Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice: Michael Keaton’s character from the Tim Burton franchise was essentially summoned from across the TV talk-show landscape on Halloween with hosts on NBC’s Today show, the syndicated Live With Kelly and Mark and The Kelly Clarkson Show all dressing up as the ghost with the most.
On Thursday’s Today, Al Roker dressed up as Beetlejuice and Dylan Dreyer dressed as Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz. And on Live With Kelly and Mark later Thursday morning, Kelly Ripa took on Deetz with Mark Consuelos sporting the Beetlejuice ensemble.
Kelly Clarkson also donned a Beetlejuice costume on her eponymous daytime talk show. She kicked off the show with a spooky Kellyoke of “Banana Boat (Day-O).”
While Beetlejuice made a number of apperances on Thursday, Consuelos and Ripa changed costumes multiple times throughout this year’s Only Murders in the Building-inspired “Only Halloween in the Building” Halloween show. This is the last Halloween celebration in Live‘s current studio before the show moves to a new Soho space in the spring.
Today‘s “VHS Rewind” celebration was centered around the hosts browsing the aisles at a Blockbuster-esque video rental store. The NBC morning show personalities then transformed into memorable characters from beloved movies.
In addition to the Beetlejuice duo of Dreyer and Roker, Savannah Guthrie dressed as Legally Blonde‘s Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), with Luke Wilson joining her in a surprise appearance reprising his role as love interest Emmett. Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager dressed as Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) from Titanic, while Craig Melvin took on another character at the center of a long-awaited follow-up film that debuted this fall, Beverly Hills Cop‘s Alex Foley (Eddie Murphy). Meanwhile, Carson Daly and Sheinelle Jones dressed as Austin Powers (Mike Myers) and Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyoncé), respectively, from Austin Powers in Goldmember. Willie Geist took on Anchorman‘s Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Peter Alexander cleaned up as Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams), and Laura Jarrett pumped up the crowd as Gabrielle Union’s Isis from Bring It On.
On Live with Kelly and Mark, the hosts kicked things off with an Only Murders in the Building-inspired cold open, where they introduced the “Only Halloween in the Building” theme of this year’s special. After an opening scene reminiscent of season four’s first episode, Ripa and Consuelos were shown dressed as Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), with producer Michael Gelman as Martin Short’s Oliver, as they recorded a podcast.
The trio then walked through the building as they comically ignored obvious clues of a murderer on the loose (including a smoking gun and red herring) and ran into Only Murders castmember Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Ripa and Consuelos then took the stage as Lydia and Beetlejuice, dancing to the opening song from Netflix hit The Perfect Couple, with the hosts and audience members even attempting the viral dance from the show at the end of the special.
The hosts made a number of costume changes throughout Thursday’s special, using an onstage elevator to switch ensembles.
Other costumes included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (a popular choice last year) at the US Open, Lady Deadpool and Deadpool with guest Joey Fatone as Wolverine from Deadpool and Wolverine and Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker from Joker: Folie à Deux.
As usual, the special also featured pre-taped segments that took the form of spoof trailers and ads. There was a preview for an Inside Out-inspired menopause film with Ripa as “lost Joy,” hoping she didn’t meet the same fate as metabolism, which “disappeared months ago” and Consuelos as rage. Ripa and Consuelos also brought together Olympics viral sensations Raygun, the Australian breakdancer, and Anthony Ammirati, the French pole vaulter who knocked over the crossbar with his penis, in a fake Hallmark holiday movie, A Gold Medal Christmas, where the two athletes fall in love. Ripa and Consuelos also spoofed the Chimp Crazy Max series. And the show paid tribute to former executive in charge of production Art Moore, who retired in September, with an ad for an Only Fans-inspired Only Art Fans “adult premium content channel,” starring Moore and with a closing card that read “We are fans of Art. Forever.”
ABC’s Good Morning America continued its pattern in recent years of not having its hosts dress up for Halloween.
And The View this year skipped its Halloween celebration in light of the upcoming election, but the show did open with a dream sequence featuring some of Donald Trump’s most frightening rhetoric and showcased pop culture and politics-inspired kids costumes, including children dressed as Trump, his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris and convicted fraudster turned Dancing With the Stars contestant Anna Delvey.
