Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween Favorites!




These days it seems that every show does a Halloween episode whether it's necessary or not, but it wasn't always so.  Today Halloween has been commercialized into something bloated but still somehow enjoyable, and we're here to remember a few terrific TV outings into the Halloween holiday theme.



First up, the classic -- and best of their Halloween-themed outings -- the Happy Days episode "Haunted" from Season 2, when Happy Days was still on film and not shot in front of an audience making it a whole different animal. The first two seasons have subtlety, charm, great writing and nuanced performances, traits that mostly become lost when audience reactions took precedence.





Little House on the Prairie had several Halloween episodes over the years including the great "The Monster of Walnut Grove" which involved Mrs. Olsen getting her head cut off by Mr. Oleson.  Hilarious, spooky, imaginative -- a complete delight, the best of the Little House Halloween episodes by far.  Unfortunately not available online anywhere that I can find, but there's a nice write-up by another fan of it, available by clicking here.  We also wrote about it in 2010 because we like it that much!




Jon Hamm as James Mason on a Saturday Night Live version of an imaginary Vincent Price Halloween Special from 1959.  Nothing funnier than this skit from 2008!




I can't find it to embed, but here is a link to the skit-- click here or here-- and it's still incredibly funny.  We wrote about it here also.

No doubt you've got your own Halloween TV favorites -- let us know!









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