Piano Lessons Can Be Murder/TV episode

"Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" is the eight episode of season one of the Goosebumps TV series. It premiered on December 8, 1995 on Fox Kids Network.

Cast

 * Ben Cook as Jerry Hawkins
 * Barclay Hope as Mr. Hawkins
 * Carolyn Scott as Mrs. Hawkins
 * Aron Tager as Dr. Shreek
 * Géza Kovács (a.k.a. Geza Kovacs) as Mr. Toggle
 * Brenda Devine as The Ghost
 * Erica Luttrell as Kim

Differences from the book

 * In the book, the ghost in Jerry's house is a described as being pretty. In the episode, the ghost is quite ugly.
 * In the episode, the ghost in Jerry's house used to be Mr. Toggle's strict piano teacher. In the book, the ghost wasn't given a backstory. In the Goosebumps Official Collector's Caps Book, the ghost is said to be a girl named Mara Klane, a student of Dr. Shreek.
 * At the end, it is just the ghost of Mr. Andrew Toggle's piano teacher instead of several ghosts. But instead of taking him away, she makes him play the piano. In the final scene, the piano teacher ghost says, "This is your punishment for terrorizing the boy! You will practice and practice!" Mr. Toggle asks in a sobbed voice "How much longer?!" The piano teacher ghost replies, "Till....eternity, you laaazy boy!"

Home releases
"Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" was released on DVD on September 7, 2010, as the second episode on The Blob That Ate Everyone. It was included in a 3-Pack Thriller DVD on August 26, 2014.

Trivia

 * Aron Tager, who played the hand-obsessed Dr. Shreek, was noted for his recurring role as the mad scientist, Dr. Vink, in Are You Afraid of the Dark? On the first occasion in "The Tale of the Phantom Cab," he had a severed, jarred hand on display as the first glimpse of his character's nature.
 * The background music and the music that the ghostly woman, Jerry and the disembodied hands play throughout the episode is none other than Ludwig Van Beethoven's classic, Moonlight Sonata.
 * Ben Cook (Jerry Hawkins) would go on to play Josh Benson in "Welcome to Dead House", and Marty in "A Shocker on Shock Street".
 * This was the first episode directed by William Fruet, who would direct many episodes throughout all four seasons of the series.
 * Kim's actress would return to play Drew in season two's "Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns".