The 25 Hottest Female Halloween Costumes On TV Shows

As kids we associated Halloween with cool pumpkins, fun costumes, and enough candy to make our dentist cry tears of joy. As we got older, we still dug those things while also realizing what truly makes Halloween a contender for best holiday ever: women's costumes.

Halloween gives even the most reserved chick the shameless license to dress as sexy as they want to without being socially condemned for it, and each time the season rolls around our attention spans go bonkers trying to take it all in. TV is even better, as each series' decision to do a Halloween themed episode usually means you'll get to see your favorite hot actress in a crazy hot costume. We certainly hope that's the case when Pretty Little Liars airs its Halloween special Tuesday (8 p.m., ABC Family). The greatest treat we could get this year would be sexy "Hot Complex" alum Shay Mitchell in a barely-there getup.

To get you into the Halloween spirit, Complex collected a gallery of the best of the best of these visual stimulants. Find the hottest cat-women, Marilyn Monroe's, nurses, and more for your viewing pleasure, in The 25 Hottest Female Halloween Costumes In TV Shows.

RELATED: The 25 Hottest Women on Horror TV Shows
RELATED: The 50 Scariest TV Shows of All Time
RELATED: The 25 Best Halloween Themed TV Episodes

Written by Frazier Tharpe (@The_SummerMan)

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Episode: "Let's Give the Boy a Hand"
Air Date: 10/22/06

When Rita first appeared on Dexter she was emotionally distant and sexually withdrawn as a result of her previous marriage to a fiend who abused both drugs and her. She was perfect for Dexter, who at first only wanted a beard and not a real relationship.

Season one sees Rita gradually emerge from her shell, starting with Halloween, when she abandons her typical Snow White costume for Lara Croft's tomb-raiding getup (which Dexter points out would actually be ill-advised clothing for raiding tombs) to turn Dexter on.

Episode: "The Mummy in the Maze"
Air Date: 10/30/07

Temperance "Bones" Brennan is a scientific genius and a pop culture retard, but apparently she knows enough to go with this Wonder Woman costume to give her ongoing sexual tension with partner Seeley Both a kick in the gut, even throwing in some classic Linda Carter posturing for good measure.

Episode: "The Blind Date"
Air Date: 1/18/04

An early scene in "The Blind Date" finds over-sharing friends Larry and Jeff discussing the "pop-up," Jeff's phrase for when a woman unintentionally enters one's imaginative erotic fantasy while choking the chicken. Jeff confesses that Larry's wife Cheryl "popped in," naturally freaking Larry out despite Jeff's claims that he couldn't control it. Later when they're all about to go trick-or-treating, Larry insists that Cheryl change out of this hot genie costume, because he can't stand the thought of her unknowingly giving Jeff more material for his next session.

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/28/97

"Halloween" finds Roz unable to enjoy Niles' Halloween party because she's worried that she might be pregnant. Maybe that explains why she shows up as O from The Story of O in a skin-tight leather top and skirt, as a kind of last hurrah before she blooms.

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/31/91

Besides being hot, we have to give props to Donna's mermaid costume for its impressive detail. Of course, she spends the entire Halloween party bumbling around, unable to dance or use the bathroom because of her tail and fins, so maybe there is such a thing as "too thorough."

Episode: "This Is a Dark Ride"
Air Date: 10/23/12

In the Halloween special airing tomorrow, the girls will board a Halloween ghost train (because who hasn't done that before?) hoping for some good, unclean teenage fun and instead get more than they bargained for. At this point, wouldn't it behoove them to forget bargaining and straight-up place bets on experiencing the most melodramatic, intrigue-filled, fucked up night possible? If every costume is as hot as Hanna's Marilyn Monroe, we're willing to just shut up and ride the crazy train with them.

Episode: "The Mummy in the Maze"
Air Date: 10/30/07

The reserved Dr. Saroyan turned every nerd's head in the Jeffersonian when she stepped out in this Catwoman costume, fusing the best of Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer's incarnations.

Episode: "An Attempt to Tip the Scales"
Air Date: 10/26/05

Best friends Brooke and Peyton were also sometimes rivals during One Tree Hill's high school years, because at one time or another they are both into the same guy. Eye-grabbing costumes at Peyton's Halloween party are a must then, with both staying true to their roots: Peyton went hot rocker goth, and Brooke does what she does best in a shamelessly slutty devil costume.

Episode: "And When I Die"
Air Date: 9/11/11

The fourth season of True Blood concluded with Jason confessing his affair with Jessica to Hoyt, and officially starting up a sexual relationship with her. By that point in the series, any Little Red Riding Hood-esque innocence within Jessica was since long gone.

Episode: "The One with the Halloween Party"
Air Date: 11/1/01

Rachel/Jennifer Aniston always received the most spotlight, but really all three of the Friends female cast were equally hot, as evidenced in the sitcom's only Halloween episode which saw Phoebe and Monica take on DC Comics as Supergirl and Catwoman respectively.

Episode: "Masked"
Air Date: 10/27/11

In order to take their minds off of the recent death of a Circle member, witches Cassie and Faye decide to throw a Halloween party in Cassie's house. Of course, that purpose is royally defeated when witch hunters crash it, and instead Cass eases her mind by lighting them on fire. Whatever works.

Episode: "All the Way"
Air Date: 10/30/01

Emma Caulfield hit her sexiness peak as culturally-confused former demon Anya during Buffy's first season on UPN, as evidenced by this Halloween episode, in which she dressed as an angel. The kind that, in her words "Don't have wings, just skate around with perfect hair, fighting crime."

Episode: "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps"
Air Date: 10/27/11

In the series' most recent Halloween special, Britta receives test results that indicate one of the group may be a psychopath. In trying to weed out the nutjob, she only succeeds in getting everyone caught-up, one-upping each other with horror stories, like the one pictured above in which Annie (impossibly hot Alison Brie) is a hot schoolteacher-werewolf who thinks she can rescue vampire Jeff, by teaching him to read. Wait, isn't that the premise of one of the Twilight movies?

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/27/10

Before settling on a Mother Teresa outfit that would make Mother Teresa faint, the ditz of the Dunphy clan tried trotting out in several other costumes that mother Claire vetoed. We needed a pulse check after she sauntered on-screen in this nurse's outfit.

Episode: "Haunted"
Air Date: 10/29/09

"Haunted" finds Elena Gilbert in a very dreary mood, considering both of her parents recently died, she just discovered her boyfriend and his brother are vampires, and her own brother's girlfriend just joined that club as well. Understandably, she's not quite in the Halloween spirit, and apparently her last-minute decision to join in on the high school festivities is reflected in her uninspired choice to repeat her costume from the previous year. Well, if that hot nurse outfit is what she wore last year then we hope she considers a three-peat.

Episode: "All Halliwell's Eve"
Air Date: 10/26/00

At the start of "All Halliwell's Eve," the Charmed Ones (save Phoebe) are dressed, quite originally, as witches. When a coven of 1600s-era witches zaps them to the 17th century for help, the sisters' costume lameness proves problematic, because in 1670 no matter how hot Piper looks in the dress, a Glenda the good witch costume is a one-way ticket to a fiery stake.

Episode: "The First Secret"
Air Date: 10/19/11

Aside from being a great excuse to get the uniformly hot cast of Pretty Little Liars to dress up in revealing costumes, "The First Secret" serves as a flashback episode that depicts the start of a never-ending run of lies and deceit for the girls, before Alison disappeared. So basically, they've always been pretty, and only recently started lying. Got it.

Episode: "Masked"
Air Date: 10/27/11

At the start of "Masked," Melissa is mourning boyfriend Nick's recent death, but tries to put her grief aside and take part in the festivities anyway. As a result, she's kidnapped and nearly killed by witch hunters. A rough week, to say the least.

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/29/04

As the stereotypical sitcom Hot Daughter, Bridget regularly attempted to leave the house dressed in the skimpiest clothing possible. No surprise then, that on Halloween she attended her own Student Body President-hosted party as Britney Spears, complete with pigtails and "Hit Me Baby One More Time" plaid skirt.

Episode: "Unmasked"
Air Date: 10/20/09

With two guys lusting after her at the Beach Club costume party, Naomi doesn't need to dress slutty and revealing, instead going for a more refined but still hot sorority girl look.

Episode: "Canning Randy"
Air Date: 11/1/10

When the gang sees Robin coming home after the previous night's Halloween party, uncharacteristically dressed up—as a hot nurse!—they assume she had a one-night stand. She'd much rather they believe that then know the truth: that she "sold out" and appeared in an adult diaper commercial.

Episode: "Spooky Endings"
Air Date: 10/26/11

Marilyn Monroe is in the top five of Most Overused Female Costumes in both television and real life, but nobody, including us, cares about originality when beauties like Elisha Cuthbert are pairing blonde hair and a white dress. In "Spooky Endings," Alex decides to join the gang at a warehouse party in defiance of a sore throat that gives her man voice. Naturally, the guy hitting on her throughout the night turns out to be a gay guy who assumed she was a tranny because of the combo of her voice and costume choice.

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/27/97

So what if cat ears and whiskers is the least original costume a woman could wear? Does that matter when a stunner like Charisma Carpenter pairs them with a skin-tight cheetah print jumpsuit? In "Halloween" everyone becomes their costume thanks to a mischievous sorcerer, but thankfully Cordelia went name-brand and bought hers at Party City, so we get to watch her run around as her sexy self and not an actual catwoman for the whole episode.

Episode: "Chuck Versus the Sandworm"
Air Date: 10/29/07

Just about every episode of Chuck features Yvonne Strahovski in a hot costume or otherwise graciously revealing clothing, but for the series' first Halloween episode she paid tribute to Chuck's geekiness with the Princess Leia slave outfit, a classic go-to for women who want to be referentially nerdy and look stunning at the same time. At this point in the series, Chuck and Sarah's relationship was still a fake one for cover purposes despite his actual feelings for her. Moments like this definitely added to the pressure.

Episode: "Halloween"
Air Date: 10/27/10

Gloria participated in Claire's interactive Haunted House as a sexy bruja, but for most of her time in-costume she speaks in an intentionally forced American accent to stick it to Jay for always correcting her English mispronunciations.