For kids growing up in the late ’80s and ’90s, there was no better block of prime time programming than ABC’s Friday night TGIF. And one of the most highly anticipated Fridays in TGIF’s heyday was the Friday that fell the closest to Halloween. This is when you knew that your favorite shows would step it up a notch and deliver an extra helping of zaniness with a spooky twist.
Which TGIF show did Halloween the best, though? That’s what we’re here to find out, and after extensive research (wasting too much time watching YouTube and the ABC Family channel), I feel I’ve fairly ranked the TGIF lineup on their Halloween offerings — or shortcomings. (Looking at you, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper.) So, without further ado, let’s get on with it.
10. Full House — “It’s Not My Job” (1988)
We needn’t look any further at what made Full House a glaring misfire in the TGIF lineup than its season two Halloween episode — and I use “Halloween episode” in the loosest of terms. The guys dress up as the Three Stooges, and that’s pretty much the only mention of Halloween with the rest of the episode centering around Uncle Jesse’s doo wop group reunion. Boo.
9. Perfect Strangers — “Aliens” (1988)
Cousins Balki and Larry turned in a decent Halloween episode during their third season, and as you’ll see in the promo, it aired just before Full House’s half-assed attempt at Halloween. Larry spends the night watching sci-fi movies and awakens the next morning believing that his cousin is an alien who wants to enslave everyone around him. That setup alone gives Balki liberty to utter “Don’t be ridiculous!” at will throughout the episode.
8. Dinosaurs — “When Good Food Goes Bad” (1991)
It’s a shame Dinosaurs didn’t hang around the TGIF lineup longer than it did. I mean, it was Rosanne with dinosaurs, that should’ve been gold, baby! Regardless of the show’s quick extinction, it did offer a solid Halloween episode right out of the gate with Charlene having to save the baby from the food in the fridge that has assembled into a prehistoric street gang.
7. Family Matters — “Robo-Nerd” (1991)
Family Matters had already turned in a couple of Halloween episodes by the time season three rolled around, and by this point, Steve Urkel had begun his takeover of America. Capitalizing on the sorta-fun-for-a-while, but then incredibly annoying plague that was Urkel-mania, the writers gave us our first glimpse at one of Steve’s many incarnations — Urkelbot. Like 99.9 percent of Steve’s other inventions, it goes haywire and sets a dangerous trap to snare Laura. In later seasons, this sort of absurdity would have been just any regular ol’ FM episode, but Urkelbot’s sinister nature made it a solid fit for its Halloween air date.
6. Dinosaurs — “Little Boy Boo” (1992)
Whoa, two Dinosaurs episodes in one list? Yes, amazingly, Dinosaurs managed to squeeze two solid Halloween specials out during its 65-episode run. This second Halloween special still focuses on the star of the show — the baby, duh — with Robbie telling the Baby Sinclair a story of how he might be a wereman. For some strange reason completely unrelated to Halloween, the episode ends with Baby Sinclair performing a music video (above). I think it was just an excuse for the writers to squeeze a little bit more out of that puppet before ABC pulled the plug.
5. Step by Step — “Something Wild” (1994)
Step by Step was always a reliable entry in the TGIF lineup. With nine different characters in the show, the writers were never at a loss to create intertwining stories. For season four’s Halloween episode, the spotlight shifted to Carol’s only son, Mark. Mark never had it easy, both of his step brothers were cooler, and while he was a nerd like Steve Urkel, he had none of the catchphrases or geeky charisma (or, one assumes, merchandising residuals). So, when a bad girl (Michelle Williams) invited Mark along for some Halloween vandalism, he obviously went because, hey, he might have a shot at whatever the TGIF version of lucky was.
That mohawk alone is enough to put this episode in the top five.
4. Boy Meets World — “Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf?” (1994)
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Boy Meets World was delivering solid Halloween episodes from the get-go, and this season two episode takes puberty and turns it into horror. Just like any adolescent making the transformation to manhood, Cory is confused by what’s going on. Rather than do something like ask an adult, though, he convinces himself he’s been bitten by a werewolf. Fearful that he’ll kill Topanga, Cory locks himself in his room and begs his mom to kill him with a silver bullet. The episode also has a cameo from Phyllis Diller as the frozen yogurt shop fortune-teller who planted that goofy werewolf idea in Cory’s impressionable brain.
3. Sabrina the Teenage Witch — “Good Will Haunting” (1997)
Generally speaking, pretty much EVERY episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch had the makings of a Halloween episode. Witchcraft, talking black cats, the show’s whole premise was a recipe for Halloween gags. Which meant that when Sabrina did turn in a Halloween episode, it had to be top-notch. For “Good Will Haunting,” the show took the standard horror go-to of a creepy doll and had it start terrorizing Sabrina after she ditched Aunt Beulah’s Halloween party for the 500th year in a row. As you’ll see, creepy dolls were somewhat of a theme for TGIF shows in 1997.
2. Family Matters — “Stevil” and “Stevil II” (1996, 1997)
I’m fairly confident that the word “overkill” was never uttered in the writing room at Family Matters. When the show stumbled across a hit gag, they rode it hard. Myrtle Mae Urkel, Stefan, the talking dummy that was Stevil, they all became repeat jokes on the show.
If a full-size Steve Urkel wasn’t terrifying enough for the Winslows, a miniature Steve Urkel that wanted to capture souls was sure to horrify. The gag was so successful that the show brought Stevil the dummy back for revenge the following year, only this time he had a blockhead partner in crime with a Carl dummy called Carlsbad that joined in on the rampage.
1. Boy Meets World — “And Then There Was Shawn” (1998)
We’ve reached our final destination, the granddaddy of TGIF Halloween episodes, but wait, plot twist! “And Then There Was Shawn” wasn’t even a Halloween episode! That’s right, as perhaps some sort of bizarre joke, ABC actually first aired this episode on February 27, a full four months after Halloween. It only acquired its status as a Halloween episode through yearly October repeats in syndication.
Regardless of that fact, the episode which spoofs a slasher movie was perfect in so many ways. It had virgin jokes, a mysterious hot girl (Jennifer Love Hewitt), and a twist at the end with the entire thing being Shawn’s nightmare. Plus, Mr. Feeny finally stumps know-it-all Topanga, and that alone makes the episode a win.