The 21 Greatest Halloween TV Specials of All Time

Animated classics that air every October sit here beside sitcom episodes people rewatch instead of horror films.

1. 1
   It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

   The 1966 Peanuts special in which Linus waits all night in the pumpkin patch.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Treehouse of Horror

   The Simpsons' annual three-story Halloween anthology, running since 1990 and endlessly imitated.
   856pts
3. 3
   The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

   The Emmy-winning 1979 special in which Count Dracula, played by Judd Hirsch, rallies the monsters to save Halloween from a striking witch.
   856pts
4. 4
   Halloweentown

   The 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie in which Debbie Reynolds' witch grandmother takes her grandchildren to a town where monsters live year-round.
   642pts
5. 5
   Mickey's House of Villains

   The 2002 direct-to-video Halloween film in which Disney's villains take over the House of Mouse for Halloween night.
   582pts
6. 6
   When Good Ghouls Go Bad

   A 2001 Fox TV movie based on an R. L. Stine story, with Christopher Lloyd as a grandfather who returns from the dead on Halloween.
   582pts
7. 7
   Friends: The One with the Halloween Party

   The 2001 season 8 episode in which Monica throws a costume party, Chandler shows up as a pink bunny and Ross comes as Spudnik.
   582pts
8. 8
   Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Halloween

   The season 2 episode where costumes turn the Sunnydale gang into whatever they dressed as.
   513pts
9. 9
   Werewolf by Night

   Marvel's 2022 black-and-white monster special directed by Michael Giacchino, with Gael García Bernal as a monster hunter hiding a terrible secret.
   513pts
10. 10
    The Halloween Tree

    Ray Bradbury's 1993 animated special tracing Halloween's history, narrated by Bradbury, with Leonard Nimoy as the mysterious Moundshroud.
    434pts
11. 11
    Scared Shrekless

    DreamWorks' 2010 Halloween special in which Shrek challenges his friends to spend the night in Lord Farquaad's haunted castle telling scary stories.
    434pts
12. 12
    The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

    A campy 1976 ABC variety special with Margaret Hamilton reprising her Wicked Witch and KISS making their first prime-time TV appearance.
    434pts
13. 13
    Disney's Halloween Treat

    The 1982 clip-show special that terrified a generation with Disney's scariest animated moments.
    434pts
14. 14
    Halloween Is Grinch Night

    The 1977 Dr. Seuss special in which the Grinch terrorises Whoville on a sour-sweet night, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Special.
    434pts
15. 15
    Community: Epidemiology

    Greendale's Halloween dance turns into a zombie outbreak set to ABBA.
    342pts
16. 16
    Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask

    The 1995 two-part premiere of the Goosebumps TV series, in which a shy girl's Halloween mask fuses to her face.
    342pts
17. 17
    Garfield's Halloween Adventure

    The 1985 special where Garfield and Odie trick-or-treat their way into a pirate ghost story.
    342pts
18. 18
    Cry Baby Lane

    Nickelodeon's 2000 Halloween TV movie about a haunted grave, pulled after a single airing and later a cult legend among millennials.
    233pts
19. 19
    Toy Story of Terror!

    The 2013 Pixar Halloween special that strands the toys in a roadside motel.
    0pts
20. 20
    Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special

    A 1977 CBS special that stitched classic Looney Tunes shorts into a Halloween story starring Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester and Witch Hazel.
    0pts
21. 21
    Witch's Night Out

    A 1978 animated special with Gilda Radner as a washed-up witch who grants two lonely kids' wishes to become real monsters for one night.
    0pts

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