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October is finally here and, after the nightmares we’ve already endured in 2020, we deserve to have as much spooky, escapist, frightful fun as we can stomach. We all deserve to be Jack O’Lantern skateboarding through the fall foliage while listening to Fleetwood Mac and guzzling a pumpkin spice latte. And if you’re a fan of sitcoms and spooky content, that means you deserve the best of the best when it comes to Halloween-themed episodes! That’s why you’ve come here, to Decider Manor. The front door of our gothic revival home creaked open before your knuckles rapped upon the dark, knotted wood of our entryway… and now we have some spooky delights to suggest.
But first, the criteria! This list didn’t use mad science to determine the most frightful half hours in TV history. There were very specific guidelines in place when it came to picking the parts that make this list whole. The best Halloween sitcom episodes must follow a few rules:
- The episode must have originally aired during the Halloween season (the month of October, with some fudging allowed if it aired in the last days of September or first days of November)
- The episode must be intentionally spooky AF, and preferably have an explicit connection to Halloween
These ultimate criteria mean that a few episodes that you are sure will be on this list probably aren’t. For example, the Boy Meets World slasher episode “And Then There Was Shawn.” That one aired in February 1998! So it’s a horror episode but not a Halloween episode. On the flip side, the witchy Boy Meets World episode with Candace Cameron Bure may not directly involve the holiday, but it aired in October and is fully freaky and worth a watch even if it just missed ranking on this list (which it was eligible for).
Also not featured: the annual Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween episodes which, despite airing in October and being titled “Halloween,” have very little to do with the holiday and aren’t spooky AF. And then there are the episodes that remain trapped in pay purgatory (a.k.a. VOD). You cannot stream some of the greatest Halloween episodes of all time—Home Improvement’s “The Haunting of Taylor House” and Bewitched’s “A Safe and Sane Halloween” and “The Witches Are Out”—without dropping a few dollars. They’re worth it, though!
But enough with the rules! Now that you know why some of your old favorites aren’t on the list, you can meet 13 of your new favorites.
'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,' "Who Got Dee Pregnant?"
The gang flashes back to a pivotal Halloween party at Paddys Pub while attempting to solve the mystery of Dee’s pregnancy. But this whodunit has a few horrifying twists and turns—and I’m not just talking about Frank and Artemis’ disgusting dumpster humps. Like a dumb version of Rosemary’s Baby, the gang comes to believe that what’s growing in Dee’s belly may be the result of an unholy hookup…
'Superstore,' "Costume Competition"
This Superstore episode from 2018 may seem too new to make it onto an all-time best list, but it’s really just that good. “Costume Competition” does what a great Halloween episode should do: it turns an undeniable aspect of the holiday and twists it into something frightfully funny. In this case, Amy and Mateo go patrolling for problematic costumes in an attempt to disqualify their co-workers and win a costume contest. The episode unpacks the ways people wrongly use Halloween as an excuse to appropriate cultures, and it somehow makes a point while making jokes.
'Frasier,' "Room Full of Heroes"
Get ready to run an emotional gauntlet with this episode. Frasier creates a new party game wherein attendees dress as their personal heroes and then respond to a series of inquisitive prompts in character. The game is not fun so much as it is… very Frasier. You’ll be howling with laughter as Frasier tries to psychoanalyze heroes like Elton John and Wonder Woman, and then you’ll be stifling legit tears as Niles’ decision to dress up as his dad Marty unearths some legit family tension!
'Bewitched,' "Twitch or Treat'
While you can’t stream many of Bewitched’s best Halloween episodes, you can stream this cracked gem of an episode. Uncle Arthur throws a Halloween bash with a guest list that includes warlock Willie Mays and an actual cat person. Halloween isn’t complete without a little—or a lot—of Paul Lynde. So pair this episode with the iconic Paul Lynde Halloween Special and have yourself a gay old time.
'NewsRadio,' "Halloween"
NewsRadio approached every sitcom tradition with plenty of snark and side eye, and Halloween was no different. When Jimmy James bans the WNYX staff from his Halloween blowout, the cast ditches their “too cool for costumes” attitude and goes all-in. And leading the charge is uptight station manager Dave, whose drag debut is a sight to behold. But really, this episode is a showcase for the madcap genius of Phil Hartman, whose pompous Bill McNeal gets a grim reading from a fortune teller and thus goes off the deep end.
'Happy Days,' "Haunted"
This Happy Days episode proves one thing: Halloween was a nightmare in 1950s. The “pranks” that amount to nothing more than just interstitials in this episode are nuts. And then there’s the episode itself! Ralph throws his annual Halloween bash in a supposedly haunted house, which causes Richie to freak right the hell out. Making matters worse for us viewers: director Garry Marshall swaps out the cozy sitcom style for a straight-up horror one, creating an episode that’s a bit more intense than you’d expect from Happy Days.
'The Office,' "Halloween"
While the other episodes on this list feature extravagant Halloween parties or legit encounters with supernatural spooks, this classic Office episode gets into the real horrors of the holiday. Adults don’t get to go trick or treating, nor do they always get to enjoy creepy hijinks in a haunted house. Adults… have to go to work. The costumes in this episode are the last minute, thrown together lewks we’ve done ourselves. And, in a true horror move, Michael Scott also has to give someone the axe.
'Bob's Burgers,' "The Hauntening"
If this list wasn’t following a strict one-episode-per-show rule, you could easily drop multiple Bob’s Burgers fright-fests on here and call it a night. But we follow rules, and that’s why “The Hauntening” gets Bob’s Burgers‘ deserved spot on the list! This one, in which the Belchers try their hardest to give Louise the first legit scare of her life, is the one Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode that includes imagery that’s actually unnerving. You’re picturing that baby doll with the sticks, aren’t you? Argh!
'Cheers,' "Bar Wars V: The Final Judgment"
Cheers has two all-time great Halloween episodes, but the other one is way more sweet than scary (unless you find romance scary, which, valid). This late-series Halloween episode takes the running prank war with Gary’s Olde Towne Tavern up a few notches, complete with a holographic projection of Carla’s scowling, screaming head. But Team Cheers realizes they may have gone too far when Gary dies from fright—or does he??
'Roseanne,' "BOO!"
The the Belchers, the Conners are a sitcom family who always deliver when it comes to Halloween. But looking back over a whole series of Halloween episodes, it’s hard to top the very first of Roseanne’s annual horror shows. In her quest to finally scare the bejesus out of Dan, the blue collar Conners set up a haunted house with a Hollywood-size budget. But hey—it was money well spent, because we get to re-enter the Conners’ house of horror every Halloween.
'The Simpsons,' "Treehouse of Horror IV"
Just like with Bob’s Burgers, you could really just put on any random “Treehouse of Horror” at this point and be satisfied with the spooks. But one can make a solid case for Season 5’s entry—which includes Conan O’Brien and The Office’s Greg Daniels on the writing staff—being the best of the bunch. This anthology entry includes parodies of a few iconic horror stories, including Twilight Zone’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and Francis Ford Coppola’s macabre masterpiece, Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
'Community,' "Epidemiology"
The best Halloween sitcom episodes know how to test the limits of the genre by diving head-first into full-blown horror. Community did that with nearly every episode, twisting and turning pop culture tropes into hilarious misadventures. And when it came to Season 2’s Halloween episode, Community delivered a zombie story that pushed past parody and became its own hilariously frightening thing. A zombie apocalypse breaks out at Greendale’s Halloween party after attendees consume a batch of hazardous “taco meat” and the cast starts falling, one by one. The costumes are great (Yaaaass Dean Gaga!), the horror is high, and you’ll never hear ABBA the same way again.
'Family Matters,' "Stevil"
To watch “Stevil” is to experience what it feels like to succumb to madness. This is the most f’ed up thing to ever air on TGIF, and that’s evident just by looking at any screenshot of Steve Urkel’s demonic dummy. But this isn’t just a sitcom’s usual, predictable seasonal foray into frights. “Stevil” is old school horror, through and through. From the musical score to the editing choices, “Stevil” literally dismembers the family sitcom genre and arranges its parts in an unsettling manner for you to discover. It’s next-level nuts, and the fact that this aired in Family Matters‘ penultimate season, well past the show’s peak, means you may have never seen it before. Do yourself a favor. Glimpse into the wooden eyes of Stevil and know what it means to lose your mind.
