Your Favorite Halloween Episode

**Chalice** · 08-31-2008,04:02 PM

Hi everyone!

This is my first bonafide thread (barring my introduction) so if I am out of line or if you guys have already discussed this, please forgive me. Cadaverino's Halloween TV thread got me started thinking about the Halloween episodes of TV shows. I always get a little thrill when a show I like devotes an episode to Halloween. Every year as we approach October, I search out the Halloween episodes of my favorite shows to help get me in the "Halloween spirit" (thank you Cadaverino for making that easy for me this year!).

So, here is my challenge for you guys- what is your absolute favorite Halloween episode of a TV show? To make it more of a challenge- you can only pick one!

As for me, man it's a tough choice. I love the Halloween episodes of Home Improvement, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, Bones, etc...but I had to choose this one:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uZueAH0bLg]YouTube - S2 Ep07-Boo[/ame]

It's the first Halloween episode of Roseanne, and the reason why I chose it is the timing. I'm not sure if you guys remember this, but when this episode aired, there were practically no TV shows with Halloween episodes. The Tylenol poisoning scare in the early 80's did a lot to kill Halloween. Because it happened in autumn, lots of folks thought that kids would get poisoned candy while trick or treating. Sadly, my last trick or treat experience had to be held in a well lit mall going from store to store due to this "poison paranoia"

It seemed to me that throughout the 80's Halloween fell more and more from the radar and I seem to remember reading that trick or treating might be a tradition that would fall completely by the wayside...

And then along came this episode of Roseanne. It was the first time in a LONG time that a TV show not only devoted a whole episode to Halloween, but actually showed a family completely embracing the holiday with costumes, decorations, and pranks. I know it seems very tame today, but believe me, in the anti-Halloween atmosphere of the late 80's, it was quite a brave thing to do. In the following years, other TV shows started following suit, and now it seems that practically every show has at least one Halloween episode that they trot out in late October. It may not sound like much, but showing TV families celebrating our favorite holiday did a lot to win back the "reputation" of Halloween.

I truly believed that Roseanne "saved" Halloween. If I ever meet her, I hope to thank her for it.

**Terra** · 08-31-2008,04:30 PM

I loved the Bones Halloween episode.

**sweet&sinister** · 08-31-2008,07:04 PM

I also like the roseanne & home improvement episodes but my favorite would probably be a married with children one. I wasn't even allowed to watch that show until i left home..lol

**Malenkia** · 08-31-2008,07:15 PM

I loved the Rosanne Halloween specials. I wish they would put out a DVD of all of them together. We always try and catch the Simpson's Tree House of Horror shows. None of the sitcoms now seem to do a Halloween episode, I'm hoping they do one for The Big Bang Theory, that's our new favorite.

**rockplayson** · 08-31-2008,07:19 PM

I love Roseanne. Just love them. They did one every year and that never happens for tv. They had so much fun with them too. I also love Home Improvment, Tales From The Dark Side and believe it or not the one Lizzie McGuire.

**firedancer41** · 08-31-2008,07:29 PM

I was going to say Roseanne but you beat me to it. I love how their whole family gets so into Halloween. But really I love watching just about every tv show that involves Halloween. It just gets me into the Halloween spirit. I also love that ABC Family does the 13 Days of Halloween.

**spookifyKN** · 08-31-2008,07:35 PM

I'm an addict of Friends and have to go with them.

You can't beat Chandler as a pink bunny. lol.

**chaos_thorn** · 08-31-2008,07:46 PM

Originally Posted by sweet&sinister

I also like the roseanne & home improvement episodes but my favorite would probably be a married with children one. I wasn't even allowed to watch that show until i left home..lol

What Married With Children episode are you thinking of?

**Scaredy Kat** · 08-31-2008,08:06 PM

I like the Halloween episodes of "Home Improvement" and "Roseanne." I also have a special place in my heart for the Halloween episode on "Beverly Hills 90210" during the 2nd season in the early 90s. It aired on Halloween, I was in junior high and it was my first time not trick-or-treating. So it was one of the things I watched to celebrate that night.