TOPTOBER: Top 5 Sitcom Halloween Episodes

Holiday episodes are a staple of just about every sitcom. From your heartfelt Christmas stories to your sentimental Thanksgiving episodes, the holiday installments are, more often than not, super sappy. Under the guise of just about any given occasion, writers are free to create hokey plots about love, friendship, and family that play on the audience’s feel good feelings during any given time of year.

The one major exception to this structure is when television shows create Halloween episodes. In the spirit of All Hallows’ Eve, our characters are allowed to take on new personas and act totally against type. The rules of the universe are often discarded, and writers and actors are allowed to create something totally different. Add the opportunity for horror movie references, and these episodes can become some of the more memorable within a series’ run.

In honor of this most spooky time of year, here is a list of the five best sitcom Halloween episodes.

"Costume Contest" – The Office (U.S.)

S7, E6

In its 9 season run, The Office has almost as many Halloween episodes and they each featured the employees of our favorite Scranton paper company wearing great costumes. In this particular season, Dunder Mifflin’s office party is going to include a costume contest, with a grand prize of a coupon book valued at $15,000. The conceit, of course, is that the coupon book is realistically worthless, but that doesn’t stop everyone from doing their damndest to out-costume each other.


"Spooky Endings" – Happy Endings

S2, E5

This episode is a great example of so many things that made Happy Endings great. Despite its short run, the show (which was often compared to Friends – a comparison the show relished) was always chock full of fun cameos, a joke-density that is unparalleled in most sitcoms, and great chemistry between its cast of characters. Not to mention that one of the subplots at play is concerned with the decision facing many young city-dwelling couples about moving to the suburbs and takes it to a Twilight Zone extreme.


"Girth" – Pushing Daisies

S1, E5

Another show that was taken off the air before its time, Pushing Daisies – the brainchild of Brian Fuller (Six Feet Under, Hannibal) – is what you get when you combine the darkness of old school noir with the bubblegum bright colors of a fairy tale. Daisies takes a fresh look at the detective procedural by adding a humble pie maker who can bring the dead back to life with the touch of a finger, an ability he uses to help solve crimes. In "Girth", we learn why Ned (the pie maker) hates Halloween. How could anyone hate Halloween?


"Greg Pikitis" – Parks and Recreation

S2, E7

Remember everything I said about Halloween episodes being great precisely because they allow writers and actors to do something new and different? Throw that all out the window. What makes "Greg Pikitis" such a stand out addition to the Parks and Recreation roster is precisely how not special it is. We see every character doing exactly what they do best and being the most quintessential version of themselves. Amy Poehler, in particular, is truly in her element as Leslie taking on an obnoxious young tween.


"Fear Itself" – Buffy

S4, E4

In a show that is essentially seven seasons of Halloween episodes, Joss Whedon and crew went all out every year for the holiday itself. The fourth season episode, "Fear Itself", takes place at a college house party gone horribly wrong when unwitting frat bros summon a demon and bring all of the decorations in their haunted house to life. Lovers of Buffy will also note that this is the first episode where we get a glimpse at Anya’s crippling fear of bunnies, which will become a well-beloved recurring theme.


Honorable Mention: "And Then There Was Shawn" – Boy Meets World

S5, E17

As a die-hard BMW devotee who can expound upon the multitude of Feeny calls, I would be remiss not to mention the classic Scream-inspired episode "And Then There Was Shawn". The one catch is that this episode was not a Halloween episode. Released in February of 1998, this episode was a clear sendup to the growing teen slasher genre complete with a masked killer in a black robe and a ton of meta winks to horror films. 

Sophie

Contributor

Sophie's introduction into the magic that is the horror genre was watching Halloween at a party in high school, and since then she's never looked back. She may be the wimpiest horror fan you have ever met, but she won't ever let that stop her!