October is spooky season, and that means it’s time to indulge in some of the best Halloween TV episodes out there!
While Australia may not celebrate Halloween as much as other countries, it’s hard to pass up the chance to delve into the spooky, kooky, witchy, scary and mystical at this time of year. So, to help you out, we’ve gathered together a list of the best Halloween TV episodes. Plus, we’ve also included where you can watch the episodes in Australia. Grab the popcorn!
[NOTE: This list contains mild spoilers.]
The best Halloween TV episodes
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
season 1, episode 6
You can’t pull together a list of best Halloween TV episodes and not include the police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Each year on Halloween, the squad compete in an elaborate Halloween Heist. But it all started with the episode “Halloween”. Detective Jake Peralta brags that he’d never be caught if he were a criminal, but Captain Raymond Holt disagrees. They make a bet: If Jake can steal Holt’s Medal of Valour by midnight, Holt will do Jake’s paperwork. If Jake fails, he needs to work the next five weekends.
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Abbott Elementary
season 2, episode 6
Another sitcom entry on the list is the mockumentary Abbott Elementary. Chaos descends on the school after a child steals a bag of candy intended to be distributed at the end of the day, and shares it with their fellow students. Instead of the teachers sending the children home for the parents to deal they’re now stuck wrangling the kids on a sugar high, and attempting to find the culprit.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer
season 2, episode 6; season 4, episode 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has plenty of material to work with for a Halloween episode. In fact, all episodes of the show include spooky creatures. Two Halloween episodes stand out. In “Halloween”, people turn into their Halloween costumes, including the titular character, Buffy, who loses her Slayer abilities because she’s dressed as a noblewoman. The episode “Fear Itself” has a slightly darker concept. Someone accidentally activates a summoning circle, and everyone’s worst fears come alive…
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Peanuts, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
1966 television special
We all knew this was going to be on the list, right? It’s not technically a TV episode, but a television special, but it certainly deserves a place on our list of best Halloween TV episodes! The children (and Snoopy) are celebrating Halloween, but not Linus, or Sally, who he convinces to wait in a pumpkin patch with him for the arrival of the magical “Great Pumpkin”.
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Friends
season 8, episode 6
In this episode, “The One With The Halloween Party”, Monica and Chandler host a costume party for their friends. Sounds simple, right? But this is an episode of Friends, so things do not go as planned. Monica forces Chandler into a pink bunny costume, Ross wears a potato for his “Spudnik” outfit, Phoebe breaks up her sister’s relationship, and a pregnant Rachel fails to connect with the kids who come trick-or-treating. Fun fact: Despite running for 10 seasons, this is the only overtly Halloween episode of Friends.
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M*A*S*H,
season 11, episode 2
M*A*S*H’s only Halloween episode is “Trick or Treatment”. Preparations are underway for a Halloween party, but the evening is derailed by an influx of rowdy casualties, including a man whom everyone mistakenly thinks is dead. The running joke in the episode is that several of the cast wear their Halloween costumes throughout. Hawkeye is dressed as Superman, B.J. as a clown, and Potter as a cowboy.
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The Office
season 2, episode 5
Over its several seasons, The Office had six Halloween-specific episodes, including “Costume Contest”, where the employees try to one-up each other’s costumes to win a coupon book. But we like the classic set-up of the show’s very first Halloween episode, called “Halloween”. It’s the office Halloween party, but the scariest part is that Michael must fire an employee by the end of the night.
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Modern Family
season 2, episode 6
Modern Family is another sitcom that has provided us with a plethora of Halloween episodes to enjoy. Across Modern Family‘s 11 seasons, there are seven Halloween-themed episodes, but our favourite is season two’s “Halloween”. The episode sees a Halloween-obsessed Claire transform the Dunphy house, while Cameron deals with a childhood trauma, and poor Mitchell has a terrible day at work.
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Sabrina the Teenage Witch
season 2, episode 7
For a TV show that gives Halloween vibes every episode, Sabrina the Teenage Witch managed to deliver some deliciously fun Halloween episodes, including “A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It”. Instead of the quiet Halloween Sabrina was looking forward to, her friend guilted her into hosting a Halloween party. She attempts to explain away the witchy wonders of her aunt’s house as special effects – including the river of candy corn that Hilda and Zelda make.
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Charmed
season 3, episode 4
The episode “All Halliwell’s Eve” is for anyone who enjoys a time-travel storyline! The three sisters get pulled back to the 1600s to save a witch and her unborn child, as there is an evil witch who wants to corrupt the unborn baby. Meanwhile, back in the present day, Darryl and Leo are dealing with Grimlocks, which they need to get rid of before the sisters’ return.
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Community
season 2, episode 6
It’s a zombie outbreak at the community college! Sort of. In “Epidemiology”, surplus army food provided for the Greendale Halloween party causes zombie-like behaviour, with students biting each other. The school becomes a quarantine zone, and everyone gets trapped inside. While they await the arrival of the army, some of the study group attempt to battle through infected students to safety.
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Parks and Recreation
season 2, episode 7
Another mockumentary sitcom with a brilliant Halloween TV episode. In “Greg Pikitis”, Parks Department government worker Leslie Knope is against teen vandal Greg Pikitis, her “arch-nemesis”, who manages to vandalise a local park every year. But this year, Leslie is determined to stop him. Elsewhere, Ann’s Halloween party is a bust until the arrival of Tom.
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Superstore
season 2, episode 7
In “Halloween Theft”, there’s a thief in the store, and Dina isn’t letting anyone leave until she figures out the culprit. But her sexy cop uniform is distracting some of the employees. Sandra has dressed like Dina for Halloween, Jonah has come as “Brexit”, and Glenn wears a hotdog costume. Meanwhile, Amy struggles with the fact that her daughter isn’t interested in going trick-or-treating with her. But the scariest thing of all? Garrett finds himself attracted to Dina.
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Shaun the Sheep
season 6, episode 19
“Pumpkin Peril” is a delightful Halloween episode for the kids to enjoy. It’s the night before Halloween. Bitzer, Shaun and the flock must guard Farmer’s prize pumpkins. But they mysteriously disappear, leaving behind a ghostly slime trail.
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Neighbours VS Zombies
2014 web series
We had to include this gem of an Australian Halloween offering. In 2014, Neighbours produced a spin-off YouTube web series, Neighbours vs Zombies. This five-part series features many characters who’d died in the show coming back as zombies. How brilliant is that for a concept?
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