Tag: Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Get your laugh on with these 5 Halloween-themed TV episodes

This blog was originally published on elkharttruth.com on Oct. 31, 2014.

Costumes, jack-o’-lanterns and scares … it must be October.

While you can watch Halloween-themed movies, shows and more throughout the month (See ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween or AMC’s Fearfest), here are five TV episodes that will give you a laugh or smile instead of a scare.

The Slutty Pumpkin: Season 1, “How I Met Your Mother”

While the title of this “HIMYM” episode focuses on one costume, many other outfits also make an appearance, thanks to Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) and his desperate attempts to attract women.

Barney, being the ultimate player that he is, changes costumes throughout the night to continue hitting on the hottest girl at the party.

The episode focuses more on the lead’s character development, but seeing all the costumes makes the episode fun.

The One with the Halloween Party: Season 8, “Friends”

Rachel hands out money instead of candy. That’s not trick-or-treating!

Phoebe tells her twin sister’s fiance many negative things about Ursula, and then she ends up dating him for an episode. That’s not normal!

And then there’s Chandler in a pink bunny suit. And that’s just too funny.

In typical “Friends” fashion, the episode is full of laughs, and it’s the comedy’s only Halloween-centered episode.

And Then There Was Shawn: Season 5, “Boy Meets World”

Technically, this isn’t Halloween-centric, but the episode does have a Halloween vibe.

It parodies “Scream,” and you know it’s not really real. It’s more kitschy than anything.

Still, it’s entertaining to watch Shawn (Rider Strong) discover who the “killer” is.

Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect: Season 1, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”

Mostly taking place in a mall, this episode is worth watching for the parts when cousins Will (Will Smith) and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) compete for a girl.

Oh yeah, and Aunt Vivian (Janet Hubert) gets lost in the music at a recording booth in the mall.

The Halloween Scene: Season 5, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”

This Melissa Joan Hart-starring show features many Halloween episodes, for obvious reasons.

In this Halloween-themed episode, Sabrina hosts a party when her aunts Hilda (Carolina Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick) are away. Which would be fine … if the portal to the Other Realm didn’t keep transporting monsters to her house.

But hey, at least she got to counsel Frankenstein and his bride, right?

What are your favorite Halloween-themed TV episodes?

Journalists on TV are so fake

This blog was originally published on elkharttruth.com on Dec. 11, 2014.

Maybe this is because I’m a journalist, but I’ve noticed there are a lot of movies and TV shows that portray characters in the journalism industry.

But, as probably any profession depicted, it’s not usually accurate.

In movies, there’s Kevin in “27 Dresses,” Sophie in “Letters to Juliet” and Megan in “Absence of Malice,” just to name a few.

On TV, here’s a short list, from realistic to ridiculous.

Robin Scherbatsky on “How I Met Your Mother”

She worked her way to the top, which makes sense.

She worked weird hours (as in, went to work at 2 a.m.), which makes sense.

She went from horrible, meaningless stories/shows to the top TV station depicted on the show. And then worked even more. Makes sense.

Rory Gilmore on “Gilmore Girls”

Rory starts out how many journalists do: at her high school and college newspapers.

I give “Gilmore Girls” credit for realistically showing the struggle of finding a writing job post-college.

Rory was a Yale grad who set her sights on a New York Times fellowship. Those are hard to come by.

She freaked out during her senior year, but in the end, she got a low-paying job reporting on the road for Obama’s election campaign.

But, for someone who dreamed of being Christiane Amanpour, it was odd that Rory never tried broadcast journalism while in college.

Sabrina Spellman on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”

Sabrina loves writing and after graduating college in two seasons (thanks to the magic of TV time), she lands a job at the fictional Scorch magazine.

The magazine world is tough — but most likely, she would’ve been a freelancer, not a staff writer, at first.

Yes, she gets stuck with assignments no one else wants, but I don’t imagine the magazine world is anything like what she experienced.

Then, she quits and becomes a freelancer. But she never is seen working again for the remainder of the series. Because that would totally work … not.

Carrie Bradshaw on “Sex and the City”

No weekly columnist would be able to afford that big of an apartment in NYC, much less all the designer fashion.

While it’s believable that her columns were turned into a book, it’s absurd to see her lifestyle unfold on TV knowing that even columnists work long, odd hours, and could probably never afford Manolo Blahniks.