Most TV shows do a Halloween episode sooner or later, and now is the time to watch them. After polling everyone we could, here are the 11 most vital.
Boo and happy Halloween! It’s ticking ever closer, and I find myself watching my favorite horror movies to get in the spirit.
But sometimes I want something a little slighter, a bite-sized candy bar rather than a whole bucket of treats. In those cases, Halloween-themed TV episodes are here to give you a dose of spooky without taking up several hours, whether they come from hour-long dramatic series or easy-to-watch sitcoms. Pretty much any long-running show will have at least one Halloween episode or two, and some do them every year (looking at you, Simpsons!)
With days yet before Halloween, there’s plenty of time to sample Halloween episodes aplenty. I have searched and asked and polled and after much debate, I found the 11 best Halloween episodes, each drawn from some of our favorite television series from throughout the years. It was extremely hard to narrow it down to 11 and there are a metric ton of honorable mentions. Everything from zombies to pumpkins, pranks and dead bodies in walls is represented.
Let’s get watching!
Superstore: “Sal’s Dead,” Episode 305
I think the show Superstore is grossly underrated. If you’ve ever worked retail at a major chain store, this series will hit uncomfortably close to home. Granted, it exaggerates certain aspects, but there’s definitely a lot of truth in there.
Superstore has had a few Halloween episodes, but “Sal’s Dead” has to be one of the best. After a tornado rips through part of the store, construction is ongoing to get everything back to normal. While working on some drywall, construction workers find a very dead (but strangely preserved) body in the wall near the fitting rooms. It turns out to be Sal, a creepy pervert who got stuck behind the wall as he creeped on the dressing rooms.
No one noticed that Sal was gone and I can’t say that I feel bad for him. They can’t remove the body until the coroner arrives, but it’s Halloween and the coroner is very busy. In the meantime, all of the customers think that Sal’s body is just there to be festive. When a dude in a coroner’s costume comes in to shop, disaster ensues.
This episode is a ton of fun. I would recommend the season 2 episode “Employee Theft” as a chaser.
Community: “Epidemiology,” Episode 206
I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t really gotten the chance to watch Community outside of this episode, but when I asked my peers what their favorite Halloween episodes were, “Epidemiology” came up several times, and anything with a zombie apocalypse is a win for me.
The Halloween party at Greendale Community College goes south when partygoers start getting sick thanks to the old army surplus rations the incompetent dean is serving as food. Pretty soon, the infected start biting people, spreading the sickness. As things go downhill, a group tries to escape but gets locked in, and then the military shows up and all hell really breaks loose.
Technically this isn’t a real zombie apocalypse, but it definitely has the feeling of the first 20 minutes of any zombie movie ever made, and is a fun little homage to the genre.
I can’t say whether or not this episode will encourage me to watch the rest of the series but in terms of Halloween-themed episodes, it’s a good addition to your Halloween set list. Maybe bring your own snacks to your next Halloween party, you know, just in case.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Halloween,” Episode 206
There were two Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes that I wanted to include in this list, but ultimately “Halloween” won the slot because it’s full of the charm characteristic of the show’s early seasons. Buffy went through the same thing that Charmed did: the earlier seasons don’t look as good but they have a quirky appeal that would abate or transform as they went on. Here we have Buffy in her truest form: a high schooler who kicks a lot of butt.
Buffy is talked into participating in Halloween even though it’s her one night off from vampire hunting (actual monsters think it’s become too commercial). Everyone gets their costumes from a small costume shop, with Buffy choosing to dress up like a proper courtly lady, a million miles from who she is in real life. Xander is a solder and Willow a ghost.
But there’s no such thing as a night off in Sunnydale. The shop owner invokes the power of the Roman god Janus and everyone BECOMES their costumes, including all the kids in town. With the town’s streets being overrun with actual baddies, Buffy is needed more than ever. Unfortunately, her costume has turned her into a helpless princess who can’t fed for herself. The only ones who can remember who they are is Willow, Cordelia and Giles.
If you’re a fan of the later seasons, then you might prefer “Fear Itself,” when our heroes get stuck in a frat house filled with monsters after some dumb bro messes with some magic. But “Halloween” is the lighter, funnier (but still intense in places) option.
The Office: “Halloween,” Episode 205
The Office is one of those shows that pretty much everyone loves. Between the relatability (if you’ve ever worked in an office you’ll recognize some of the situations), the cringey comedy and the excellent cast — Steve Carrell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, etc — you can put on pretty much any episode and at least enjoy yourself.
While there are several Halloween-themed episodes, the original is the tops. Michael Scott has been tasked with firing someone before the end of the month, but he has procrastinated, and now it’s October 31. He has to fire someone before the end of the day, but there’s a Halloween party going on. He ends up making his choice but the fired individual decides that it’s time for revenge.
At the same time, Jim is terrorizing Dwight by pulling a prank on him. I think my favorite thing about this show is the dynamic between Jim and Dwight. There’s almost a sibling energy there.
For a good chaser, follow this Halloween episode up with season 7’s “Costume Contest.”
Friends: “The One with the Halloween Party,” Episode 806
The fact that Friends was removed from Netflix is a tragedy. I usually spend this time of year hitting up every Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas episode in the whole series, and it’s just gotten a little bit harder.
Happily you can watch Friends on HBO Max, so there’s still a way to watch some of these classic episodes. One of my favorite is, of course, “The One with the Halloween Party.” This is pretty late into the show; by this point Monica and Chandler are already married, Phoebe has given birth to a litter and Rachel is pregnant.
This episode revolves around a Halloween party in Monica and Chandler’s apartment. An emotional Rachel has given all of the candy away to one kid and is now writing checks to the neighborhood kids to appease them. Phoebe’s sister Ursula shows up with her fiancé, who has no idea who she really because she’s lied to him about everything. Joey is dressed as Chandler and Chandler dressed as a bunny. He and Ross (dressed as “Spud-nik,” an appropriately dorky costume for him) have an arm wrestling competition.
Naturally, the party is a hot mess with lots of hilarious hijinks. Like The Office, Friends is another one of those shows that you can watch the same episodes from over and over and they’ll never cease to be entertaining.
Bob’s Burgers: “The Hauntening,” Episode 603
When it comes to sitcom Halloween episodes, Bob’s Burgers reigns supreme, in my most humble opinion. It’s really hard to pick the best one, but I think that “The Hauntening” has to take it.
The Belcher family are getting ready for Halloween, and Bob and Linda are ready to make the haunted house they do every year for the kids. But the unflappable Louise has never been scared and wishes more than anything she could feel what fear is like.
She gets to. What starts as your standard homemade haunted house with spaghetti guts and bald caps turns into something else when the Belchers find themselves stuck with a flat tire and stuck in a strange neighborhood, in a house owned by some dead guy. When it seems like they are being stalked by some dude with hedge clippers, they try to find a way to escape.
“The Hauntening” is just good, wholesome fun, albeit with a few things that would genuinely scary if they were amped up just a little bit; you have to push things if you want to scare Louise. I love the fact that Bob and Linda work so hard to make their kids happy and scared on Halloween. They win the parents of the year award for that.
The Simpsons: “Treehouse of Horror VIII,” Episode 904
The only Simpsons episodes I’ve ever watched have been the “Treehouse of Horrors” episodes. I never connected to the show but those Halloween episodes — always made up of several shorter, standalone vignettes — were always so much fun, and there are SO MANY good ones to choose from.
But there’s one “Treehouse of Horror” that always sticks in the mind as the funniest the show has produced yet: “Treehouse of Horror VIII.”
There are three segments in this one: Homer wanders a Springfield just destroyed by a nuclear blast, featuring the townsfolk as irradiated mutants; Bart becomes The Fly; and one set in colonial Springfield, where Marge and her sisters are witches. That one’s my favorite. When Marge jumps on her broom and her big hair (now black) bursts into bats, I feel it on a spiritual level. The whole thing is something to aspire to; I want my hair to turn into bats and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
If you want to see all of the “Treehouse of Horrors” episodes, The Simpsons is able to be streamed on Disney+ now! Looks like it’s time for a marathon.
Modern Family: “Halloween,” Episoe 206
This is an episode that nearly everyone I talked to thought I should include. While I haven’t seen any Modern Family episodes myself, I’m a big fan of the memes and gifs. For the purpose of finding out why this was so great, I streamed this episode with a mission, and I can see why it’s such a popular pick.
This show follows three families: Claire and Phil (and kids), Jay and Gloria (and son), and Mitchell and Cameron (and daughter). Claire is Jay’s daughter and is obsessed with Halloween. She wants a perfect Halloween like a bride wants a perfect wedding. All three families come together to create a full-service experience for trick-or-treaters, but everyone is distracted by their personal issues. Cameron has bad memories, Mitchell wears a costume to work when he wasn’t supposed to, Phil is paranoid about divorce after his neighbor’s wife leaves him and Gloria is mad at Jay for making fun of her accent. When they all get together, the result is a big old spiderweb-covered mess, and it is hilarious.
I think that after watching this episode, I may find myself becoming interested in the series as a whole. The show’s dynamic is over the top and I enjoy that a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaoqqypKuFo
Goosebumps: “The Haunted Mask,” Parts 1 and 2
If you grew up in the ’90s then you got to experience Goosebumps in its heyday. Sure, Goosebumps is still popular, but I remember a time when I was waiting with bated breath for another book to release. They were really scary for your average seven-year-old, and then the TV show took the scares to a whole new level. We actually were able to see the books come to life. Granted, it was with bad Canadian acting and ’90s fashion sense, but we loved it all the same.
If you ask any fan to name their favorite Goosebumps story, many will say The Haunted Mask. Even as an adult, the concept is particularly frightening. Carly Beth is a scaredy cat and her friends make fun of her for how she is afraid of everything. She decides that she wants to scare them for a change and gets a really scary mask at a local Halloween shop. The masks almost seem alive, and she picks the most grotesque one on the shelf. She also carries a replica of her head on a stick. The problem is that every time she puts the mask on, it becomes harder and harder to remove it.
Things get truly terrifying when the mask can’t be removed at all. I remember being scared out of my mind when I was young. Even though I notice the crappy acting now, it still is one of the most iconic Halloween episodes (a two-parter to boot) ever.
Roseanne: Boo! Episode 207
I couldn’t believe how overwhelmingly this was chosen as one of the best Halloween episodes. As someone who had never seen a single episode of Roseanne before, I didn’t understand why. So I sat my spooky butt down and gave it a chance and, holy crap, now I get it! The fact that I went so many decades without having this show in my life is a travesty. This feels like an actual family, not just a group of actors hired to play one. I am a mom of a boy myself, and I want to go crazy at Halloween, so I could see myself in this show.
In this episode, Roseanne and Dan fight to see who can scare the other the most, with the pranks getting bigger and bloodier as the episode goes on. It’s a simple premise, but it never gets moring. Two of the kids are really excited, but the oldest girl a real stick in the mud who is too cool for Halloween. The parents and the aunt go all-in making their house into a haunted masterpiece, complete with caramel apples for the trick-or-treaters. I remember a time in my childhood when I would go trick-or-treating and get things like homemade popcorn balls, hot chocolate, apple cider and once someone gave me a bowl of chili…that was a good year.
If nothing else, this episode has made me want to watch the entire series.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: “Halloween I”, Episode 106
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is no stranger to Halloween episodes. There are six to choose from, and each one is as funny and clever as the next, but the one that deserves a place on this list is the very first.
For the most part, the premise of all the Halloween episodes is the same. Jake and Captain Holt make a bet that Jake can’t steal Holt’s Medal of Valor before Halloween ends. Jake ropes pretty much everyone into helping him get the medal before midnight, but Captain Holt has some tricks of his own. Each edition expands in scope, with the hijinks becoming ever wackier until it finally becomes an all-out heist with some big emotional payoff, but “Halloween I” will always be the best, because it started them all.
If you haven’t watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine, you’re missing out on a hilarious show with some truly lovable idiots at its center. There’s a reason NBC picked it up after Fox cancelled it. And with so many Halloween episodes to binge, it’s a natural for an October binge.
And that’s it. Oh, I know there are going to be many of you who will wonder where your favorites are, and trust me, some of my favorites didn’t make the list, but we have quite a selection of honorable mentions below:
- Stranger Things: “Trick or Treat Freak”
- Psych: “Scary Sherry Bianca’s Toast”
- Supernatural: “It’s the Great Pumpkin Sam Winchester”
- Hey Arnold: “Arnold’s Halloween”
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch: “Murder on the Halloween Express”
- Pickle and Peanut: “Trick or Treat”
- Boy Meets World: “And Then There Was Shawn”
- How I Met Your Mother: “Slutty Pumpkin”
Happy Halloween and happy watching! Stay safe out there.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels