Oct '22
When you take an ordinary show and give it a macabre Halloween-centric episode, the showrunners have chance to let out their horror influences. Everyone loves a good ghost story, or anything considered even remotely spooky sprinkled into the otherwise mundane sitcoms that we're forcefed.
Here are a few thoughts on some Halloween Specials.
The Simpsons' Tree House of Horror - This is a gimmick that started in season 2. Every Treehouse segment was an anthology, and the early ones were good. They had some great parodies that I loved to catch on tv.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_Treehouse_of_Horror_episodes
Some absolute gold in those first seven years, like Hungry are the Damned, The Shinning, and Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace, Like the rest of the show in general, they got pretty lame after about a decade, and I don't know anybody who still watches The Simpsons. I think they keep making episodes because they've got tenure or something. As the years went on, the treehouse segments became less about horror/halloween and more random scenarios on random dates.
Freddy's Nightmares - This only had two seasons, but that meant two Halloween specials. Freddy's Tricks and Treats is about terrorizing some girl in college, and it's okay. Photo Finish was the other one, which featured Freddy terrorizing an artist played by Patty McCormack, but the second half was about the FBI investigating a crime on Halloween night at a house, and Freddy's hungry. I appreciate that Freddy had Halloween specials at all. Too bad that episode of The Goldbergs was a garbage episode, but I always thought it was cool that October 2018 saw the return of both Freddy and Michael.
Charlie Brown and the Big-Ass Pumpkin - I'm pretty sure that's the title. He probably wants to use it for sexual purposes.
I had an orange VHS as a kid of three Nickelodeon Halloween segments. One was Rugrats, one was Doug, and the last was Ren & Stimpy. I rewatched it a lot. I'll always remember that tape fondly for its inclusion of the Bloody Head Fairy. My damn R&S "uncut" dvd omits that entire scene. I also saw a few Spongebob Halloween eps that were decent like the one about the Hash Slinging Slasher.
Chucky had a Halloween episode, but I don't remember specifics. I do, however, remember the cross-promotion with Halloween Kills with Michael and Chucky in the same commercial. That was cool.
What exactly is a Halloween Special? I've always thought of them as episodes of tv shows, or stand-alone short films that are about Halloween and released around Halloween. But not theatrical movies. But not necessarily excluding TV movies... would they count? Take something like Dark Night of the Scarecrow, for instance. It was released late October and the ending occurs on Halloween. It was a special event for the network about Halloween, but one could argue that it isn't a Halloween Special.
Tell us some of your favorite Halloween Specials.
Or argue about the validity of TV movies.
Here are a few thoughts on some Halloween Specials.
The Simpsons' Tree House of Horror - This is a gimmick that started in season 2. Every Treehouse segment was an anthology, and the early ones were good. They had some great parodies that I loved to catch on tv.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_Treehouse_of_Horror_episodes
Some absolute gold in those first seven years, like Hungry are the Damned, The Shinning, and Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace, Like the rest of the show in general, they got pretty lame after about a decade, and I don't know anybody who still watches The Simpsons. I think they keep making episodes because they've got tenure or something. As the years went on, the treehouse segments became less about horror/halloween and more random scenarios on random dates.
Freddy's Nightmares - This only had two seasons, but that meant two Halloween specials. Freddy's Tricks and Treats is about terrorizing some girl in college, and it's okay. Photo Finish was the other one, which featured Freddy terrorizing an artist played by Patty McCormack, but the second half was about the FBI investigating a crime on Halloween night at a house, and Freddy's hungry. I appreciate that Freddy had Halloween specials at all. Too bad that episode of The Goldbergs was a garbage episode, but I always thought it was cool that October 2018 saw the return of both Freddy and Michael.
Charlie Brown and the Big-Ass Pumpkin - I'm pretty sure that's the title. He probably wants to use it for sexual purposes.
I had an orange VHS as a kid of three Nickelodeon Halloween segments. One was Rugrats, one was Doug, and the last was Ren & Stimpy. I rewatched it a lot. I'll always remember that tape fondly for its inclusion of the Bloody Head Fairy. My damn R&S "uncut" dvd omits that entire scene. I also saw a few Spongebob Halloween eps that were decent like the one about the Hash Slinging Slasher.
Chucky had a Halloween episode, but I don't remember specifics. I do, however, remember the cross-promotion with Halloween Kills with Michael and Chucky in the same commercial. That was cool.
What exactly is a Halloween Special? I've always thought of them as episodes of tv shows, or stand-alone short films that are about Halloween and released around Halloween. But not theatrical movies. But not necessarily excluding TV movies... would they count? Take something like Dark Night of the Scarecrow, for instance. It was released late October and the ending occurs on Halloween. It was a special event for the network about Halloween, but one could argue that it isn't a Halloween Special.
Tell us some of your favorite Halloween Specials.
Or argue about the validity of TV movies.
