Halloween TV
Last year, when things were normal, I spent a pretty lovely Saturday evening watching Halloween episodes from my favorite shows as a kid (and shows from my 20s as well). Halloween as a kid was always great and it felt like the month lasted forever. We put up decorations. My parents dutifully spent I think 6 years playing fortune tellers at our school’s Spooky Saturday carnival. We got our pumpkins from Danny Boy’s Farmer’s Market (which I’m still kind of disappointed is now Fat Head’s Brewery). My mom made a lot of our costumes. But I remember coming home and watching these shows (with the exception of How I Met Your Mother – that comes later, obviously), and feeling content and safe, which we’re not getting a ton of right now.
If you’re looking to diversify your watchlist this month
just a little, I highly recommend these options:
Pete & Pete/Halloweenie/YouTube – this is pretty
lucky – I noticed Amazon isn’t selling Pete & Pete right now for a
reasonable price! This show HOLDS UP. It's funny and poignant. The camera angles are pretty artistic for a kids' show. It's got an Iggy Pop cameo. This is one I watch time and time again.
Rugrats/ Candy Bar Creep Show/ Season 1 Episode 9/Hulu
Doug/Doug’s Halloween Adventure/Episode 43/Hulu
Rocko’s Modern Life/Sugar Frosted Frights/Amazon
These are pretty quick episodes - you'd be able to watch these all in one night along with anything else you were planning on watching. I was actually surprised how good the Doug Halloween episode was (I had completely forgotten about it!)
Wishbone (All YouTube)
Wishbone is just SPECIAL. So special. I don’t think there’s
ever been anything quite like it since (because it’s a pretty expensive show to
make). I honestly think it gave me a leg up in school to be familiar with these
stories before reading them, and I think it holds up (maybe not the 90s fashion
though). I clearly remember rushing through a makeup math test in third grade
so I could go watch the Sleepy Hollow episode.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Hulu/Paramount+)
Halloween Episodes from seasons 1 – 3
Sabrina The Teenage Witch to this day means so much to me.
It means coming home from ballet lessons, eating pizza on our good plates for
some reason, and watching TGIF (and if I was lucky enough to sneak by, also watch 20/20 too). I really only like the first three seasons of Sabrina (by the 4th,
she’s no longer a slightly jaded teenager and is instead overly ebullient to the point where it comes off as forced). I
highly recommend the Halloween episodes, especially from season 1.
How I Met Your Mother/The Slutty Pumpkin/ Season 1/Hulu
How I Met Your Mother was the first series I watched post-breakup
with my high school (then college) boyfriend. It was the first thing that felt
like it was mine instead of ours (you know what I mean?) Therefore, it’s pretty
special to me. I relate to the story of Marshall and Lilly dressing up in their
couples’ costumes (high school boyfriend for some reason was not into Halloween
AT ALL). My now-husband and I LOVE to dress up, though unfortunately with COVID
we have no plans this year :/
Happy Endings/Spooky Endings/Netflix
I was mad at Happy Endings for taking Damon Wayons Jr. away from New Girl, so I didn't give this show a chance until it was canceled - which is dumb because this show is so funny and charming. It really is for anyone who also likes New Girl or The Mindy Project.
My husband and I also tried watching Halloween shows where I wouldn’t look, and he would pick a show’s Halloween episode at random which turned out to be really fun. I could see us doing it with Christmas shows in December. We also go through and watch select Treehouse of Horror episodes of the Simpsons and this past weekend we watched all of the Halloween episodes of Brooklyn 99 - highly recommend!
Hope this helps some of you this holiday season!
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