Top 10 Best Halloween TV Episodes

Looking for the best Halloween TV episodes to add to your October watchlist? Then check out these episodes from some of the best shows available to stream, including The Office, Modern Family, and Friends. Does your favorite make the list?

1. The Office

Photo: NBC Universal (Fair Use) — Photo: *NBC Universal* (Fair Use)

Out of all the Halloween episodes of The Office, the first one is still our favorite: "Halloween" (Season 2, Episode 5). Michael has the staff dress up in costume for the office Halloween party, but is pressured by corporate to fire someone that day, something he has been putting off. The contrast between the serious situation and the ridiculous Halloween costumes plays out just right, and you have to admire Creed, who fights tooth and nail to undeservedly keep his job for years to come.

2. Friends

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In the memorable Friends Halloween episode, “The One with the Halloween Party” (Season 8, Episdoe 6), Monica and Chandler host a costume party. Phoebe learns her twin sister, Ursula, is getting married and has been lying to her fiancé, Eric, so she gets herself entangled in their relationship, all the while dressed as Supergirl. Meanwhile, Rachel tests her motherly instincts by handing out the candy to trick-or-treaters and Ross and Chandler compete to look tough. Watch this one, if nothing else, because Chandler spends most of the episode dressed as a fluffy pink bunny.

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3. Fraiser

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Of all the episodes on this list, this one is our favorite. Fraiser absolutely nails the comedy of a simple misunderstanding in “Halloween” (Season 5, Episode 3). Roz confesses to Fraiser she thinks she might be pregnant. Confused details of this confession leak at Niles’s costume party for the Library Association, leading to mistaken identities, confessions of love, and, of course, the truth coming out to all the wrong people.

4. Parks and Recreation

There are several great Halloween episodes of Parks and Rec, but the one that wins them all is “Recall Vote” (Season 6, Episode 7). Leslie loses a local recall election for City Council and spirals into a major funk. After frightening several children at the City Hall’s haunted house with nothing but the cold hard truth (“The scary stuff is invisible. Broken dreams, disappointment, achieving your greatest goal, having it all fall apart, and knowing that you’ll never fly any higher.”), Leslie gets drunk with Ben and makes a series of bad life decisions. Seeing the usually uptight and positive Leslie lose herself is highly entertaining, not to mention hilarious.

5. Stranger Things

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The Halloween episode of Stranger Things, “Trick or Treat, Freak” (Season 2, Episode 2), stands out on this list because, well, it’s not a comedy. However Stranger Things succeeds where sitcom Halloween episodes fail in that this is not just the best Halloween episode of Stranger Things—it is one of the best episodes of Stranger Things, period. Each character fights their own battle to adjust back to reality after everything that happened in the first season. But the past still manages to come back and haunt each of them, fittingly on Halloween.

6. Modern Family

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Claire Dunphy loves Halloween and goes all out in creating an epic Haunted House, assigning everyone in the family roles, in Modern Family’s Halloween episode “Halloween” (Season 2, Episode 6). Each family member simultaneously deals with their own personal problems, from Cameron trying to shake a traumatic family experience to Gloria feeling self-conscious about her accent. This episode embodies everything viewers love about Modern Family, drawing out and playing on each character’s personality.

7. The Simpsons

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The Simpsons has had many Halloween episodes over the years, but the consensus seems to be that “Treehouse of Horror V” (Season 6, Episode 6) slightly tops them all. In a spot-on spoof of The Shining, Homer goes mad after taking a job at Mr. Burns’s country estate. A busted toaster accidentally sends Homer through time. And in the final segment, the staff at Bart and Lisa’s school all turn into cannibals. We recommend watching several of the Halloween episodes of The Simpsons, as jokes carry over (like the intelligent alien life-forms) and get funnier as you go along.

8. Boy Meets World

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When we think back to childhood Halloweens, it’s hard to forget Boy Meets World’s episode And Then There Was Shawn (Season 5, Episode 17). In an excellent spoof of every teen slasher movie ever, the episode kicks off with Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and the gang getting locked in the school during detention. They start getting picked off one by one and suspicion flies around them until they realize the culprit must be one of them.

9. 30 Rock

Probably the best Halloween-related moment in 30 Rock, the novelty song “Werewolf Bar Mitzfah”, does not occur in a Halloween episode. The episode Stone Mountain (Season 4, Episode 3) is in fact their only Halloween episode, but don’t worry, it is just as cynically funny as the rest of the series. Jack and Liz travel to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Jack believes that they need to find wholesome talent in “real” America and Liz is convinced that people are just as horrible in Georgia as anywhere else. Meanwhile, superstition has Tracy believing he is going to die and Jenna attempts to buddy up with the writers so she won’t be replaced on TGS.

10. Psych

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While there is not one official Halloween episode of Psych, many episodes fit the bill featuring mummies, vampires, werewolves, serial killers, a haunted summer camp, and more. But one of the most appropriate would probably be “Scary Sherry: Bianca’s Toast” (Season 1, Episode 15). Juliet goes undercover at a sorority after a suspicious death. She seeks out help from Shawn and Gus, who agree to help, though they have reservations based on a local urban legend about a young woman who jumped from the window of an asylum. Suspicious deaths, and hilarity, ensure.

Did we list your favorite? Let us know on social media @makeadateofit!

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