When it comes to animated holiday specials, prime time crapped out in recent years. Network television almost completely abandoned animated specials. Even ABC, a Disney-owned station, stopped running much of its holiday fare. Sure, there's the old, reliable cable, but who can keep track of all those darn channels? I remember a time when you'd have Garfield and Charlie Brown specials advertised everywhere leading up to the airings. Nowadays, it's a small blip on the radar screen. The networks don't want to sacrifice the huge ratings shows such as Friends or Frasier bring in, so the days of watching Care Bears at 8 p.m. are long gone.
While the absence of the more obscure holiday shows on network television is a bigger deal for me around Christmas, Halloween deserves to be bitched about as well. As a poor soul without cable in my earlier childhood, I remember seeing a bunch of Halloween stuff. Remember that weird talking head, or Donald Duck and his nephews trick-or-treating? I do. I also remember an ill-fated Grinch Halloween that was completely inconsistent with the chronology of its more famous Christmas counterpart.
Before a bunch of people e-mail me to call me a big, fat doodiehead, like I said, I know cable has many of these old specials in bulk. But with more than 100 channels, it's hard to find everything you remember watching as a kid. If you look hard enough, you'll be rewarded. I simply don't have the time. If you do, however, pat yourself on the back, kid, 'cuz you're A-OK in my book.
Below, I highlighted some of the bigger-deal Halloween specials. Beyond those, stick with channels such as Nickelodeon, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and Cartoon Network. You're bound to come across something, right? And bet your bottom dollar that I'll be back for December.
-The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror
-It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Boo! to You, Too, Winnie the Pooh (Time sensitive, it airs mid-week!)
-Cartoon Network's bloody-big lineup.
-Disney Channel's Scare-A-Thon Marathon
