The best part of Halloween, aside from candy, scary movies, and sexy costume parties, is that every single TV show in the entire world tries to capitalize on the holiday.
I wish I could say that I was impervious to the capitalization of Halloween media, but I'm not. I love Halloween, and I love Halloween episodes. So do you. Why else would you be here? Anyways, here's a list of the 11 best Halloween episodes of your favorite shows:
Brooklyn 99 S1 E6: "Halloween"
NBC
Brooklyn 99 has some great Halloween episodes, but nothing beats the original. This one started the annual Halloween Heist to determine The Ultimate Detective/Genius, and all the other seasons' Halloween specials must dwell in its shadow.
▲Modern Family S2 E6: "Halloween"
20th century fox
Another entry with tons of Halloween episodes. The first one, wherein Claire sets up a haunted house in her home and ropes everyone else into participating, is easily the best.
▲Friends S8 E6: "The One With the Halloween Party"
NBC
Rachel yells at a trick-or-treater to "shut up," and that's funnier than just about anything else that has ever happened on Friends.
▲Glee S2 E5: "The Rocky Horror Glee Show"
20th Century Fox
Rocky Horror Picture Show is a Halloween classic, and the songs are so good they even make the watered down Glee version bearable.
▲How I Met Your Mother S7 E8: The Slutty Pumpkin Returns"
20th Century Fox
Ted catches the hots for Katie Holmes at a Halloween party but then loses her number written on a piece of candy. Ten years later, he tracks her down like a psychopath and realizes they're incompatible. It's like the TV sitcom version of eating candy corn and then realizing it tastes awful.
▲The Office S2 E5: "Halloween"
NBC
Michael fires a man dressed as a hobo during Halloween. It's pretty great, but then again, so is everything during the first few seasons of The Office.
▲It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Charles M/. Schulz
To be honest, I have no idea who likes Charlie Brown, but It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown seems to be a real Halloween classic, so whatever. Charlie Brown talks a lot about pumpkins in this one, and boomers love it.
▲Freaks and Geeks S1 E3: "Tricks and Treats"
NBC
This is one of those rare Halloween episodes that actually seems to capture a moment in time–that feeling of being just on the edge of outgrowing trick-or-treating but still going because it's something you once loved. Freaks and Geeks was really good at capturing those kind of moments, and it's a severely underrated show.
▲Curb Your Enthusiasm S2 E3: "Trick or Treat"
HBO
Larry turns away two teenage girls who are definitely too old to be trick-or-treating. He is absolutely correct. These girls are monsters. Don't trick-or-treat past 16, it's weird.
▲The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror"
Fox
It's too hard to pick a best entry for Treehouse of Horror. These are consistently some of the best, most creative episodes of The Simpsons, and it's not a bad Halloween tradition to just marathon all of them.
▲Scared Shrekless
Dreamworks
Shrek is not a TV show, but I straight up don't care. There is a Shrek Halloween short called Scared Shrekless and nothing else is more important in the history of the universe. Please go watch, throw your candy and money at Shrek. It's swamptacular.