Top 30 Halloween Themed Television Episodes

Photo Credit: NBC

9. Parks and Recreation – “Halloween Surprise”

Ron Swanson’s arc through Parks and Recreation is surprisingly heartfelt despite the way his character starts out. In “Halloween Surprise,” he ends up taking his girlfriend’s kids trick-or-treating despite not wanting to in the slightest. When she has to bail for a work emergency, he’s stuck dealing with children and he’s unsure of how to cope with the situation. When they start fighting over their princess tiaras, he ends up breaking both of them so it’s fair but that only results in more tears. It would have been really easy for Ron to simply walk away from the relationship, and in Season One he probably would have. But he’s grown as a character, so he ends up taking the girls out again the following week and apologizes to Diane for his blunders.

However, most fans of the show will remember the episode for two things: Jerry’s heart attack and Ben’s proposal. The latter is caused by Leslie and Ann scaring him as he exits the bathroom which leads to the group desperate to hear the doctor call it a “fart attack”. It’s a small gag but of course it would happen to poor Jerry. In the meantime, Leslie was supposed to buy a house with Ben but it turns out he might be staying away from Pawnee for a little longer. She goes to look at her dream home one last time before cancelling the lease but is surprised by a proposing Ben. It’s one of the cutest proposals in all of television history and the second one featured at the end of a great Halloween themed episode.