TV: The Best Halloween Specials

From now until the end of the month, there'll be a series of Halloween-themed posts on Shangrila Towers. Today we'll look at some of the best Halloween-themed TV show episodes.

Halloween is one of the few American holidays where everybody, even people who aren't religious or patriotic, can celebrate wholeheartedly. While the holiday has its origins in various Celtic autumnal festivals, it's safe to say that centuries of differing practices have stripped Halloween of whatever spiritual significance it might have had.

Despite this lack of a preplanned message or observance, I think there is such a thing as Halloween spirit - the ability to have fun, to scare and be scared, and to be kind to trick-or-treaters. Here are a few TV shows that really get that spirit:

The Adventures of Pete & Pete, "Halloweenie"

I'm sure I'll get around to doing a full blog post about "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," Nickelodeon's delightfully off-kilter comedy about two brothers with the same name. While nearly every episode was memorable, the holiday outings of "Pete & Pete" were some of the strongest; the show had surreal takes on July 4th, April Fool's Day, and yes, Halloween.

"Halloweenie" follows the Petes as they try to break the all-time Wellsville trick-or-treating record. High school age Big Pete has lost his Halloween spirit, and is embarrassed to even be out there, but he needs to support Little Pete in the quest to break the record. Unfortunately, a group of evil teenage mischief makers known as the Pumpkin Eaters threaten to shut down Halloween forever by terrorizing the people who celebrate the holiday. It's a surprisingly thrilling story that delves into the theme of brotherly loyalty that so often anchored the show.

Roseanne, "Boo!"

I never watched much of "Roseanne," Roseanne Barr's long-running ABC sitcom. But the few episodes I do recall are (unsurprisingly) Halloween shows. Unlike other family sitcoms that used Halloween specials as opportunities to cram in a bunch of lazy throwaway jokes, the writers, cast, and crew of "Roseanne" often thrived on the energy that the holiday created.

Along with "Halloween IV" (which sported a "Christmas Carol"-like story of Roseanne losing her Halloween spirit), "Boo!" is one of the best Halloween episodes ever made. In the episode, Roseanne and her husband Dan engage in an epic game of one-upmanship to see who can scare the other. Despite this competition, the family bands together and creates an awesome haunted house out of the living room and kitchen. It's warm and funny without crossing the line into treacle.

King of the Hill, "Hilloween"

Most people are familiar with the "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween specials run by "The Simpsons," but those vignette-based episodes usually do a poor job of commenting on the holiday itself. Fox's other long-running animated show, "King of the Hill," played with the idea of Halloween in the classic episode "Hilloween."

There are a lot of reasons the episode is so good. Sally Field guest stars as conservative church member Junie Harper, who leads a campaign against Halloween because it's a "Satanic" holiday. Harper manages to get a curfew passed, effectively canceling Halloween (the "Hallelujah House" in the episode is a spot-on parody). The final scene, where Hank protests the curfew by walking into the street yelling trick-or-treat, has a genuinely stirring, "I am Spartacus"-type feel - not something you usually get from a half-hour cartoon.