The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (2024)

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (1)

By Jennie Richardson

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (2)

Holiday-themed specials are a Network TV staple. As Halloween draws near, it is the perfect time to watch or rewatch some of the great Halloween-themed episodes. All genres of shows have dabbled in Halloween-themed episodes, and they can range from very funny to very scary. Halloween is such a unique and over-the-top holiday, so it can be a great tool for shows to bring certain emotions to the surface.

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Halloween specials give shows the opportunity to play around with costumes, Halloween-themed activities, and other on-theme aspects of the holiday. The best Halloween specials honor the traditions of the holiday, while also doing something a little bit different, and still easily fitting the holiday into the world of the show. These are the 10 best Halloween TV specials, ranked.

10 "The One with the Halloween Party"

'Friends' (Season 8, Episode 6)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (3)

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Friends was an expert at the holiday special. Its holiday episodes always took the themes and traditions, combined with whatever was going on in the characters' lives at the time, to create something memorable. In Season 8, Episode 6, "The One with the Halloween Party," Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) host a Halloween party for all of their friends. Monica insists that everyone arrive in costume, and even got a pink bunny outfit for Chandler.

This is such a fun Halloween episode, taking the costumes and the premise of a Halloween party, and using them in funny ways. Ross (David Schwimmer) keeps correcting people who did not understand his costume, and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) is worried about her parenting abilities when she did not know how to deal with the kids. There is also a hilarious arm wrestling contest between Ross and Chandler, where both of them tried to prove their strength.

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (4)
Friends

TV-14

Romance

Sitcom

Ross Geller, Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing, and Phoebe Buffay are six twenty-somethings living in New York City. Over 10 years and seasons, these friends go through life lessons, family, love, drama, friendship, and comedy.

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Release Date
September 22, 1994
Cast
Jennifer Aniston , Courteney Cox , Lisa Kudrow , Matt LeBlanc , Matthew Perry , David Schwimmer

Main Genre
Sitcom

Seasons
10

Studio

Network
NBC

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9 "Halloween"

'New Girl' (Season 2, Episode 6)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (7)

New Girl only had two Halloween specials, but they were both very memorable. Its first spooky episode was its best, with Jess (Zooey Deschanel) working at a haunted house. It is very fitting for Jess' character, and it is the perfect opportunity to bring all the characters together in a Halloween-themed setting. Cece (Hannah Simone) and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) keep being mistaken for wearing a couples' costume, much to his delight and her frustration.

The sweetest and funniest part of the episode is Nick (Jake Johnson) facing his fear of haunted houses in order to try to spare Jess the embarrassment of telling Sam (David Walton) how she felt. A well-meaning Nick ended up punching Jess in the face when she scared him in the haunted house. The episode shows the end of two relationships, while also strengthening the show's core friendships and making the most of the costumes.

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (8)
New Girl

TV-14

Comedy

Release Date
September 20, 2011
Cast
Zooey Deschanel , Jake Johnson , Max Greenfield , Lamorne Morris , Hannah Simone

Main Genre
Comedy

Seasons
7

Studio
Fox

8 "This is a Dark Ride"

'Pretty Little Liars' (Season 3, Episode 13)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (13)

Pretty Little Liars was always a scary show, especially as teen dramas go. Teen drama Halloween specials are usually more low-key, showing the characters attending Halloween parties or even going trick-or-treating. Pretty Little Liars always took its Halloween episodes very seriously, with A always using the holiday to seriously bring the terror in the show up to the extremes for the liars.

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In Season 3, Episode 13, "This is a Dark Ride," the liars all attend a ghost train party for Halloween. This is an especially clever and scary Halloween special because it is full of callbacks to the previous season's Halloween special, "The First Secret." This episode uses Halloween to reveal many huge twists: a flashback of Jenna (Tammin Sursok) and Garrett (Yani Gellman) hurting Alison (Sasha Pieterse), Garrett being killed by an unknown killer in the present day, and Alison's hand sticking out of the ground after being buried alive in the past.

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (14)

Pretty Little Liars

Drama

Mystery

Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, while also investigating the disappearance of their best friend.

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Release Date
June 8, 2010
Cast
Lucy Hale , Troian Avery Bellisario , Ashley Benson , Sasha Pieterse , Janel Parrish , Andrea Parker

Main Genre
Drama

Seasons
7

7 "A Scooby-Doo Halloween"

'What's New, Scooby-Doo?' (Season 2, Episode 16)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (19)

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Over the course of its many series and films, Scooby-Doo has had many fantastic Halloween specials. One of its highlights came from What's New, Scooby-Doo?. Season 2, Episode 16, "A Scooby-Doo Halloween" started off with an homage to the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? episode, "Hassle in the Castle." Shaggy (Casey Kasem) rushes the group away from the closed case to go celebrate Halloween at Velma's aunt and uncle's house, mainly to go trick-or-treating and attend a concert.

Velma's aunt (Julia Sweeney) and uncle (Diedrich Bader) reveal that it was the hundredth Halloween anniversary of Banning Junction, and that the ghost of the founder, Hank Banning, was rumored to be planning to show up. Before Hank died on Halloween, he put a curse on the town for his spirit to return in 100 years, to seek revenge on the town for voting him out of office. It seemed like the ghost was back, but it was really Velma's cousin projecting a fake ghost to ruin Halloween. This is a funny twist on a spooky episode, with Marcy (Jenny McCarthy) tired of having her birthday upstaged by the holiday every year.

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6 "Love and Monsters"

'Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23' (Season 2, Episode 3)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (20)

Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 brought a new spin on the Halloween TV special in Season 2, Episode 3, "Love and Monsters." This episode introduces James Van Der Beek's annual Halloween parties. James' Halloween parties have an unusual twist, though. James is terrified of all things scary, so he had a rule that people could not wear scary costumes to his parties.

The main storyline of the episode is Chloe's (Krysten Ritter) own personal Halloween tradition. Every year, Chloe chooses someone at James' party who annoys her, and she will spend a year ruining their lives as a Halloween prank. As she tries to ruin her new target's, Benjamin (Ben Lawson), life, Chloe starts to develop feelings for him. The best reveal is that Benjamin had planned out the whole thing in order to make Chloe live out her worst fear of being in a romantic comedy.

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (21)

Don't Trust The B---- in Apartment 23

TV-14

Comedy

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Release Date
April 11, 2012
Cast
Krysten Ritter , Dreama Walker , Eric Andre , james van der beek

Main Genre
Comedy

Seasons
2

5 "The Slutty Pumpkin"

'How I Met Your Mother' (Season 1, Episode 6)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (24)

How I Met Your Mother had many incredible holiday specials over the years. The first of these was Season 1, Episode 6, "The Slutty Pumpkin." Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) celebrate the holiday with annual couples' costumes, which they showed off during a double date with Robin (Cobie Smulders) and her boyfriend at the time. Meanwhile, Ted (Josh Radnor) honors his own Halloween tradition by waiting at the rooftop Halloween party for a mystery woman.

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As the story went, four years earlier, Ted met a woman dressed as a "slutty pumpkin" at that very Halloween party. As he remembered it, she was the perfect woman, but he lost the Kit Kat that she wrote her number on. This is a fun and classic Halloween episode, embracing the inherent magic of Halloween. In the sitcom version of The Great Pumpkin, Ted waited all night for his own pumpkin to show up, but she never did.

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (25)
How I Met Your Mother

Comedy

Drama

A father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.

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Release Date
September 19, 2005
Cast
Josh Radnor , Jason Segel , Cobie Smulders , Neil Patrick Harris , Alyson Hannigan , Bob Saget

Seasons
9

Story By
Carter Bays; Craig Thomas; Rob Greenberg

Writers
Carter Bays , Craig Thomas

Network
CBS
Streaming Service(s)
Amazon Prime Video

Directors
Carter Bays

Showrunner
Craig Thomas

4 "HalloVeen"

'Brooklyn 99' (Season 5, Episode 4)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (29)

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Perhaps no show on television has ever taken the Halloween TV special as seriously as Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It all started with the show's very first Halloween episode, when Jake (Andy Samberg) tried to steal Captain Holt's (Andre Braugher) Medal of Valor as part of a dare, to prove that he would have made a great criminal. This led to many great Halloween Heist episodes to follow, all building up to the amazing Season 5 installment.

In Season 5, Episode 4, "HalloVeen," the competition for the Halloween heist is as fierce and intense as ever. Everybody was truly ruthless, going to the extremes with things like putting tracking chips in Terry's (Terry Crews) yogurt and investing in pyramid schemes just to get help with the heist. The big ending of the episode happens when Amy (Melissa Fumero) got ahold of the belt, and it turns out to be a proposal to her from Jake.

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (30)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine

TV-14

Comedy

Crime

Comedy series following the exploits of Det. Jake Peralta and his diverse, lovable colleagues as they police the NYPD's 99th Precinct.

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Release Date
September 17, 2013

Creator
Dan Goor, Michael Schur
Cast
Andy Samberg , Terry Crews , Andre Braugher , Stephanie Beatriz

Main Genre
Comedy

Seasons
8

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3 "Girth"

'Pushing Daisies' (Season 1, Episode 5)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (35)

With weekly murder mysteries and a naturally spooky aesthetic, Pushing Daisies had all the makings for the perfect Halloween TV special. The episode starts with Chuck (Anna Friel) trying to decorate The Pie Hole for Halloween. However, Ned (Lee Pace) had a long-standing dislike of the holiday, and was reluctant to celebrate. Then, things got really spooky when the group starts investigating a string of murders related to Olive's (Kristin Chenoweth) past.

Word got around that the ghost of a dead man, John Joseph Jacobs (a pre-Midnight Mass Hamish Linklater) was killing former friends of Olive's, leading to a horror movie-like reveal. Back in her youth, Olive was a competitive horse jockey. John Joseph Jacobs fell off of his horse during the race, and the others kept competing, so they trampled him. Then, it was revealed that he had been sabotaged. They had since buried the secret, but now it seemed like Jacobs' ghost was avenging him. Meanwhile, Ned has to deal with his own ghosts.

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (36)

Pushing Daisies

TV-PG

Comedy

Crime

Drama

Fantasy

Mystery

Romance

Release Date
October 3, 2007
Cast
Lee Pace , Anna Friel , Chi McBride , Kristin Chenoweth , Swoosie Kurtz , Ellen Greene , Jim Dale

Main Genre
Comedy

Seasons
2

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2 "Epidemiology"

'Community' (Season 2, Episode 6)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (37)

Community had many great Halloween episodes, utilizing its university setting to really play around with the themes of the holiday. Its best Halloween special was Season 2, Episode 6, "Epidemiology." A school-wide Halloween party took a spooky and paranormal turn when the taco meat infected everyone with a zombie epidemic. It is a hilarious and scary zombie episode, showing how each of these characters would act in a zombie apocalypse.

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This is such a fun and spooky episode. It put the characters into a scenario that was rare for a sitcom with them just trying to make it out alive. Even better, it used their flaws to play off of how they would act in a zombie setting. Britta (Gillian Jacobs), who always liked to act better than everyone else, hides her zombie bite because she thought she was different. Jeff (Joel McHale) is more concerned about his suit than with everyone's lives. Ultimately, Troy (Donald Glover) saves the day, with help from Abed (Danny Pudi).

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (38)
Community

TV-14

Comedy

A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eccentric staff and student body.

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Release Date
September 17, 2009
Cast
Joel McHale , Gillian Jacobs , Danny Pudi , Alison Brie , Jim Rash , Ken Jeong , Paget Brewster , Keith David

Main Genre
Comedy

Seasons
6

Studio
NBC

1 "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"

'Peanuts' (Special 3)

The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (42)

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The greatest Halloween TV special has yet to be topped, and it came from none other than Peanuts. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is a true classic. It has the bit of Lucy (Sally Dryer) tricking Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) with the football and pulling it away at the last minute when he ran to kick it. The most iconic was the introduction of the myth of The Great Pumpkin, a Halloween version of Santa Claus.

Linus (Christopher Shea) writes a letter to The Great Pumpkin, eager for him to show up on Halloween night and give out presents. Nobody else believed in The Great Pumpkin, and they all give Linus grief for missing Halloween activities in order to wait in the pumpkin patch all night. Linus, to his credit, never gave up hope, even after The Great Pumpkin never showed up. There was also poor Charlie Brown getting invited to his first party ever, only to be given rocks while trick-or-treating, and to be used as a pumpkin model at the party. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" is the perfect example of a Halloween TV special.

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The 10 Best Halloween TV Specials, Ranked (43)

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

G

Animation

Comedy

Costumes, candy, this classic special—some things just scream Halloween. Join the Peanuts gang for a timeless adventure as Charlie Brown preps for a party, Snoopy sets his sights on the Red Baron, and Linus patiently awaits a pumpkin patch miracle. - Apple TV+

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Release Date
October 27, 1966

Director
Bill Melendez

Cast
Peter Robbins , Christopher Shea , Sally Dryer , Bill Melendez , Cathy Steinberg , Gail DeFaria , Glenn Mendelson , Ann Altieri , Lisa DeFaria

Runtime
25 Minutes
Main Genre
Animation

Writers
Charles M. Schulz

Story By
Charles M. Schulz , Bill Melendez , and Lee Mendelson

Character(s)
Charlie Brown , Linus van Pelt , Lucy van Pelt , Snoopy , Sally Brown , Pigpen , Schroeder/Shermy , Frieda/Violet , Patty

NEXT: [The 10 Best Halloween Sitcom Episodes of the 2010s, Ranked]

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