Television’s Top 35 Halloween Episodes

By Thomas Delatte on October 25th, 2022

If you can’t enjoy Halloween than you need to have your head examined because there really is not a better time to let loose and go all out than in October. It is the one month of the year where horror movies reign supreme, haunted houses start to pop up all over the country, and people are allowed to wear anything they want to while calling it a costume (Right, ladies?).

The spooky holiday even carries over to television where shows have been providing us with special Halloween episodes since as far back as 1952 when “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” gave us the first ever Halloween themed episode titled, “Halloween Party“. In 2016 alone, there were at least 19 television shows that had a Halloween episode. This year looks to have another series of special themed episodes from now until Halloween night.

Although the majority of Halloween episodes turn out to be among the best of the season, there are some that simply fall flat and end up never doing another one again. Let’s jump right into the list and show you the best Halloween themed episodes from some of our favorite television shows ever. Enjoy.

35) 2007: Desperate Housewives

Channel: ABC
Season 4, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Now I Know, Don’t Be Scared”
Directed By: Larry Shaw

34) 1997: 3rd Rock from The Sun

Channel: NBC
Season 3, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Scaredy Dick”
Directed By: Terry Hughes

33) 1990: Night Court

Channel: NBC
Season 8, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Death Takes a Halloween”
Directed By: Jim Drake

32) 1993: Married… with Children

Channel: FOX
Season 8, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Take My Wife, Please”
Directed By: Tony Singletary

31) 2015: Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Season 3, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Halloween III”
Directed By: Michael McDonald

30) 1999: That 70’s Show

Channel: FOX
Season 2, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Halloween”
Directed By: David Trainer

29) 2010: The Office

Channel: NBC
Season 7, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Costume Contest”
Directed By: Dean Holland

28) 1997: Frasier

Channel: NBC
Season 5, Episode 3
Episode Title: “Halloween”
Directed By: Pam Fryman

27) 2005: One Tree Hill

Channel: The WB
Season 3, Episode 4
Episode Title: “An Attempt to Tip the Scales”
Directed By: Janice Cooke

26) 1996: Martin

Channel: FOX
Season 5, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Boo’s in the House”
Directed By: Gerren Keith

25) 1993: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Channel: NBC
Season 4, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Hex and The Single Guy”
Directed By: Shelley Jensen

24) 2012: Pretty Little Liars

Channel: ABC Family
Season 3, Episode 13
Episode Title: “This is a Dark Ride”
Directed By: Tim Hunter

23) 1997: Home Improvement

Channel: ABC
Season 7, Episode 5
Episode Title: “A Night to Dismember”
Directed By: Geoffrey Nelson

22) 2009: Community

Channel: NBC
Season 1, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Introduction to Statistics”
Directed By: Justin Lin

21) 1998: Dawson’s Creek

Channel: The WB
Season 1, Episode 11
Episode Title: “The Scare”
Directed By: Rodman Flender

20) 2007: The Big Bang Theory

Channel: CBS
Season 1, Episode 6
Episode Title: “The Middle Earth Paradigm”
Directed By: Mark Cendrowski

19) 2011: Pretty Little Liars

Channel: ABC Family
Season 2, Episode 13
Episode Title: “The First Secret”
Directed By: Dana W. Gonzales

18) 1990: Roseanne

Channel: ABC
Season 3, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Trick or Treat”
Directed By: John Whitesell

17) 2009: The Vampire Diaries

Channel: CW
Season 1, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Haunted”
Directed By: Ernest Dickerson

16) 2011: Happy Endings

Channel: ABC
Season 2, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Spooky Endings”
Directed By: Fred Savage

15) 1985: Cheers

Channel: NBC
Season 4, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Diane’s Nightmare”
Directed By: James Burrows

14) 2001: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Channel: HBO
Season 2, Episode 3
Episode Title: “Trick or Treat”
Directed By: Larry Charles

13) 2009: Parks and Recreation

Channel: NBC
Season 2, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Greg Pikitus”
Directed By: Dean Holland

12) 2005: The Office

Channel: NBC
Season 2, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Halloween”
Directed By: Paul Feig

11) 2001: Friends

Channel: NBC
Season 8, Episode 6
Episode Title: “The One with the Hallowee Party”
Directed By: Gary Halvorson

10) 1989: Roseanne

Channel: ABC
Season 2, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Boo!”
Directed By: John Pasquin
Halloween is more than just dressing up and scaring people. During Roseanne’s special Halloween episode in Season 2, Roseanne and Dan competed against one another to see who could scare the other person more and it was hilarious. All they wanted was to be called, “The Master” of scares.

9) 1999: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Channel: The WB
Season 4, Episode 4
Episode Title: “Fear, Itself”
Directed By: Tucker Gates
During the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Sarah Michelle Gellar was the Queen of the Vampire world with the hit tv show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But it was during the fourth season that we were given a little treat, SMG in a Little Red Riding Hood costume.

8) 2010: Modern Family

Channel: ABC
Season 2, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Halloween”
Directed By: Michael Spiller
Modern Family’s Season 2 Halloween themed episode introduced us to the Dumfy Family’s favorite holiday tradition, scaring the hell out of everyone else. We also get Mitchell dressed up as Spider-Man, who literally climbs the walls.

7) 2005: How I Met your Mother

Channel: CBS
Season 1, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Slutty Pumpkin”
Directed By: Pam Fryman
Barney as Viper was the perfect costume for the womanizing stud but the episode was not about the costumes as much as it was about the “Slutty Pumpkin” and a midnight rendevous with it. It was so popular that they made a sequel to that episode later on in the series.

6) 1994: The Simpsons

Channel: FOX
Season 6, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Treehouse of Horror V”
Directed By: Jim Reardon
When The Simpsons went into the Treehouse of Horrors, they had no idea that it would become a annual special that fans look forward to each year. Their fifth special went after Jack Nicholson’s classic horror film, The Shining.

5) 2010: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Channel: FX
Season 6, Episode 7
Episode Title: “Who Got Dee Pregnant?”
Directed By: Randall Einhorn
When the gang finds out Dee is pregnant, she gives them something to think about by dropping the bomb that one of them is the father. The rest of the episode is sprinkled in some of the show’s funniest lines and greatest moments as the gang goes back in time to figure out who is the dad.

4) 2012: Parks and Recreation

Channel: NBC
Season 5, Episode 5
Episode Title: “Halloween Surprise”
Directed By: Dean Holland
From Jerry’s heart attack to the Death Canoe 4: Murder at Blood Lake movie night being held in the courtyard of city hall, this episode was plastered in great Parks and Rec moments and it did not even have to spend the entire episode on Halloween.

3) 2010: Community

Season 2, Episode 6
Episode Title: “Epidemiology”
Directed By: Anthony Hemingway
The episode capitalized on the popularity of zombie outbreaks by featuring one of their own. Except, spoiler warning, the entire thing was real and was not a zombie outbreak, it was someone who drugged the entire party. Adding George Takei as the narrator was a wonderful touch.

2) 1999: Freaks and Geeks

Channel: NBC
Season 1, Episode 3
Episode Title: “Tricks and Treats”
Directed By: Bryan Gordon
Freaks and Geeks remains one of the most underrated television shows ever that also gave several current movie stars their first big shot. During their one and only season, they gave us an epic Halloween episode that only could come from the mind of a comedic genius.

1) 1998: Boy Meets World

Channel: ABC
Season 5, Episode 17
Episode Title: “And Then There was Shawn”
Directed By: Jeff McCracken
Shocking, right? But Boy Meets World gave us their best show, ever, during their season 5 Halloween episode where it had special guest stars (Jennifer Love-Hewitt) and a murder mystery that Shawn created in his mind as a result of Cory and Topanga’s recent break-up.