One of the fun things about watching a good(or not so good)TV series is the holiday themed episodes that pop up,regardless of whatever's going on with the central plot of the show. Halloween is a pretty popular choice for primetime. Some shows simply resort to getting the cast in crazy costumes while others take a bold leap into the fray.
I'd like to highlight a few of my favorite Halloween episodes that go that extra mile and give us some chills or a good laughs for our time. Dim the lights,grab some candy corn and let the fear fest begin!
SMALLVILLE:
In season four,there was a plotline that had Lana possessed by the spirit of a French witch(one of her ancestors,of course)with a nifty little backtat and evil plans to take over the world. Just in time for trick or treat,Spell came on the air and not only did Lana get all wicked wicca,she recruited Lois and Chloe as henchwenchs who zapped our boy Clark with their goth girl makeovers and mean girl mojo. It's always fun to see Kristen Kreuk play a bad girl(she laps up evil with a spoon) and with Superman having no defense against magic,it made for an interesting challenge.
Last season,Lana was turned into a vampire sorority girl-I kid you not. Despite the very B movie plot,Thirst was a fun,fang in cheek episode that even tossed in a costume party and had Spike himself declaring"There's no such thing as vampires!"
Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
BTVS always embraced the Halloween theme with open arms and out of all the holiday shows they did,the first Halloween show they did(in season two)was the best. Buffy and friends became the living-or unliving in Willow's case-embodiments of their costumes. Buffy was a ditzy 18th century girl,Xander turned G.I. Joe and Willow's brain power helped her lead the troops even if her new found Casper status kept her from fighting off the hordes of demonic trick or treaters invading Sunnydale.
ROSEANNE:
Roseanne dove into Halloween with just as much gusto and treated the holiday with as much enthusiam as Hallmark does Christmas. The costume choices and plotlines didn't shy away from the gore and gross-out fun of All Hallow's Eve. One of my favorite shows gave Roseanne a Christmas Carol version of what her life would be like if she rejected Halloween-I just hope Nick at Nite does a marathon of those episodes soon.
SOUTH PARK:
South Park can freak people out year round but they really get into the spirit of things quite well. One of the first Halloween shows they did had a nice Scooby-Doo homage,with special guests Korn who not only played a kickass song but debated an age old question; ghost pirates or pirate ghosts?
Hopefully this year,we'll get some good ghoulish fun with our favorite shows. Please feel free to share your own scary favorites,especially if they're on DVD. You just know that Netflix will be out of most of the good stuff by October 31!
I used to love the Roseanne and Simpsons Halloween episodes. They were always amusing.
ReplyDeleteOH god you just reminded me of a Halloween episode of "Little House on the Prairie" that scared the bejeezus out of my grade-school-aged 1970s self.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a hazy memory now, more fleeting images than plot, but in the episode the kids were looking in the window of some neighbor whom they thought had killed his wife, and there was something (it seems) about a headless mannequin, and, oh, it was so much scarier than I'm making it sound.
But I was an inconsolable MESS.
FREAKED.
ME.
OUT.
One of the first Halloween shows they did had a nice Scooby-Doo homage
ReplyDeletelol! I remember that! I think the only time I laughed harder at South Park was the episode with anime tribute.
Yeah,I used to love those Treehouse of Horror Simpsons episodes,too! Almost forgot about those but it's been awhile since I watched the Simpsons.
ReplyDeletePoor Parley-getting traumatized by Little House! I was a big LHOTP fan but the only scary image I can recall was a dream sequence where Laura was on trial for stealing Nellie Olsen's musicbox. Very Kafka looking.
That anime South Park was damn funny,David. Did you ever see the gruesome Christmas episode that had Satan worshipping forest animals in it? That was so hilarious in an"what are they doing?" kind of way.