TV Halloween

Last night's NBC comedy line-up featured an all Halloween themed extravanganza which ran the gamut from Halloween trickery/vandalism (Parks and Recreation) to the unpleasant (Michael Scott hanging from the ceiling with a Christmas package affixed to his junk). Oddly, there also two different references to off the hook gay Halloween parties; Parks and Rec delivered a zinger about "three Jonas Brothers making out with three Robert Pattinsons", while 30 Rock went so far as to make getting into a gay Halloween parties one of its subplots. For my money, though, nothing was as funny as Community, which served up the spooky spectacle of Chevy Chase tripping on ecstasy while dressed as The Beastmaster. When one of his classmates doesn't recognize the character, a dumbfounded Chase responds with "What rock have you been living under?" I guess we're a long ways from the days when HBO could've stood for "Hey, Beastmaster's On!".

All four shows were clearly enjoying their riffs on Halloween themes, but my prize for the greatest Halloween episode ever still goes to the long departed cult classic Freaks and Geeks. Witness the humiliation as Lindsay inadvertently eggs her little brother Sam while he and his friends are out trick or treating:




And see where it all goes wrong as The Beastmaster swaps pills with "Starburns":



Happy TV Halloween everybody!