When it comes to Halloween episodes of a beloved sitcom, The Simpsons is the undisputed king, and everyone else is just competing for second place. Everyone has their favorites, of course, but for my money the Halloween episodes of Bob's Burgers are by far the most consistently fulfilling.
The FOX sitcom, created by Loren Bouchard, follows the Belcher family – Bob (H. Jon Benjamin), Linda (John Roberts), Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal) – as they manage the ups and downs of a struggling small business and the simple weirdness of being a kid. Rather than indulging in horror parody anthologies or supernatural one-offs, though, the Halloween episodes of the series are about…well, the same stuff the rest of the show is about. How do you get Halloween right when you don't have a lot of money? What if the other kids make fun of you while you're trick-or-treating? What if there's a werewolf roaming around the neighborhood? Y'know, normal stuff!
This is the beginning of a trilogy of features here at Pop Heist, each featuring a different set of holiday episodes of Bob's Burgers, my current favorite animated series. We're doing Halloween now, and then we'll come back next month for Thanksgiving, and the month after that for Christmas. So, if you're hoping to put together a Halloween sitcom marathon, here's every Halloween episode of Bob's Burgers ranked worst to best (spoilers: they're all really good).
13. "For Whom the Doll Toes" (15x04)
When the kids stumble upon a dollhouse store in the middle of town run by one of their substitute teachers, Louise gets the idea to stage a murder mystery party, using the dolls as victims and suspects, for the Belcher family on Halloween. It's really a sweet way to soothe Gene, who's upset over a Halloween party invite he didn't get, and while the episode is a bit overly complicated and scattered, the emotional core of it is enough to make it a fun ride.
12. "Pig Trouble in Little Tina" (10x04)
In this Halloween episode, Tina confronts one of the great horrors of teenage life: Fetal pig dissection. It's so traumatic for her that she thinks she's being haunted by her pig, and she has to find some kind of ritualistic way to get rid of the curse. It's not a bad story, but if you too were traumatized by fetal pigs in grade school, it might be a bit of a rough ride. And honestly, the B story in this episode – in which Bob and Linda deal with horrible wax buildup in Bob's ears – is both funnier and creepier.
11. "The Twinnening" (16x03)
A rare episode focusing on Teddy (Larry Murphy) as a main character, and also a rare episode giving the always-changing shop next door the spotlight. This time around, Teddy's working for that storefront's new tenant, a Goth antique dealer who may or may not be a vampire, while Louise encourages as much mayhem as possible via walkie talkie. Plus, Bob and Linda try to go to a play, and end up having a bizarre encounter with one of its cast members. It's not the best Halloween episode they've ever done, but letting Teddy poke around in a haunted antique shop for a while is a great premise, and Louise's constant affection for all things creepy and violent does the rest.
10. "The Pumpkinening" (12x03)
Linda and her sister Gayle receive a mysterious note that forces them to look back on a controversial pumpkin carving contest from their high school years, while back at the restaurant the kids are shocked when Bob finally buys good Halloween candy, and decide to stay and guard their supply. Again, the B story of the kids fighting for candy is the more entertaining saga here, but Linda and Gayle playing Mystery Machine for a little while is a lot of fun too.
9. "Heartbreak Hotel-oween" (11x04)
When the kids have to deliver a burger to a nearby hotel on their way to trick-or-treat, they get roped into seance mysteries with an elderly woman who checks in to the same hotel room every Halloween night to try to contact a dead date she once had. Back at the restaurant, Bob gets talked into donating blood, even though he faints at the very sight of it. You get a nice message about the public good of donating blood and a seance with the kids and a remarkably sweet story about how it's never too late? That's the good stuff.
8. "Teen-a Witch" (7x03)
One of the most reliable Bob's Burgers plots has always been "Tina is Up to Something," and "Teen-a Witch" maximizes that while also giving us a great B-story. When Tina comes up with the perfect Halloween costume idea only to have it stolen by her more popular classmate Tammy, she teams up with the local librarian to become a real witch. At home, Bob's been carving beautiful jack-o'-lanterns only to have them stolen by a mysterious villain every time he sets one outside. It's a great pair of stories, and it culminates in one of the most festive sights the show's ever conjured: An entire mansion covered in glowing pumpkins.
7. "Fort Night" (4x02)
The kids are all set to trick-or-treat, but when Louise's annoying wannabe friend Millie (Molly Shannon) gets in the way, they hide in the cardboard fort Gene, Louise, and Tina have built next to a dumpster in the alley. When they end up trapped there, they have to stage a daring escape if they have any hope of getting candy. It's a fine story, but it does hamper the Halloween spirit a bit. I much prefer the B-plot, which features Bob and Linda – having no idea where their kids are – desperately trying to finish a group Halloween costume, and then trick-or-treating with it in hilarious fashion.
6. "The Wolf of Wharf Street" (8x03)
There's a werewolf on the loose! Maybe! While Bob is laid up with a broken leg in the apartment, Linda tries to prove she's the cool Mom by taking the kids trick-or-treating in the middle of a fog-covered night which may or may not also include an actual wolf terrorizing the populace. Linda's efforts on behalf of her kids make for some hilarious and heartwarming stuff, but the real joy of this episode is what happens when Bob, hopped up on painkillers, starts to suspect that Teddy might be an actual werewolf.
5. "Apple Gore-chard! (But Not Gory)" (13x06)
It's the folk-horror episode of Bob's Burgers, sort of, as Bob and Louise go on a field trip to the local living history museum, where Louise gets swept up in a competition to be some kind of traditional harvest symbol and Bob gets way too into the idea of beekeeping. It's a great detour, and it's made better by the B-story, which stars Gene and Tina as they try to win a school costume contest with an extremely ambitious, and extremely niche, group costume. Come for the creepy apple picking vibes, stay for the Twister references.
4. "Tina and the Real Ghost" (5x02)
When an exterminator tells Bob that the restaurant basement is haunted, the entire family is swept away on a paranormal adventure. When word gets out that the restaurant is haunted, business picks up for Halloween. Meanwhile, Tina, having caught the supposed ghost in a shoebox, realizes she likes having a boyfriend who's invisible and a great listener. Yes, this is the episode where Tina Belcher dates a ghost, and it's somehow not the best Bob's Burgers Halloween episode. That alone should tell you just how good these holiday episodes really are.
3. "Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street" (9x04)
When the street in front of the restaurant is closed to car traffic for Halloween, the kids think they're in for the biggest candy bonanza of their lives, but some mysterious costumed figure keeps stealing their treats. While they try to root out the thief, Bob and Teddy get into an ill-advised decorating contest with the handyman at the shop next door, and it all culminates in a mechanical spider with chainsaws for arms wreaking havoc above the restaurant. Y'know, for fun! I love the kid story in this one, but the Dad in me absolutely can't resist Bob and Teddy going way too far for the sake of holiday decorating.
2. "Full Bars" (3x02)
The first Bob's Burgers Halloween episode remains one of the best, in part because it's so plugged in to Halloween scenarios we can all understand. In search of premium candy, the kids decide to hop the ferry to the rich neighborhood nearby, and find themselves tormented by mischievous teens. Back at home, Bob and Linda are dragged to Teddy's trying-too-hard Halloween party, which becomes a real-life murder mystery when Teddy's guinea pig ends up dead. We've all had that friend who's way too into their party theme, and we've all been the kid just trying to have a great night out grabbing as much candy as possible, so it all works, and it's made even better by Teddy's escalating paranoia and Tina's ever-present horniness.
1. "The Hauntening" (6x03)
Louise Belcher loves violence, horror, and freaking out the people around her, but something is missing: She never gets scared. No matter how hard people try, they just can't scare her, so the Belchers resolve to make this Halloween the one that actually creeps their youngest child out for the first time. What starts as a lame, homemade haunt starring Bob and Linda soon turns into something way darker and stranger, and it all ends on a tremendously heartwarming note, as Louise realizes just how far her family will go to scare her, and thus prove how much they love her. It's funny, it's genuinely unsettling, and it all ends on one of the show's all-time high notes.
