappoints. Today I want to talk about a series which you would likewise think would do great Halloween shows. Except, they didn’t. The episodes were always disappointing, with one big exception. What series is this? Today my #2 favorite episode comes from:

“Come Back to the Five and Dime, Stephen King, Stephen King”
(I was going to ask what this title referenced, but then I looked it up and discovered it was a movie Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean).

This episode first aired on October 25th, 1989

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#3

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Halloween sitcom episodes. Today I am picking an episode from a series which you would expect to do good Halloween episodes. And this series rarely disappointed. While most of their Halloween episodes were good one in particular rises above the rest, for me anyway. Today my #3 favorite episode comes from:

“Good Will Haunting”













This episode first aired on October 30, 1998

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#4

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Halloween sitcom episodes. There are some series which are almost synonymous with Halloween. But once in awhile a series you’d never expect to do an awesome Halloween episode surprises us with one. Today my #4 pick is a perfect example of that, when we were surprised in 1990 with a fantastic Halloween show from, of all shows :

Yep, Growing Pains!



“Happy Halloween”


(yeah, the pic sucks. Sorry)
This aired October 31, 1990. And it’s clear they really put their hearts in it! They even recorded a brand new opening with a “Monster Mash” kind of song replacing the usual theme song. That’s freaking awesome! Check it out HERE

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#5

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Halloween sitcom episodes. The other day we were very firmly stuck in the 80’s, so it seems only fair that today’s episode be a product of the 90’s. It was a huge hit for NBC and it’s not hard to understand why. My #5 choice for my all time favorite Halloween episode comes from the popular series :








“Scaredy Dick

This episode first aired on Oct 29, 1997

Top 6 All-Time Favorite Halloween TV Episodes-#6

Welcome my friends! Since everyone seems to be doing something special for Halloween why not add to that? I have decided that through the next couple weeks I will count down my absolute favorite Halloween sitcom episodes EVER.  As I have noted before, sitcoms and Halloween often go great together. I don’t think there’s any show out there that hasn’t done at least one Halloween themed episode. And when done right, they can be creepy and even scary!

Before I begin a few quick notes. I will be using the format of my Analytical Episode Reviews for these. Only sitcoms, I see a lot of lists cheat and list something like The Great Pumpkin as their #1 when every other show on their list was sitcom. That special is classic but also belongs in a different category. Also, they have to be episodes literally set on Halloween not just an episode with scary elements that have nothing to do with Halloween. And only one episode per series.


There will be a few shows that will be left off. Since I already discussed Roseanne I will not discuss it again. I reviewed the really decent Friends Halloween episode when I did my episode guide so will spare you. And The Simpsons will not be included, how can I possibly pick just one? So I guess we can consider Roseanne an honorary #7 (for my views on that click HERE) and the Friends Halloween episode an honorary #8 (for my view on that click HERE). The Simpsons can be #9, so we almost have an unofficial Top 10, I guess.


Finally, this is just my opinion. I am sure there are better Halloween episodes out there than the six I will list, or people out there who hate these episodes for some reason, but for me these are the one’s that I love watching over and over. Feel free to disagree and let me know your favorites.



So, where do we begin today? I decided to start with a great one which has kind of been forgotten about over the years. But I still enjoy it.


#6 on my list is :