It’s Halloween at McCracken Live!

 

The time-honored traditions of HALLOWEEN originated from an ancient Celtic myth that the worlds of the living and dead could blur at this time of year. It was believed that in order to protect yourself from harmful spirits that you could disguise yourself as one and therefore fool them into staying away… stupid spirits! Well, as with all holiday celebrations, they become somewhat watered down and what we’re left with today is merely an excuse to gorge ourselves on candy, get our homes egged by teenagers and attend gatherings in slutty costumes normally reserved for frat parties.

We don’t know about you, but we personally long for a time when it was just about trick-or-treating with neighborhood kids then returning home with the family to watch our favorite scary movies and specials on television. But whereas Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter all have tons of special programming available, we’ve noticed a disturbing lack of “new” Halloween material on the airwaves. And we’re not talking about Halloween themed episodes of our favorite shows…even though we always looked forward to Home Improvement and Roseanne to see what disastrous deeds the Taylor and Connor families had in store. But we’re talking about bonafide made for television movies and specials. Things you could only find once a year and often taped onto VHS for posterity.

Perhaps it’s due to the high cost of producing television or the risks of maintaining an audience, but this year the only things that seem to be getting any buzz are FX’s American Horror Story and the highly anticipated Season 2 of AMC’s new zombie series The Walking Dead. So as time rolls on and the mother of invention is necessity, we might find ourselves turning to the Internet for some spooktacular fun. Since web-series are all about staying current and topical, there is quite a bit of Internet content dedicated to this special time of year. While McCracken Live! on usually focuses on the mishaps of a disastrous D.I.Y. show, we’ve produced a special episode in honor of All Hallows Eve.

WATCH IT HERE

But just like those old VHS tapes, for posterity sake we’ve decided to share some of our favorite Halloween specials… for both good and bad reasons.

 

1. It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

A perennial favorite for this time of year, it’s been playing non-stop since it’s original release in 1966. Often parodied and never replicated, this year we can look forward to pop-culture aficionado Seth MacFarlane’s It’s The Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown.

2. Mr Boogedy

Originally aired in 1986 on ABC as part of the Disney Sunday Movie Series, this made-for-tv movie was about a family moving to New England, only to discover that their house is haunted by spirits of the colonial past. Despite being dated now, it was pretty spooky for it’s time and featured Richard Masur, David Faustino, Kristy Swanson and the original Gomez Addams John Astin. Popuar enough to spawn a sequel “Bride of Boogedy.”

3. The Worst Witch

Based on the children’s books by Jim Murphy, this delightfully tacky movie debuted in 1986 on HBO and featured Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae, Fairuza Balk, and Tim Curry. Curry steals the show with his musical rendition of “Anything Can Happen on Halloween” complete with state of the art green screen effects straight out of your 8th grade audio/visual club.

4. The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

Paul Lynde put together a ridiculous list of guest stars for this variety show comedy special, including Margaret Hamilton (The Original Wicked Witch) Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, Betty White, Donny and Marie Osmond and musical guest KISS… wait a minute… KISS? This classic makes me long for someone to successfully revive the variety show format. Where else can Betty White share the same stage as KISS?  — Original Air Date October, 1976 on ABC.

5. Disney’s Halloween Treat

Not really a “made for television” special, this conglomeration of Disney short cartoons and excerpts, was a one of my favorite ways to relax on Halloween Night. Narrated by the Magic Mirror from Snow White, it featured some classic Silly Symphonies like the “Skeleton Dance” and “Lonesome Ghosts” and was also the first time I witnessed the glory of Disney’s Sleepy Hallow.  — Original Air Date October, 1983 on ABC.

6. The Halloween The Almost Wasn’t

Originally airing in 1979, with repeated viewings on the Disney Channel all the way up through the 1990’s, this telefilm was based on the premise that Halloween was mysterious coming to an end and an angered Dracula was going to have to assemble a who’s who of monsters to save the day. Only problem, the monsters are no longer scary and he must get them to reclaimed their roots… And get this, Judd Hirsch played Dracula and they eventually changed the title to “The Night Dracula Saved the World.”

7. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror

By far the longest running and most successful series of Halloween specials, The Simpsons have been at it for 21 years and we look forward to this year’s episode set to air on FOX on October 30th.

McCracken Live! is proud to be a part of Halloween history with their scary, bloody and raucous holiday special.  A fan of all holiday specials, Carol Ann is eager to continue the tradition with some of her favorite “days” : Flag, Bastille, and Groundhog.

Written by John Yelvington
McCracken Live! is created and produced by Brian Beacock and John Yelvington