NBC To Air Special Halloween Programming On Saturday

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NBC will give the scary hair of Donald Trump a Saturday off this week to give some seasonally appropriate exposure to a couple of Sci Fi Channel shows.

As it’s done with Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” in the past, the network will give over some of its schedule to Sci Fi’s “Scare Tactics” and “Ghost Hunters” on Saturday (Oct. 30), the day before Halloween. Sci Fi became part of NBC earlier this year via the network’s merger with Universal.

Universal also has perhaps the greatest library of horror films in all of Hollywood, but those films — which include classic versions of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” — will have to wait for some other time or outlet (NBC Universal is reportedly considering launching a cable channel dedicated to horror).

NBC will lead off its Saturday with two episodes of “Scare Tactics,” a hidden-camera prank show with a supernatural twist. The episodes, hosted by Stephen Baldwin, will feature a gang of “vampire bikers” crossing paths with unsuspecting partygoers, a home-care worker whose new patient has psychic powers and a lab assistant discovering a new species of animal.

“Scare Tactics” will be followed by an episode of “Ghost Hunters,” an unscripted series about a group of people — led by two plumbers — who moonlight as paranormal investigators. The Sci Fi shows will displace the usual lineup of specials and “Apprentice” repeats that NBC usually airs on Saturdays.

Credit: Zap2It

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.