![]() The Halloween that Almost Wasn’t enjoyed status as a seasonal standard for a number of years before falling into obscurity. Of course he succeeds, Halloween comes, and the show ends with a bizarre (even by 70s standards) disco number that has Dracula dressing like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Hijinks ensue as Dracula tries to redeem himself in the eyes of the Witch. This year she refuses because she’s long become the brunt of Dracula’s jokes! As it turns out, the Witch must fly over the moon once a year for Halloween to begin. Dracula calls the classic monsters of the world together for a meeting to discover the reasons for the holiday’s cancellation. Starring Oscar nominee (think about that one) Judd Hirsch as Dracula and popular television actress Mariette Hartley as a Witch, the show envisioned Dracula as the leader of the world’s monsters on the eve of Halloween…which is about to be cancelled. The 1970s were a weird time, and the 1979 special The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t might epitomize that weirdness. The show also includes the famous gag of Charlie Brown going Trick-or-Treating, and getting only rocks in his candy bag.Ģ016 marks the 50 th Anniversary (!) of It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and that the special has aired every year without fail since its debut in 1966 should testify to its classic quality, and to its enduring popularity. Most of the kids ignore Linus, except for Sally, who humors him in an attempt to win his affections. Linus tries to convince the gang of the coming of the Great Pumpkin, Halloween’s answer to Santa Claus. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown finds the titular character (Charlie Brown, not the Great Pumpkin) prepping for Halloween alongside his friends. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown would become the third Peanuts TV special, and, after A Charlie Brown Christmas perhaps the most iconic outing for the Peanuts gang. Nickelodeon doesn’t run the show anymore, though faithful fans have posted it to YouTube for a dose of seasonal nostalgia.Ĭharlie Brown and Peanuts specials have become part of Americana, though in 1966, only A Charlie Brown Christmas and Charlie Brown All Stars had graced TV screens. ![]() Filmed at the Los Angeles landmark The Magic Castle, the series also featured the talents of magician Lance Burton as Summers and the kids try to find their way to a phone. Taking a page from the classic haunted house movies of yesteryear, the special finds Summers and his young companions having some car trouble outside a creepy mansion. Mystery Magical Tour combined the talents of Summers with moppet actors Jonathan Brandis (of Seaquest DSV fame) and Shiri Appleby (of Roswell), as well as veteran John Astin for this campy, creepy romp. To help grab some Halloween ratings, the network hooked him up with this gem of a special which would air throughout October for years to come. Summers hosted Double Dare and became the face of Nickelodeon in its early days. Nickelodeon didn’t have a whole lot in the way of home grown celebrities in 1986, though with its gameshow Double Dare becoming a national phenomenon, the fledgling cable channel did have at least one: Marc Summers. It also happened to coincide with the announcement of all the hot Christmas toys of 1989, prepping kids to write letters to Santa… which might be the scariest twist of all. “The Halloween Door” originally aired on prime time as a testament to the popularity of the Real Ghostbusters series. The busters even got their own musical number for once! When said scientist uses a machine to destroy Halloween, demons from another dimension invade New York, leaving the Ghostbusters to set things right again. The episode featured the bustin’ boys, along with fledgling team members Janine, Louis Tully and Slimer, encountering a mad scientist who wants to rid the world of Halloween forever. The show actually featured a number of episodes that tied in to the seasonal creepiness, though most notably, the show got a primetime special in 1989 with “The Halloween Door.” Given their genre, naturally the Ghostbusters had to get in on the Halloween game. The animated Real Ghostbusters TV series had become a major hit by 1989, spawning first an after school cartoon, and later, a Saturday morning staple.
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