WEEKEND REWIND: Top 10 Halloween/Haunted Episodes

A slight change to the usual Weekend Rewind, this week I will be counting down the Top 10 Halloween/Haunted themed episodes from TV history. As always, this is based on personal opinion. I'm sure there are some missing from this list that I just haven't seen before, but here we go.

Close Calls

Bewitched #115 "The Safe and Sane Halloween" - Tabitha brings characters from her storybook to life and Samantha must hunt them down as they are Trick-or-Treating.

The Cosby Show "Halloween"

Laverne & Shirley #36 "Haunted House"  - a great "haunted mansion" episode that features some funny performances from the main foursome (Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, Squiggy).
Boy Meets World #106 "And Then There Was Shawn" - a humorous send-up to the teen slasher films that were so popular in the late 1990s. And this episode has Jennifer Love Hewitt!
Cosby Show #30 "Halloween" - Vanessa hosts a Halloween Party for her friends and Rudy dresses up as a pumpkin in a typically sweet episode.
The Jeffersons #115/116 "Now You See It, Now You Don't" - A two-part episode that revolves around Louise seeing a man in a bunny costume kill someone on Halloween night. A funny and suspenseful episode.

Bewitched "The Witches are Out"

10. Bewitched #7 "The Witches are Out" (first aired October 29, 1964)
In the first of many Halloween episodes for this series, the stereotypes of witches is explored when Darrin's new client wants to sell Halloween candy with an "old hag" witch image. It's really an episode about prejudices in the turbulant 1960s but presented in a lighthearted and unconventional way.

9. Cheers #48 "Fairy Tales Can Come True" (first aired October 25, 1984)
A very sweet episode of Cheers. At a Halloween Party, Cliff (dressed as Ponce de Leon) meets a mysterious woman who seems to be perfect for him. But when they agree to meet again the next night as themselves, they both get almost too nervous to see it through. 

8. Roseanne #78 "Trick Me Up, Trick Me Down" (first aired October 29, 1991)
Another show with no shortage of Halloween classics, the Connors celebrate Halloween like others celebrate Christmas (example: when the kids prank them with snakes in their bed, Roseanne tells Dan "the kids remembered us on the holidays"). This episode has a classic opening when Roseanne and Dan pull a huge Halloween prank on their neighbor and the rest of it has Roseanne expecting to get tricked back.

Friends "The One with the Halloween Party"

7. Friends #176 "The One with the Halloween Party" (first aired November 1, 2001)
The only Halloween-themed Friends episode, this is a great episode for a couple reasons - the costumes (Chandler as a big pink rabbit and Ross as "spudnik") and a great guest starring turn by Sean Penn as the innocent fiance of Phoebe's awful twin sister Ursula.

6. 8 Simple Rules #7 "Trick or Treehouse" (first aired October 29, 2002)
A sweet episode from the great first season of this show. Dad Paul is looking forward to a family Halloween but his teenage kids want to do other things. His plan to sleep in the old treehouse seems disastrous at first but ends up being a great family moment.

5. Dick Van Dyke Show #97 "Ghost of A. Chantz" (first aired September 30, 1964)
Not a Halloween episode, but a great haunted one. Rob, Laura, Sally, and Buddy get to go to a mountain resort to plan a new show for Alan Brady. Little do they know that they are the subjects of the new show and it's a "Candid Camera" style scary show. There are some great moments and reactions from the horrified participants.

Roseanne "Boo!"

4. Roseanne #30 "Boo!" (first aired October 31, 1989)
The first of eight, yes eight, Halloween episodes. Roseanne and Dan are in an epic prank war with each other as they both consider themselves to be masters. This is also great because of the tour through the Connor haunted house that the Trick-or-Treaters go through including Jackie on a plate.

3. Cheers #227 "Bar Wars V: Final Judgment" (first aired October 31, 1991)
The best of the great Bar Wars episodes from Cheers, they have a final showdown with Gary's Tavern where Gary "dies." Of the many great prank episodes in many shows, this one may top them all for the sheer magnitude of it.

2. Bewitched #43 "Trick or Treat" (first aired October 28, 1965)
When Darrin won't let Endora take Samantha away for Halloween, she turns him into a werewolf just in time for a dinner party with the Tates and a client. There are funny moments throughout and a good guest turn by a young Maureen McCormick but what makes this episode a classic is the conversation between Samantha and Endora at the end. Samantha accuses her of being the stereotype witch that they hate and hurting the one mortal who was willing to look past that. It's a great scene between the two.

Happy Days "Haunted"

1. Happy Days #22 "Haunted" (first aired October 29, 1974)
The best Halloween episode ever, this has it all (and was also on my Happy Days top 10 list a few weeks ago). Richie is nervous about Ralph's Halloween Party being at a supposedly haunted old house and the whole group is trying to avoid some rivals who mess up Ralph's Halloween party every year. It's funny, charming, and quintessentially 1950s. A classic.