Holiday Treats to Get Into the Spirit of Halloween

The November ratings sweeps begin in force Sunday night with TV movies starring Oprah Winfrey, Angela Lansbury and Whitney Houston. But first there is Halloween to occupy viewers’ attention.

American Movie Classics, for example, kicks off its three-day Halloween film festival at 4 p.m. today with “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.” Other scary flicks include “The Leopard Man,” Friday at 9 a.m.; “Isle of the Dead,” Friday at 10:15 a.m.; and “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” Friday at 11:30 a.m.

CBS reprises the classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” at 8 p.m. Friday on Channel 2.

Also for kids, KCET-TV Channel 28 presents Halloween treats on Friday, beginning with a chilling episode of “Storytime” at 7:30 a.m., followed by “Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio” at 8 a.m., “Elmo Says Boo” at 10 a.m. and “Wishbone: Halloween Hound: The Legend of Creepy Collars” at 4 p.m.

Rick Dees and Ellen K host KCAL-TV Channel 9’s “Halloween Scream,” at 9 p.m. Friday, a live telecast from Billboard Live on Sunset Boulevard. The one-hour special features performances by Meredith Brooks and Salt-N-Pepa, remotes from Halloween sites around town and an appearance by Cassandra Peterson, best known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, from Knott’s Halloween Haunt.

Peterson will be back twice at 10 p.m. Friday--as Elvira, host of the horror flicks “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2” and “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare,” on KCAL-TV Channel 9, and as a guest star playing the owner of a most unusual social club on CBS’ “Nash Bridges,” on Channel 2.

Today

Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty), the fright-show host of “SCTV” fame, is at the helm of “Nick at Nite’s Monster Chiller Halloween Fright Fest,” scheduled from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., and repeating immediately. The marathon features episodes of “The Munsters,” “The Addams Family,” “Newhart,” “Happy Days,” “The Odd Couple” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Friday

The Sci-Fi Channel’s “Monster Marathon,” beginning at 1 p.m., features the classic “Dracula,” at 10 p.m.

Nickelodeon’s “Nick or Treat” marathon, kicking off at 2 p.m., features six hours of spooky episodes of “Inspector Gadget,” “Tiny Toons Adventures,” “Beetlejuice” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”

AMC’s documentary “Monster Mania,” at 7 and 9:30 p.m., looks at the history of the horror flick and profiles such terror-ific stars as Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney.

The NBA regular season tips off with three games: The world champion Chicago Bulls play the Boston Celtics at 5 p.m. on TNT; the Clippers take on the Phoenix Suns at 6 p.m. on Channel 9; and the Lakers welcome the Utah Jazz at 7:30 p.m. on FSW.

E! Entertainment Television’s “Talk Soup” gets in the Halloween spirit with a special edition, at 10 p.m., featuring encounters with modern-day vampires.

Saturday

President Clinton offers a message on the importance of volunteering on an episode of NBC’s “Hang Time,” at 9:30 a.m. on Channel 4.

NBC premieres its final fall series, “Sleepwalkers,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 4. Bruce Greenwood (“Nowhere Man”) plays the founder of an institute that explores dreams.

Sunday

TNT presents “Eastwood on Eastwood,” at 4, 8 and 9:30 p.m., a 90-minute documentary on the Oscar-winning actor-director Clint. Based on Richard Schickel’s book, the program is narrated by John Cusack, who just happens to star in Eastwood’s latest directorial effort, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

Brandy, Whitney Houston, Jason Alexander, Bernadette Peters and Whoopi Goldberg are among the stars of ABC’s multicultural version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein II musical “Cinderella,” at 7 p.m. on Channel 7.

Angela Lansbury returns as super-sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the CBS movie “Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 2. Jessica is hot on the trail of a woman (Mel Harris) who witnessed the murder of a whistle-blower.

Werewolves, monsters and vampires! Oh, my! Adrian Pasdar, Greg Wise, Teri Polo and CCH Pounder star in NBC’s four-hour movie “House of Frankenstein 1997,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 4. Pasdar plays an L.A. detective investigating a series of brutal murders that may have been committed by a vampire. The conclusion airs Monday at 9 p.m.

ABC’s “Before Women Had Wings,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 7, is the first of six “Oprah Winfrey Presents” productions. She stars in this drama about a troubled widow (Ellen Barkin) who brutalizes her two daughters.

The wait is over. Finally, fans will find out if Mulder is really dead when Fox’s cult sensation “The X-Files” returns for a fifth season, at 9 p.m. on Channel 11. The opener finds Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) believing Scully (Gillian Anderson) knows more about Mulder than she’s willing to tell.

While Greg Wise is appearing in NBC’s “House of Frankenstein,” he’ll also be seen in “The Moonstone,” at 9 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28.