TV Guidance Counselor
TV Guidance Counselor Halloween Special
[screaming] Wait. You have a TV? No. I just like to read the TV guide. Read the TV guide. Don't need a TV. [music playing] ♪ Halloween, Halloween ♪ ♪ Halloween ♪ ♪ Go, please, please, I'm gonna have fun ♪ ♪ You are who I am ♪ - Happy Halloween, everybody. It's Ken Reid, your TV guidance counselor. Here on a Friday on Halloween with a special edition episode, I don't have a guest this week. My guest is essentially you. I will be talking to you directly, my listener. And I will be giving you some customized recommendations for Halloween episodes or specials that you might wanna watch tonight. If you're like me, which first of all, I'm terribly sorry, that fate has stricken you. But you know, you're older. You don't wanna go out on Halloween. You don't feel like dressing up. Maybe you got to the Halloween store before they packed up and something wicked this way comes their way out of the state and didn't have a costume. So you wanna hang in tonight, get a pizza and just watch some Halloween specials or Halloween TV episodes. Movies are great. There's a ton of great horror movies that you can watch, but sometimes quantity is better than quality. Or sometimes quantity is quality. So anyway, I've compiled, I actually spent years compiling this list of Halloween episodes, pretty much every single Halloween episode that ever aired on television. I made an Excel grid. I use it to, I attempted to use it actually to track down every single one of these episodes that I could. I have most of them. But you can find most of these on Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, or in a pinch on YouTube. A lot of these are on there. So with your computer, you can watch most of these tonight. Or you may already have these DVD sets at home and just didn't know there was a Halloween episode there. So you know, there's the classics. You can watch Charlie Brown. You can watch the Garfield special. There's some classics that everybody watches, Roseanne, Night Court Cheers. They all had a Halloween episode pretty much every year and you can't really go wrong with any of those. But some of these might be, not necessarily ones you've never heard of, they may be, but they might be shows that you like and watch that you either didn't know they had a Halloween episode or just maybe forgot. And so I will tell you which ones I would recommend tonight. It's a personalized TV guidance for you. And so I'm just gonna go through my list here. Number one, I would say the Adams family had a great episode called Halloween Adams Style. It was from season two, it's episode seven. Adams family, one of my all time favorite shows. Very funny show. Their Christmas episode is actually a better holiday episode, but this one is very, very good. And it's the Adams family which is something that is appropriate for Halloween. Another one I'm recommending, I'm actually going alphabetically here. These are not in order of liking. Is the Adventures of Pete and Pete. There is an episode called Halloween-y. It is from season two. It is fantastic. If I did put them in order of how much I loved these episodes, this would definitely be in my top five. I've discussed it on the show before. We had Danny Tim Morelli on episode 13, I think of the show. It is the most Halloween-ish episode I can think of. It really captures how I think of Halloween where I grew up in the suburbs, outside Boston with my two Halloween sacks full of king-sized pillows full of candy. And it's a great, great episode. I highly recommend you check that one out. One you may not be that familiar with is the Bonnie Hunt Show. This was not her talk show, which I did enjoy and did do a lot of Halloween content. This was her 1995 show that was produced by David Letterman. And there's an episode from season one, episode six. It's called Here's a Little Halloween Twist. It's a sweet, funny, great show. I recommend everything Bonnie Hunt's ever done. And she pretty much had a Halloween episode in every show she's ever done. But this one is very, very good. I highly recommend that. On to Buck Rogers. This one was not designed as a Halloween episode. It is called Space Vampire. It is from season one. It is episode 14. It is responsible for many sleepless nights for many, many children. It is terrifying. The Space Vampire is terrifying. At first, you're like, oh, this is goofy. And then it terrifies you when you wake up in the night and a cold sweat. Terrified that the Space Vampire is going to kill you. It has all the classic Buck Rogers hallmarks, all the 70s vision of the future. Very fun episode. Best watched with a group instead of alone because I'm not kidding you that Space Vampire will disturb you. I also would recommend Eek the Cat, another one of my favorite shows, Savage Steve Holland, who made one crazy summer, among other things that I enjoy. He had a Halloween special called Halloween Week. It was actually from season one, episode five. Now, these are not officially released, but I believe you can find it on YouTube. Definitely check that out. It's a fun show. If you've never seen Eek the Cat, it's also an excellent show to jump in with. It's really fun. If you like classic animation, it calls back to a lot of the older Fleischer cartoons and a lot of great classic stuff. It's a funny show. Next on my list, Erie, Indiana. Joe Dante's Erie, Indiana. A spooky weird show that is incredibly autumnal and great to watch almost any episode at Halloween, but they do have a specific Halloween episode called America's Scariest Home Videos from season one. They're actually the only season of Erie, Indiana. Yes, I know about the other side. I'm not counting that as a second season of Erie, Indiana. Please don't read into me telling me I was wrong about that. From season one, it's a very fun episode. I will not spoil the plot for you. That is available on DVD. You can find it online. Very good. It does involve a mummy. Next, and maybe my number one pick. If there's one episode aside from Pete and Pete's Halloweeny that you're watching on Halloween tonight, watch this one. It's the Facts of Life. It's called Seven Little Indians. It's from season eight, the penultimate season. It's episode 12. An episode that did not air as a Halloween episode, but it is sort of a parody of horror. I won't get into the details of it because it would sort of ruin the twists and turns, but it's very fun. It is incredibly memorable. It may be my favorite episode of Facts of Life from my favorite era of Facts of Life. So I cannot recommend it enough. They also had a Halloween episode in season five, which is more of a straight Halloween episode. It's a fun one. It's called The Halloween Show. It's episode six from season five, but Seven Little Indians is the way to go. Absolutely no question about it. Next up on the list, freaks and geeks, tricks and treats from season one, only season, episode three. A classic, this goes very well with the Adventures of Pete and Pete episode. It sort of captures the same feel and vibe of that episode. This is a great, great episode. I still quote, "You look like a freaking robot "on a daily basis." And it manages to touch on a theme that the Halloween episode of Pete and Pete does as well, which is the sort of pain of that transitional age when you're sort of too old to trick or treat, but not really old enough to do anything else. That's all that exciting. And you actually really want to trick or treat if you were able to. And I sympathize with that more than you can understand. So freaks and geeks, fantastic episode. Next up along the lines of Buck Rogers. If you're watching that Buck Rogers episode and you're looking for a double feature, get yourself Galactic in 1980. This is Galactic in '80. This is the then present set in the present world of 1980, sort of sequel series, "The Battle Star Galactic," a set on Earth. There is a two-part episode called "The Night the Sylons Landed" that features Wolfpan Jack, a Halloween party, New York City in its dirty prime. It is a classic of insanity. Again, you have that vision of the future from the '70s, hold over. Perfect double feature with Buck Rogers. I highly recommend that pairing, like a fine wine and food. The next one might surprise you. This is probably another episode that would be in my top five Halloween episodes of all time. This is actually an episode of "Highway to Heaven," a show that I normally did not care for too much. It was a little Jesus-y, which is not surprising. I shouldn't have been surprised that it's Jesus-y. It's "Highway to Heaven." But this episode's a comedy episode, and they actually did do quite a few Halloween episodes. And the Halloween episodes were almost always comedy episodes. They had one in season two called "The Devil" and Jonathan Smith, where actually, it had a cameo by the most memorable character from "The Hills Have Eyes" film. Michael Berryman is playing "The Devil." It's a comedy episode, it's pretty great, but that is not the one I would recommend, although is good. I'm recommending an episode from season four. It's episode five. It's called "I Was a Middle-Aged Werewolf," playing off the fact that Michael Linden was an "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." It is a sweet, fun, scary, genuinely funny episode of television. And easily, in my opinion, the best episode of "Highway to Heaven," highly recommend it, "Highway to Heaven," "I Was a Middle-Aged Werewolf," season four, episode five. Next up, one of my favorite shows, "Kate and Allie." They actually had a couple of different Halloween episodes. This one is called "Halloween II," not named after the "Miss Fit Song" that I am aware of, but it is from season four. It's episode six, fantastic about the New York Halloween parade, great show. I really love it. I watch it every year. It's one that I never miss. Bonnie Hunt again, her 2000s series, "Life with Bonnie," the two seasons they did. They did "Halloween" episodes both years. The first one's called "The Day in the Life," from season one, episode seven. The second one is a Wizard of Oz-themed Halloween episode called "The Merry Old Land of Oz," season two, episode six. If you enjoy "The Bonnie Hunt Show" when I recommend it, definitely check those out. The next recommendation is actually a main for TV movie called "The Midnight Hour." From 1985, I watch it every year. It stars Sherry Belafonte, has music by the Smiths in it. It's really fun. It's not cited as being loved as much as something like Mr. Bugatti, which people often will bring up around Halloween, Mr. Bugatti, not that great. Brida Bugatti, even worse. If someone recommends Mr. Bugatti or Brida Bugatti to you, watch "Midnight Hour" instead. I think you will enjoy it much, much more. It's much better. Again, there's some genuinely scary things in here. It's very '80s. It's very made for TV. Love our Burton, isn't it? It's pretty great. I think you'll enjoy it. Fantastic show. The next thing I'm gonna recommend is "No Shock to You Guys," my so-called "Life." Another one of my favorite shows of all time. This show is the most like my teenage years that you can imagine. She was 14 in the show. I was 14 when it aired. The Pittsburgh suburb of the show was very similar to the Boston suburb I grew up in. I never met a ghost, and I definitely didn't make out with anyone at that time, but it sort of captures the feel of what my youth was like in my mind. And their Halloween episode is simply called "Halloween." It is from the one and only season. It's the Nikki Driscoll episode. You will enjoy that very much, bit more dramatic, but I think it makes a great double feature with one of the recommendations I will make later in the episode here. Or you could pair it with freaks and geeks, which is slightly lighter. The next one is "New Heart," a show that I love. They did several Halloween episodes. There's "Mrs. Newton's Body Lies," a moldering and a grave from season one about a witch. There's "The Stratford Horror Picture Show," which is about people hunting the Stratford. But my favorite one is called "Take Me To Your Loudoun." From season six, it's episode seven. It's sort of a play on more of the world. It's very funny. There's a lot of great lines in it that I quote. One line I actually quoted in the episode we recorded with Julia Duffy herself is one of my favorite lines from "New Heart." I think you'll enjoy it. Definitely check that one out. Also, I would recommend "Norm," "Norm McDonald's 90s Show," produced by a lot of the people behind the Drew Carey Show. One and only season, it was called "Norm vs. Halloween." Actually, no, that show went from many seasons. I don't know what I'm saying. That was season three. I believe it's season three, episode five. That is "Norm vs. Halloween," very, very fun show. It's interesting in that episode because it sort of shows Halloween in an apartment building, which is not something that you see portrayed very often in Halloween episodes or on television very much. Highly recommended if you can hunt that down, "Norm." The last few recommendations I have here, this is the one I was alluding to that would pair very well with my so-called life. It is "Square Pegs." It is called "Halloween 7" from the one and only season of "Square Pegs," which is on DVD. You can pick it up incredibly cheaply. I highly recommend this show. We have not discussed this show really enough on the podcast. It was created by Anne Beats from "SNL," and it starred Sarah Jessica Parker as one of the first things she did. It's a show that was shot on film. It was very funny, very bittersweet, and unfortunately did have a laugh track, which probably didn't need. But if you can look past that, it is a very funny, great, very '80s show. And this episode is fantastic. I cannot recommend it enough, especially paired with really anything on this list that I've told you about. And my final recommendation is an episode of one of my favorite shows of all time, "The Young Ones." Again, this is not a specific Halloween episode as the UK really didn't celebrate Halloween until sort of recently when they were infected by Americanisms. But this is from season two. It's called "Video Nasty." It is sort of a horror-themed episode of "The Young Ones." It also features a great song called "Nasty" by the Damned, who is one of my all-time favorite bands, and one of the bands that really got me into punk rock. And this episode is actually one of the things that got me into punk rock. I saw this episode when I was six years old on MTV one night, and it just blew my mind. It's just a fun, funny, weird episode. If you like punk rock, if you like British comedy, if you like me, you'll enjoy this episode. So as you can imagine, that was a very quick, very quick overview of recommendations. I have 10, 11 pages in my Excel document of Halloween episodes. If you want a copy of this for some strange reason and you don't get to watch all these things tonight, email me at kannadikenrene.com to be happy to send it to you. Also, a couple of plugs to get in. Tomorrow night, November 1st, All Saints Day, or Dia de los Muertos for our Spanish-speaking listeners, of which I don't think there are any. But tomorrow night, here in Boston, if you're in the New England area, I will be hosting a screening of "The Evil Dead" at the Wilbur Theatre, where Mr. Bruce Campbell himself, Ash, will be there in person, and I will be moderating the Q&A after the movie as well. Incredibly exciting for me. Definitely come out to that. There are still a few tickets left. You're not gonna wanna miss it. Spread your Halloween enjoyment out for an extra day and come to the Wilbur Theatre for the Q&A and viewing of "The Evil Dead" with me and Bruce Campbell. And next weekend, November 8th here in Boston, not Halloween related, I will be doing our second live edition of TV Guidance Counselor, as part of the Boston Comedy Festival, where my guest will be Emmanuel Lewis. That's right, Webster himself, the one and only Emmanuel Lewis, the show is in the afternoon, it's an early show, it's only 10 bucks. You can go to bostoncomedyfestival.com to get tickets. It should be a lot of fun. I have a lot of burning questions I have for him. If you have questions, you'd like me to ask him, actually, feel free to email me at kennedy.com. And as always, please go to TVguidescounselor.com You can rate the show, review the show on iTunes. It's a huge help, tell your friends about the show. And if you liked this sort of short recommendations, little mini episode, let me know. I am happy to do these for all the holidays. I do have Excel grids for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day even. So I'm happy to do more of these if you enjoy this little short recommendation podcast. So otherwise, enjoy your Halloween, enjoy these episodes and I will see you Wednesday. Oh, I should mention. The other thing is if you want sort of format episodes of TVguidescounselor, which is when a guest picks a specific issue of TVguides and we talk about that week, check out the Kelly McFarland episode, check out the Bethany Van Delft episode, check out the Abby Londor episode from last week, the Tim McIntyre episode from two weeks ago. Those are all Halloween weeks from various years. And then actually next week's episode with Clark Wolf from the Sleepycast is a Halloween week. And our episode in two weeks with Tim Vargulish is a Halloween week. And in between those, I have Andre Gower from the Monster Squad who, although not a Halloween specific episode, hey, Monster Squad, come on. So you can listen to more Halloween content there if you want sort of the normal format of the show. But otherwise, we'll see you Wednesday for an all new episode of TVguidescounselor. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)