The best Halloween episodes of your favourite TV shows/sitcoms

Friends might have only given us one Halloween episode, but it’s pretty iconic. Monica and Chandler throw a costume party at their apartment, complete with arm wrestling and a special guest appearance from Sean Penn as Ursula’s fiancé, Eric – who Phoebe instantly falls for. Between Rachel handing out cash instead of candy and Ross’ “Spud-nik” costume, it’s packed with all the usual Friends antics, just with a Halloween twist.

With Claire Dunphy being a spooky season devotee, there’s no shortage of hilarious Halloween episodes of Modern Family to choose from, but the first one is arguably the best. 

Claire transforms the Dunphy house into a full-on haunted attraction, roping the entire family into her elaborate plans, but things don’t quite go as planned when the family bring their own baggage to the festivities. It’s also got perfect representation for anyone who’s ever been scared of being the only person dressed up at work for Halloween…

With a Halloween layoff pending at Dunder Mufflin, Michael tries to assert himself as a competent manager while in a two-headed costume, which leads to a certain disgruntled employee leaving him out of Halloween drinks – and smashing a pumpkin over his car. Jim and Pam also can’t resist pranking Dwight by posting his résumé online, leaving everyone to wonder if the Halloween horror might be two people leaving that day. It’s a classic, super lighthearted watch that packs all the seasonal vibes with none of the real scares (apart from the threat of being understaffed).

Every year, the 99th Precinct held an annual “Halloween Heist”, so we get a festive episode of this beloved sitcom almost every season. “HalloVeen” is a fan favourite – Jake and Amy join forces to steal the coveted title of “Amazing Human/Genius” from their colleagues, with no shortage of twists, turns, and double-crosses. No spoilers, but there’s also the sweetest payoff at the end, which is perfect if you like your Halloween watches to be hilarious yet heartwarming. 

The classic ‘90s sitcom gave us a playful nod to slasher flicks with this Halloween installment, where Shawn and the gang are all trapped in detention while a masked “killer” stalks them. Featuring all the exaggerated teen drama we love, it’s a fun homage to the original Friday the 13th and Halloween films – plus it guest stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, who appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer around the same time. 

What if the scariest thing imaginable is a 17-year-old prankster? Leslie Knope’s mortal enemy, Greg Pikitis, is a known Halloween vandal – but the passionate public servant is determined to thwart his efforts, enacting an over-the-top, candy-fueled stakeout to catch the teen menace. A laugh-out-loud caper through Pawnee, this one is our pick for the show’s all-time best spooky installment.

The first Halloween offering from the timeless ‘80s sitcom, this episode follows Cliff, who meets a woman at the bar’s Halloween party dressed as Tinkerbell, and sparks fly for the endearing naive mailman. But will she still like him out of costume? Plenty of barroom banter ensues as the gang help Cliff prepare for his unmasked meeting – the only Halloween horror you’ll find here is a painfully awkward date between Diane and Sam.

Abbott Elementary serves up its first Halloween episode with sugar-high stakes – when the school hosts a Halloween party, the teachers must wrangle contraband candy from their students, whose sugar-fuelled antics quickly spiral into full-blown chaos. Featuring an eclectic mix of costumes – from “Spelling Bee” to a student dressed as his teacher – it’s right regarded as one of the funniest episodes of the already-hilarious show

This is admittedly a more scary offering for the horror lovers amongst us – in this episode of the classic show, inspired by the folktale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Jessica Fletcher comes to the aid of a poet who becomes the prime suspect in a grisly murder. Racing against the clock, she must unmask the real killer before the town’s Halloween festivities turn even more deadly. It’s the perfect whodunnit to curl up with, especially with some leftover candy.

Greendale Community College goes full-on zombie apocalypse after a tainted batch of food at the school’s Halloween party has students acting weirdly. The study group find themselves trapped in a campus overrun with “zombified” classmates – all soundtracked to ABBA. It’s borderline absurd and absolutely hilarious, it’s one of the most inventive Halloween episodes you can watch.

In New Girl’s first Halloween episode, Jess gets a job as a zombie at a haunted house, while Nick desperately tries to hide the fact that he’s deathly afraid of them. Meanwhile, Schmidt is green with envy that Cece is celebrating Halloween with Robbie, making more than a few jabs at his handmade Ninja Turtle costume. No spoilers, but Nick does brave the haunted house for a sweet and valiant reason – though with predictably chaotic results.

Though Buffy had its fair share of scary episodes outside of the holidays, this is more of a funny offering. Buffy faces a literal nightmare when a magical spell causes everyone in Sunnydale to transform into their Halloween costumes, where she must navigate her and her friends’ new forms and stop a pair of evil villains from exploiting the confusion. Buffy’s 18th-century noblewoman costume is far less fearless than her usual persona, but the slayer always manages to save the day.

A teen favourite that you might not have watched in years, what better way to reminisce on the ‘90s than with the most perfectly-titled show for the season? In this Halloween special, Sabrina must contend with a magical talking doll that terrorises her party guests, while Hilda and Zelda discover their Aunt, whose party they’ve been avoiding for 500 years, lives in an insane asylum. If you were also afraid of the creepy doll in question when you were younger, I promise it looks tame by today’s standards.

This episode of That ‘70s Show nails Halloween from the get-go, complete with a remixed theme tune. It revolves around the gang’s Halloween night, which features different spoofs of classic Alfred Hitchcock films – murderous crows and all. It’s a fan-favourite episode that feels super witty, while still promising no shortage of suspenseful moments…

After an alleged theft at the store, assistant manager Dina refuses to rest until the culprit is caught – never mind that it’s Halloween night. The team scrambles to solve the case, even if it means a false confession, while one employee sneaks off for a secret date. Superstore knows how to do a Halloween episode – including the season three special where they find an entombed employee in the wall – but the first one just has something special.