Christmas is hearing footsteps.
Ever since the flickering blue light of a 1948 Magnavox became the focal point of the American living room, television has adopted Christmas as its favorite holiday.
Programs tied to Christmas, and occasionally the year end celebrations of non-Christian religions as well, become a blizzard over the last month of the year.
Quietly, however, like the guy with the mask in the horror flicks, Halloween has been sneaking up and grabbing so much airtime that it’s almost as hard to avoid a Halloween special in October as it is to avoid a Christmas special in December.
There are several reasons why Halloween lends itself to television better than, say, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July or Valentine’s Day.
Mainly, it’s more cinematic. Unlike, say, Labor Day or Groundhog Day, it’s about costumes and scary characters and high drama.
Even trick-or-treat candy, which to some of us will always be the real meaning of Halloween, can spark drama. Ask my sister, who has never entirely forgiven me for taking all the good stuff and sticking her with all the candy corn.
So it’s no accident that shows like “Roseanne” and “Pretty Little Liars” have always seen the potential of Halloween, reveling in this once-a-year shot at both tricks and treats.
This year, Halloween is already well under way on television. But as we head toward All Hallows Eve itself, things are further ramping up.
Here’s a sampling of what the networks hope to bewitch us with:
SUNDAY:
“31 Days of Halloween,” Syfy. Reality shows like “Ghost Hunters” mixed with horror flicks, through Friday.
“Freak Out,” ABC Family. “13 Days of Halloween” continues with “Freak Out” almost every day and movies like “Coraline” and “Addams Family.” They start rolling at 11 a.m. Sunday, 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday.
“Treehouse of Horror” marathon, FXX, noon-midnight. Minimarathons of “Treehouse” will also air Monday-Thursday at 8 p.m.
“Beastly Nights,” Animal Planet, Sunday-Thursday. Supernatural creature features, like “The Hunt for Hogzilla,” Monday, 9 p.m.
“The Haunted Carnival,” Food Network, 9 p.m. Finals of a month-long competition in which two teams try to create the best haunted dinner spread.
“The Dorm,” MTV, 8 p.m. A brand-new horror involving — gasp! — a college coed. Why didn’t someone think of this before?
MONDAY:
“Animation Domination” Halloween specials sampler, FXX, midnight-2 a.m.
“The Chew,” ABC, 1 p.m. Monday-Friday. It’s Halloween week at ABC and the Chew crew falls into line. Among other things, they will secretly assign each other a costume to wear on Friday.
“A Halloween Boofest,” PBS, 3 p.m. Curious George gets a visit from Belinda Carlisle.
“Halloween” marathon, AMC. All the “Halloween” movies, starting at 7 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday and Friday.
“Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 8 p.m. Speaking of costumes, the contestants will all dress up for tonight’s competition. Maybe one couple will dress like Puritans and refuse to dance at all.
“Jelly Belly Candy Corn,” Food Network, 8:30 p.m. The first challenge requires the contestants to create candy corn. If anyone can’t create some, I’m sure my sister still has some left over that she’d be glad to share.
“Scorpion,” CBS, 9 p.m. Sort of a Halloween theme, most directly when Ralph doesn’t want to go to his school’s Halloween party.
“Goth Kids,” Comedy Central, 9:30 p.m. This is a “South Park” episode, so it may be a little edgier than, say, the “Great Pumpkin” special.
“Quack O’Lanterns,” A&E, 11:32 p.m. Yup, even “Duck Dynasty” gets in on Halloween. All the guys dress up in costume, presumably keeping the genders separate, while Phil “carves” his jack o’lantern with a shotgun.
TUESDAY:
“Mustache Day,” 11:30 a.m., Nickelodeon. A “Wallykazam” take on trick-or-treating.
“General Hospital,” ABC, 2 p.m. Here’s a unique angle: a celebration of Beggars’ Night, which falls on Halloween Eve just like the better-known Mischief Night.
“The Great Halloween Fright Fight,” ABC, 8 p.m. Now here’s a direct challenge to Christmas. People who overdecorate their houses for Halloween compete for a $50,000 prize.
“NCIS,” 8 p.m., CBS. Okay, it’s a subplot, but the team does discuss Halloween costumes. Maybe they could consult with “The Chew.”
“Dead of Night,” 8 p.m., TCM. The first in a number of horror flicks this week.
“Marry Me,” 9 p.m., NBC . Trick-or-treating plus a haunted house.
“NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 9 p.m. The cast here exchanges some costume talk, but they also have a bigger Halloween advantage. They’re in a town that dresses up fanatically for this holiday.
“About a Boy,” NBC, 9:30 p.m. Fiona and Marcus get all grumpy when they discover Will loves Halloween, because they hate it. Guess what happens next.
WEDNESDAY:
“The Middle,” ABC, 8 p.m. Fifth year, fifth Halloween special. That’s what we like about the middle of the country. It’s reliable.
“South Park,” Comedy Central, 8 p.m. A whole string of Halloween episodes.
“The Goldbergs,” ABC, 8:30 p.m. A Halloween party goes, of course, terribly wrong.
“Modern Family,” ABC, 9 p.m. Claire lets Phil do Halloween. Mistake.
“Criminal Minds,” CBS, 9 p.m. Trick-or-treater disappears for the second Halloween in a row. Not good.
“Black-ish,” ABC, 9:30 p.m. Pranks! And more costumes!
“Stalker,” CBS, 10 p.m. Featured items include a haunted house and a Halloween party gone bad. As if this show needed more things to make it creepy.
“American Horror Story: Freak Show,” FX, 10 p.m. Speaking of shows that really don’t need a holiday to break out the creepy.
THURSDAY:
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” ABC, 8 p.m. The classic.
“Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 9:01 p.m. Alan has a scare that has nothing to do with ghosts.
“A To Z,” NBC, 9:30 p.m. Andrew and Zelda throw a Halloween party, which they both claim they hate to do.
“Pawn Stars,” History, 11:03 p.m. Who knew a pawn shop would be the center of a vampire hunt?
FRIDAY:
“24 Hours of Horror,” TCM, 6 a.m. Features include “Carnival of Souls” at 4:45 p.m., “Night of the Living Dead” at 8 p.m. and “House of Wax” at 11:45 p.m.
“Law & Order: SVU,” 8 a.m., USA. Twelve hours of Halloween episodes.
“The Real Wolfman,” History, 9 a.m. History actually looks into history.
“Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Logo, 10 a.m. A whole day of good clean Rocky Horror fun.
“Twilight” movie marathon, FXX, noon-10:30 p.m.
“Zombies: A Living History,” 1 p.m., History. The walkers get their day.
“General Hospital,” ABC, 2 p.m. Franco and Carly plan a Halloween wedding. Now there’s a novel twist.
“Halloween Marathon,” Disney Channel, 2 p.m. A witches’ brew of Halloween episodes from Disney channel shows, through 10:30.
“From Dusk Til Dawn,” El Rey, 2 p.m. The whole 10-episode first season.
“Halloween Tech,” History, 6 p.m. The Halloween industry, revealed.
“Cristela,” ABC, 8:31 p.m. Sometimes the people who like Halloween least have the most Halloween spirit.
“Hawaii Five-O,” CBS, 9 p.m. This week’s killer is copycatting a slasher movie.
“Ireland’s Celtic Demons,” Travel, 9 p.m. Two hours on disturbing Irish legends, not including the recent history of the national football team.
Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, 11:35 p.m. Featuring costumes and candy. The essence of the holiday.
