Easter Episodes of American TV Shows

While special episodes dedicated to Christmas and Halloween have been downright common on American television shows for much of television history, until the Naughts episodes dedicated to Easter have been relatively rare. Beyond the fact that Easter is not quite as high a profile holiday as Christmas and Halloween in the United States, there are two basic reasons for this. In the Fifties episodes of television shows dedicated to specific holidays beyond Christmas were relatively uncommon. By the Sixties and Seventies, many shows were ending their seasons in March or early April. For instance, the second season of The Monkees ended on March 25 1968. The majority of the seasons of the Seventies series The Waltons ended in March as well.  Given the earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date for Easter is April 25, it's little wonder that in the Sixties and Seventies only a few shows did Easter episodes. With more pre-emptions, by the Eighties the broadcast networks would drag out the seasons of shows until early May, but for whatever reason there still weren't too many Easter episodes. In the end, they would not become relatively common until the Naughts.

While Easter episodes have been historically rare, there have been classic television shows that have done Easter episodes. Two of the earliest Easter episodes aired in 1953. On the April 4 1953 episode of The Jackie Gleason Show, in the "Honeymooners" skit "Easter Hats," the Kramdens and Nortons celebrate Easter, including colouring eggs and getting Easter hats (hence the title). The other Easter episode of 1953 was the eighth episode of Betty White's classic sitcom Life with Elizabeth. In the first sketch (or "incident," as they were called on the show) "Dyeing Easter Eggs," Elizabeth dyes eggs with the help of her husband Alvin (Del Moore), with hilarious results.

Another early Easter episode appeared on The Jack Benny Program. This should come as no surprise, as The Jack Benny Program had a history of episodes dedicated to holidays on radio, including Easter. That having been said, the April 17 1960 episode, "Easter Show," was the only Easter episode of The Jack Benny Program to appear on television. The episode featured Jack and his girlfriend of the moment Mildred (played by Barbara Nichols) walking in the Beverly Hills Easter Parade and encountering Dennis Day, his violin teacher Professor LeBlanc (played by Mel Blanc), and a photographer played by Frank Nelson (well known for his "Yeeeeeeeeesssss?" catchphrase).

It was five years later that McHale's Navy featured its only Easter episode. "Chuckie Cottontail" aired on March 23 1965. In the episode, Captain Binghamton (Joe E. Flynn), Lt. Carpenter (Bob Hastings), and Admiral Hardsey (John Zaremba) are captured by Japanese soldiers who have gotten drunk on egg nog made from stolen eggs. Adding to their embarrassment, the trio are rescued by the Easter Bunny (actually Ensign Parker, played by Tim Conway) on his way to an Easter egg hunt that McHale (Ernest Borgnine) has organized for the local children.

While many shows took a light touch when it came to Easter, the religious clay-animation series Davey and Goliath took a more serious view of the holiday. The original run of the series was from 1962 to 1965, but in 1967 there would be three, half-hour long specials, one of which was "Happy Easter." The episode featured Davey grieving his Grandmother Hansen, who had died, and learning the importance of Easter as a religious holiday. 

As bizarre as it might sound, there was even an Easter episode of Bonanza. Easter fell early during the show's eleventh season and that season ran well into April. The result was the Easter episode, "Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing." In "Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing," Hoss (Dan Blocker) finds himself wrangled into playing the Easter Bunny for a Quaker woman (Allyn Ann McLerie) in charge of an orphanage. At the same time, he finds himself contending with a bumbling gang of stage coach robbers. "Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing" was one of the show's many comedy episodes.

While The Waltons generally ended its seasons in March, in its first season one episode was held back until April 19 1973, as it was an Easter episode. The two hour episode "An Easter Story" unfolded from February, when Olivia (Miss Michael Learned) contracted polio, to Easter, at which time she recovered. In 1997 one of several reunion movies for The Waltons was set at Easter, A Walton Easter.

M*A*S*H had one Easter story during its run, although, oddly enough, it aired on December 31 1974 rather than a time closer to the holiday. In "Private Charles Lamb," the 4077th is invited to an Easter dinner held by a Greek unit. Animal lover Radar (Gary Burghoff) must then find a way to save the main course, a cute little lamb. 

It was during the same season, although closer to the actual holiday, that the Easter episode of Happy Days aired. In "Three on a Porch," Richie (Ron Howard), Potsie (Anson Williams), and Ralph (Don Most) decide to masquerade as foreign businessmen at a lake resort in order to pick up college girls.

It would be several years later that the sitcom Alice would feature its Easter episode On the episode, "Here Comes Alice Cottontail," Alice's son Tommy wants to go with friends to Mexico for Easter break. When Alice (Linda Lavin) refuses to let him do so, he moves in with Alice's boss Mel (Vic Tayback). Alice bets Mel that he will kick Tommy out while Mel is certain that Alice will be snooping on her son. As it turns out, Alice does. What is more, she dresses in a rabbit costume to do so (it is Easter, after all).

While Easter episodes would remain infrequent in the Eighties and the Nineties, they appear to have become more common in the Naughts and Teens. Such recent shows as The Drew Carey Show, Everybody Loves Raymond, South Park, and Superstore have all featured episodes dedicated to the holiday. With the television seasons having changed over the years and the advent of streaming (where the traditional television season doesn't exist), it seems possible that they will continue to be relatively common when compared to the past.