Halloween is quickly approaching, and one of my favorite activities for the spooky season is watching all of the Halloween Specials from TV Series throughout the years. Over the years, I have acquired an excessive list of episodes I re-watch every October. Containing a mixed bag of sitcoms from the 1990 to 2018, as well as some classic Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, this list has everything you need to get in the Halloween spirit.

(List is in Alphabetical Order).

30 Rock

Season 4 Episode 3: Stone Mountain

Being 30 Rock’s only Halloween special, this episode certainly does not disappoint. The writing takes more of a suspenseful and creepy approach, adverse to the typical comedic tone of the series, although it does still have very comedic moments. It’s a very entertaining episode to watch with no context, so all I can suggest is that you queue the episode up and enjoy your viewing experience.

Friends

Season 8 Episode 6: The One with the Halloween Party

The only Halloween-themed episode of one of the greatest TV Series of all time. Need I say more?

Good Luck Charlie

Season 4 Episode 14: Fright Night

Good Luck Charlie has some of the best acting in terms of Disney Channel. You can tell in this episode, because it’s so goofy, that I’m not sure how the actor ever kept a straight face while filming it. Teddy and her Drama Club go Halloween Carolling in order to raise money (which they don’t), when one of their friends falls in a hole. Instead of helping their friend out of the hole, they turn it into a way to make money, with Teddy’s mom even covering the event as breaking news. With quotes like “Step right up and see the boy in the hole”, how could one not want to watch this episode.

Gravity Falls

Season 1 Episode 12: Summerween

Gravity Falls is great at bringing a whimsical spook to every episode, so it only makes sense that their Halloween special is great. Dipper and Mabel are celebrating their city’s annual Summerween, when they discover a masked delinquent running rampant and stealing candy from children. After investigating, they discover a candy-munching monster that’s been haunting Gravity Falls’ Summerween for years. The writing features some of the best out-of-the-box creativity the series has ever presented, and I would highly endorse watching it.

Hannah Montana

Season 1 Episode 15: More Than a Zombie to Me

It’s not the official Halloween episode of the series, it’s better. The episode features Hannah Montana dressed up as a zombie and kissing a dog, as well as an awkward 70s-themed dance battle. I could not recommend it more.

Liv and Maddie

Season 1 Episode 5: Kang-A-Rooney

Liv and Maddie are celebrating Halloween at their High School’s Scream Fest, but they keep getting distracted by their brother, Joey, who keeps striking out with the women. Maddie’s attempts to train Joey in the ways of ‘picking up chicks’ leads to some hilarious interactions. Along with that, a horrifying clown decoration named Pipino terrorizes the Rooney’s mom, leading to more hilarious moments. The characters and writing in this show are so clever and amusing, which is exemplified in this phenomenal episode. 

New Girl

Season 3 Episode 6: Keaton

An absolute must for me is New Girl‘s season 3’s episode titled Keaton. This episode features some of the most laugh out loud moments of the show, from the crushing realization of Schmidt that his childhood celebrity pen pal was simply his mother, to Jess dressed up as batman struggling for way too long to say the word Bat mobile.  It especially stands out to me because of how unconventional it is. It’s not as much as a special, as it is a typical episode of the show, except it’s a holiday. All of this combined with goofy costumes and clever Halloween puns, this episode will have New Girl on your Netflix watch list.

Parks & Recreation

Season 2 Episode 7: Greg Pikitis

Leslie Knope’s paranoia pertaining to a perennial prankster leads her to go on a hilariously uncomfortable stake-out and interrogation. This episode is one of my favorites because of it’s utilization of Murphy’s law, the concept that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. This episode has one disaster after another, and that’s why it’s so entertaining, and a must-see this Halloween.

Phineas and Ferb

Season 4 Episode 44: Night of the Living Pharmacists

Phineas and Ferb has a plethora of great Halloween episodes and Night of the Living Pharmacists reigns supreme. The hour-long special has some of the most clever writing the show has ever seen, with hordes of Doofenshmirtz zombies threatening to take over the Tri State Area. For an animated show, it does a surprisingly great job of creating suspense and intertwining it with precise comedic timing. This is definitely one you do not want to miss.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Season 2 Episode 7: A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It

This show features some of the best Halloween specials that there are, and this one stands out above the rest. Sabrina needs to throw a big Halloween party, and uses magic to make that happen. But after all of her friends think her magic is special effects, she takes it to the next level. I won’t spoil what happens, but the sheer fun this episode is puts this one high on my list of recommendations.

Wizards of Waverly Place

Season 3 Episode 2: Halloween

The Russo family turns their sub shop into a haunted house, which is dubbed by the neighborhood as lame. That is until Alex invites real ghosts in order to up the scare factor, which, needless to say, backfires. Halloween is the perfect holiday for this show, as it is constantly bringing monsters and magic into their world, so it only feels right that the characters take Halloween to the next level. I always enjoy this episode this time of year, and it is sure to give you goosebumps, as well as a feeling of nostalgia.