TV shows are so used to playing into the spooky season that's it's actually a rarity for an ongoing series to not capitalize on Halloween. Often a show will see the characters throw a Halloween-themed party, or perhaps will even create a horror-induced event for the protagonists to overcome.
Whether it's thematically or by literally featuring pumpkins and costumes in all their glory, shows usually find a way to highlight the season. Yet these TV series have refused to bend to the status quo, even if they have honored other holidays in the past like Halloween. This may be due to the tone of the show, the genre, or perhaps because it didn't fit the overall narrative arc.
The Golden Girls might have gotten themselves into some pretty precarious situations, but they were never spooky or horrifying. Scary things didn't really happen on the show as it didn't really fit the themes or the tones of the narratives being told.
What's more, although it would have been a lot of fun to see what the group would come dressed as, there's likely not really an event that they would have attended that could be tied into Halloween in general. Fans online did create their own Halloween installment of the show though which drew praise!
Marvel's Agents Of S.H.E.L.D. has brought monsters and demons to the small screen. They've even introduced Ghost Rider to audiences. Yet, despite Robbie Reyes becoming the perfect character to feature in a Halloween story, the show never celebrated the season.
Holidays don't really play a part in the show at all, even though the series tries to portray the ordinary lives of the Agents when not in crisis mode. Unfortunately, because the team has to go on the run it's difficult to enjoy any of the seasonal events. Not to mention the timeline meddling that throws the series into chaos!
It seems like an opportunity that's too good to pass up, the idea that the vampires would be interacting with people wearing masks and costumes on Halloween, unaware of the human traditions that they are seemingly playing into themselves.
Despite the brilliant premise of the idea, What We Do In The Shadows has never done a Halloween episode. Each installment of the show is inherently spooky because of the creatures featured in this cinematic universe, but it feels as if eventually the series will get around to portraying their version of All Hallows Eve.
Lost has played upon holidays before in order to connect the characters back to the real world from which they have been confined. Indeed, "The Constant" is a great example of an episode acting as Christmas-adjacent, with the series utilizing the themes of the season effectively.
Although there are supernatural goings-on and fantasy/sci-fi elements in Lost, the showrunners never used Halloween as a holiday to explore some of these ideas further. It makes sense since they are trapped on an island with very little concept of the changing calendar, but there was precedent already set for it to happen.
Family is so important to Walter White, becoming a driving force for many of his despicable acts. The show utilizes major events such as birthdays to show this connection as well as to showcase how much time is passing, in order to parallel this with character shifts.
AMC's Breaking Bad never uses the themes of Halloween to depict any larger narrative beats though. The season could be used to pry on the fear of Walter White, perhaps even playing on the paranoia of the character as he got deeper into his criminal life. Alas, it was never meant to be!
Jerry Seinfeld might be known for some of his standup material concerning Halloween, but despite other holidays being featured in the show, Seinfeld never got to deal with what it was like living in New York during Halloween.
It's quite an oddity for a sitcom as it's usually an easy episode to write, involving the simple premise and a lot of opportunities for gags. Yet, Seinfeld never went the expected route with its most popular episodes and therefore ignored the holiday altogether. It was unlikely that the cast would be dressing up in costumes anyway!
For the most part, Rick And Morty doesn't usually play into holidays. A lot of the show takes place in one-off episodes, with the series in general not often boasting an overall arc. Therefore, the passing of time doesn't tend to impact the stories being told.
There have been horror-based episodes and those that would lend themselves to Halloween. But Morty and Summer have never gone trick or treating and Rick hasn't been able to go on a tirade about the pointlessness of such a holiday. It would probably be a lot of fun as a special though! Die-hard fans know that there are non-canonical YouTube Halloween adventures!
Halloween seems like such a good opportunity for the glamourous characters of Sex And The City to get dressed up and go out to a party in the big apple. The concept is rife with narrative potential and other similar shows have definitely used the premise to their advantage.
Perhaps the spookiness of the event doesn't quite match the more comedic and dramatic tone of the show, or maybe the schedule just never worked out to include such an episode. Ultimately in this case, perhaps the choice not to go the expected route is a strength!
The UK version of The Office didn't run for too long, yet the original series managed to fit in a Christmas special. Other events like Comic Relief also came into play for the series, but Halloween was never a factor in David Brent's world.
In Britain, Halloween isn't quite celebrated in the same way as in the United States. It's not as big of a deal and therefore wouldn't really fit into the mundane world that the show was trying to build in the mockumentary. It would have felt like a strange change of pace, so this one is understandable.
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