Tube Terror

Lots of spooky stuff is heading to a television near you! Here's a sampling of just a handful of what we have to look forward to.

Tonight a new television series premieres on Fox at 8PM, following American Idol. It's called Point Pleasant and it looks promising, though chock-full of every Hollywood "Satanic" cliche ever put on film. i.e. ravens, 666, glowing eyes, "omens," etc. It is executive-produced by former "Buffy/Angel" exec Marti Noxon and co-executive produced by Rick Rosenthal (who did Halloween II and unfortunately the godawful Halloween 8, thus my hesitance). Think Rosemary's Baby meets Melrose Place meets The O.C. Here's a synopsis of the show:

All hell is about to break loose in a sleepy New Jersey town when a sudden violent storm washes in more than the tide in the new supernatural drama series Point Pleasant.

The quiet beach community of Point Pleasant is about to get much louder when a sudden, violent storm washes in more than the tide. Local lifeguard Jesse spies Christina floating in the sea and immediately dives in to save her life. He takes her to the home of Dr. Ben Kramer, whose daughter Judy and wife Meg take an immediate liking to Christina. For Christina, Point Pleasant offers both respite from her protected boarding-school existence in New York, and the opportunity to search for her mother, Anne - who, surprisingly, grew up in the area but has never been a part of Christina's life. Aside from the Kramers' fondness for her, and Jesse's budding attraction, it seems that secret desires, repressed feelings and heightened emotions inexplicably begin to flare when Christina is near. Christina never knew her mother, and doesn't realize that she's never truly known her father, either. Christina is the offspring of a mortal woman and the Devil - and although she doesn't know it, the battle for her soul has begun.

Naturally, to compete with the WB, the cast is hunkalicious, too. With newcomers such as Brent Weber and Sam Page as well as familiar faces like Richard Burgi and Grant Show (ROWR!).

Then on Sunday, January 23rd at 8PM, the USA Network premieres Stephen King's latest made-for-TV-movie Riding The Bullet. The movie was originally released last year in 1,000 theaters and because of lack of interest the film company pulled it. This sounds like a bad omen to me, but it still looks like a lot of fun. However, when it comes to Stephen King, I haven't liked his most recent fodder, with the exception of the remotely recent 2002's Rose Red. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

The premise is about a young man (Jonathan Jackson) who is hitchhiking back home to visit his mother (Barbara Hershey) and is picked up by a mysterious stranger. As the ride goes on, the young man uncovers a terrible secret about the stranger, and is given a choice by the stranger. A choice that can mean life or death. The film also stars David Arquette, Erika Christensen and Cliff Robertson.

I get the feeling there's a stranger involved. What do you think? But seriously, it looks like some good, scary fun. There even appears to be a cameo by Christine, the deadly 1958 Plymouth Fury.

AND, if that's not enough to tide you over, Billy Zane (ROWR!) has signed on to a three-episode guest stint on The WB’s "Charmed," which begins on Sunday, Feb. 13. He plays Drake, a poetry-spouting demon that made a deal with a sorcerer to become human for a year, and now his time is almost up.