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The golden age of television holiday “specials” is behind us—when you can watch The Paul Lynde Halloween Special or Halloween with the New Adams Family whenever you like instead of at a specific hour in October, the special is drained of its specialness. But there are still some modern one-off, spooky-themed programs you can watch with your kids to celebrate Halloween. For this post, I defined “special” as something that is not feature-film length, but can be a single episode of an existing TV show, and I defined “new” as “within the last decade.” I’ve collected the best modern specials to watch with your children below.
Muppets Haunted Mansion
The Muppets have been hit-or-miss for decades, but this Halloween special is a definite hit. It grafts that classic Muppet formula—puppet production numbers, lovable characters, and unexpected celebrity appearances—to a Halloween plot featuring Gonzo and Pepe the Prawn spending the night in the mansion form Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride. Yes, Muppet Haunted Mansion is a corporate synergistic leveraging of two Disney IPs designed to capture a programming demographic, but there’s still a little magic left.
Where to stream: Disney+
The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween
Everyone (except the most uptight librarians) loves Captain Underpants! The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween is a more-laughs-than-chills special in which Mr. Krupp and Melvin manage to make Halloween illegal. So the Captain and his pals create their own holiday: Hack-a-ween. The absurdist, a-bit-crude humor of the book series translates perfectly to the breezy Halloween one-off format.
Where to stream: Netflix
SpongeBob Squarepants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom
In its many seasons on TV, SpongeBob has presented a ton of Halloween tales, but this one is my favorite. A full stop-motion episode with nods to the Rankin-Bass (the people that brought us Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Mad Monster Party) The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom will amuse both adults and children.
Where to stream: Paramount+
Mickey’s Spooky Stories
If you have little ones, Mickey’s Spooky Stories is geared to ’em. It’s a collection of gentle Halloween-themed animated shorts that are just a little spooky and lacking in anything too scary. Seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, et. al rendered in computer animation might be a little jarring if you’re an adult, as are the implications of a “Ghost Goofy” character, but your kid won’t even notice either.
Where to stream: Disney +
The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
Apparently the annual Treehouse of Horror episode isn’t enough Halloween for The Simpsons, so they released a Halloween short this year too. In “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” Sideshow Bob teams up with “the most infamous villains of Disney+” to share the true meaning of the Halloween and to do a little singing and cross-promotion. I am including this three minute “special” mainly because one of the villains is the hunter who shot Bambi’s mother, and that’s a terrific joke. This one is obviously for older kids.
Where to stream: Disney+
Escape the Undertaker
Like professional wrestling itself, Escape the Undertaker is the dumbest and most awesome thing ever. Young wrestling fans will legitimately love seeing their WWE favorites like New Day and The Undertaker (“Taker” to his friends) in a new medium, and parents with an eye for the ridiculous will shake their head at how shoddy but strangely sincere it all is. Plus, Escape the Undertaker‘s “choose your own adventure” interactive gimmick is novel enough to keep anyone’s interest.
Where to stream: Netflix
Werewolf by Night
Werewolf by Night is a unique and awesome homage to classic Universal horror movies and Marvel comics for older-than-13-kids. Plot-wise, Werewolf by Night features a gang of monster hunters traveling to a spooky country house to (what else) hunt monsters. The joy is in the way the hoary story is presented—this special is 54 minutes of janky, old-school effects, lush black-and-white cinematography, and old timey monsters made by people who clearly know and love the source material.
Where to stream: Netflix
House of Svengoolie Cartoon Boo-Nanza
Let’s get obscure, wanna? Svengoolie, the last of the old-time horror hosts, and his Sven Squad are presenting a collection of Warner Brothers’ best scare-themed cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and more, every Saturday night in October—you cannot go wrong with old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Svengoolie’s nationwide home is MeTV, which you probably don’t know you can probably watch right now. Here’s a guide to finding a MeTV outlet near you.
Where to watch: MeTV
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
I said I was going to limit this list to the best specials from the last decade, but I included It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown because it has been nicely restored so it looks and sounds modern, and because Apple TV+ is streaming it for free on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, a nice throwback to the “special” part of the holiday special. Apple TV+ will also show A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for free on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 and A Charlie Brown Christmas for free on Dec. 14 and Dec. 15.
Where to stream: Apple TV+