Shocktober Day 22: “The One With The Halloween Party”

Friends – “The One With The Halloween Party”

Season 8, Episode 6
Airdate: November 1, 2001

It’s surprising that it took Friends until its 8th season to put out a Halloween episode, but maybe that’s just because it was always more of a Thanksgiving show. Still, Halloween is one of the best times to hang out with your friends and get into hijinks, though I suppose this episode sees The Friends in a bit more mature place in their lives. Monica and Chandler are engaged, Rachel’s pregnant, and Joey’s still… just kinda doing his thing. Still, the episode makes plenty of room for goofy costumes, amusing scenes involving children, and a welcome appearance by Phoebe’s sister Ursula that serves as a reminder that Lisa Kudrow was always the show’s secret weapon. Continue reading →

Shocktober Day 21: “The Scare”

Dawson’s Creek “The Scare” (1998)

Season 1, Episode 11
Airdate: May 5th, 1998

I can’t get over the fact that Kevin Williamson created Scream and created Dawson’s Creek. SCREAM! The biting satirical meta slasher flick that saved horror in the 90s. A bonafide classic… that came from the mind of a guy who also created a sappy coming of age drama about upper-class teens in Massachusetts. There’s gotta be more to it right? Maybe Dawson’s Creek is just as funny and smart and sexy as Scream? I just didn’t know it because of its cheesy theme song and tiger beat cast members. Maybe Dawson’s Creek is special?

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Shocktober Day 20: “Halloween”

Frasier – “Halloween”

Season 5, Episode 3
Airdate: October 28, 1997

For the most part, during this TV-centric Shocktober, we’ve strayed from watching shows that we’re super familiar with. This is not the case with today’s entry, since I have seen all 11 seasons of Frasier as well as forerunner Cheers. Despite that, I chose this episode since in my memory it was one of the better holiday-themed Frasier episodes (of which there were many) and it was also one of the better examples of Frasier delving into farce. Upon revisiting this show that I haven’t watched a ton in recent years, I was happy to see that these are both still true while it’s also just a lot of fun to watch these characters dress up in goofy outfits. Continue reading →

The Pick: Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

You may have been stuck inside the past 8 months with your roommate, family, or significant other, but chances are that it hasn’t been as bad as being stuck in a house with Baby Jane Hudson. This week we tackle the 1962 psycho-biddy classic Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? while delving into the famous feud between its two co-stars, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Sean also makes a shocking discovery about the origins of Pepsi in an episode that’s sadistic fun for the whole family. Continue reading →

Shocktober: “Hilloween”

King of the Hill – “Hilloween”

Season 2, Episode 4
Original Air Date: October 26, 1997

I now associate King of the Hill strongly with John, so it figures that I’d be posting this review after a very John-centric day. I woke up a little early this morning to catch a screening of Stakeout, the latest feature from the Otteni Brothers, as part of the HorrOrigins festival. It was a lot of fun and you should check it out when it hits streaming. Later, I got Arby’s for the first time in a real, real long time. I think it was the first time my dad didn’t pay for me. My favorite part were the curly fries, for which they gave me horsey sauce (which was good) and Arby’s sauce (which was weird and bad). And now I’m writing about an episode of one of John’s favorite shows. Let me tell you about it.

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Shocktober: “Ghosts”

ER – “Ghosts”

Season 3, Episode 5
Original Air Date: October 31, 1996

One of the worst habits I’ve developed over the past few months is wasting time watching clips of TV shows on YouTube. Time that could be spent, at the very least, clearing my backlog of video games, TV shows, movies, and blog posts instead gets taken up mindlessly scrolling through popular moments of, most of the time, show I’ve already watched like New Girl and Scrubs. I guess it doesn’t feel like a waste of time when the clips are usually less than five minutes? Anyway, it all started when I got recommended a scene from ER where one of the doctors finds two other doctors have been stabbed. I had to know more: were they OK? One of them was. Who did the stabbing? David Krumholtz, it turns out. What were the ramifications of this? Hard to say. Thus I was overtaken by a desire to learn just how over-the-top this seemingly respectable show really was.

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Shocktober Day 16: “Stevil”

“Stevil” – Family Matters (1996)

Season 8, Episode 7
Airdate: October 25th, 1996

I don’t care what anyone says, Urkel is fucking funny. I know a lot of people think he’s annoying or one note or that he turned Family Matters into the “Steve Urkel Show”. Yeah, right. My man Urk saved that show. If it wasn’t for Urkel I can’t imagine Family Matters being more than a fun fact, “Did you know the guy who played the cop in Die Hard also played a cop on a sitcom?”

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