and Community, The Office and 30 Rock: Halloween Comedy on NBC
October 29th, 2009
My brother, on his Twitter feed, made a comment that Halloween episodes are always the best holiday episodes. And while I understand that he, being born on Halloween and having taken the holiday as his own, has a particular affinity for the holiday, I don’t. And, perhaps it is such that I do not view Halloween as an immediate symbol of greatness in my television programming.
However, I do agree that Halloween episodes can be very good programming, and what I found interesting about the NBC comedy lineup (so interesting that I’m lumping them into one post) is how differently each show used the holiday. I won’t argue that any of the shows should be judged on whether they integrated Halloween “correctly,” but I think that the current direction of each show is inherent in how they chose to play with All Hallow’s Eve.
It resulted in one great episode which focused in on elements of the holiday which fit its characters perfectly, one very good episode that used Halloween as a variable of existing dynamics, one okay episode which evaded the holiday but for a quick joke, and one weak episode that used the holiday as a boring subplot that didn’t go anywhere, squandering its potential entirely.
Cultural Learnings 