Entertainment · 2026-10-30T10:46:50-04:00 · By Mr.Breach, Editor

TODAY's Halloween Show Turns 100 Years of NBC

On October 30, TODAY's cast dressed as figures from NBC's own 100-year history, the latest turn in a costume tradition rival morning shows have largely dropped.

Why it matters

This year, TODAY did not borrow a costume idea from a film, a song or a sports team.
Archive data: peak #2, 500+, 30 minutes, 1 run.
What to watch: The Halloween weekend editions and whether the NBC-history theme, built for a centenary year, sets the bar for next…

Original graphic created for this story, not a photograph of the broadcast. Original illustration of a festive morning television studio decorated for Halloween.

Why it is trending

This year, TODAY did not borrow a costume idea from a film, a song or a sports team. It raided its own archive. For the October 30 Halloween episode, the NBC morning show's cast dressed as figures from the network's 100-year history, turning a yearly costume reveal into a birthday party for NBC itself. The reveal came in the 7-9 a.m. block, the slot NBC had listed in advance as "TODAY Halloween. Anchor Halloween Costume Reveal." The 9 a.m. hour followed with Halloween numbers, a Great Pumpkin Regatta segment and safety tips, and the 10 a.m. hour with Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones added inspired costumes, a behind-the-scenes look at Jones's transformation, Halloween food from Carla Hall and trivia. Why it is trending now: the searches followed the reveal itself. The show's Halloween episode is one of the few morning-television traditions that still arrives as an event rather than a segment, and this year's theme gave viewers a guessing game with a built-in answer key — every costume pointed back to something NBC had aired. What the cast wore, as listed by TV Insider's October 30 gallery: Savannah Guthrie appeared as an NBC page and, with Jenna Bush Hager, as Rachel and Phoebe from Friends; Sheinelle Jones as a Radio City Rockette; Carson Daly as Ella Langley; Laura Jarrett as Simone Biles; Willie Geist as Johnny Carson; Dylan Dreyer as Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie; Al Roker as Gumby from Saturday Night Live; and Jack McBrayer as Kenneth from 30 Rock. Our trend data: peak #2, band 500+, first seen 2026-10-30T08:45:01-04:00, last seen 2026-10-30T09:15:01-04:00, duration 30 minutes, 1 run.

What happened

October 22, 2026: On Jenna & Sheinelle, Jones says she once took a previous Halloween costume home: her Janet Jackson look, which she says she wore out afterward.
October 26, 2026: NBC publishes the October 30 lineup, listing the costume reveal for 7-9 a.m. and the Halloween-themed 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. hours.
October 27, 2026: Jones says on air that fans kept asking her about the 2026 costumes, including at a colleague's daughter's wedding the previous weekend.
October 28, 2026: Hello Magazine notes Guthrie was off the show on October 28, with Jones filling in beside Craig Melvin, ahead of the October 30 episode.
October 30, 2026: The Halloween episode airs from 7 a.m. ET, with the costume reveal in the first two hours.

How sources covered it

Source	Headline as published	Angle
NBC News schedule	Coming up on NBC News TODAY, October 26-October 30	The primary record of what was planned and when: the reveal slot, the 9 a.m. Halloween hour and the 10 a.m. Jenna & Sheinelle hour. It names no costumes in advance.
TV Insider	Morning and daytime talk show hosts Halloween costumes 2026	The record of what was actually worn, costume by costume, and it also notes the wider morning-show picture, including Live With Kelly and Mark's Halloween episode the same day.
TV Insider	Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones on morning TV Halloween episodes	Context on the themed group-costume tradition running since the 1990s.
People	TODAY Show Halloween costumes through the years	History of the show's costumes, with last year's theme a road trip around the United States.
Hello Magazine	Savannah Guthrie replaced mid-week	Notes Guthrie was off the show on October 28, with Jones filling in beside Craig Melvin, ahead of the October 30 episode.

What sources agree on

All sources agree on the date, the reveal slot and the tradition itself.

Where coverage differs

Only TV Insider's gallery gives the 2026 costume list; NBC's schedule and the history pieces do not.

Not yet confirmed

Any further cast costumes beyond that gallery are not claimed here.

The trend data

Duration: 30 minutes. Peak rank: #2. Peak band: 500+. Runs: 1.

Rank path (snapshot time → rank): 2026-10-30T08:45:01-04:00:#2 2026-10-30T09:00:01-04:00:#3

What to watch next

The Halloween weekend editions and whether the NBC-history theme, built for a centenary year, sets the bar for next October — and how Live With Kelly and Mark's same-day Halloween episode, with its dozens of costume changes, compares in the morning-show costume contest that TODAY's hosts say they have already won by default.

Sources

Sources are linked above. The timeline, comparison and trend data are USTRENDING's own work.

How this story was made: Editorial Policy and Methodology.