Spooktacular shows

It’s October... well, you know that ... and that means Halloween will be here before you know it. But before you start digging out your devil ears and witches capes, prepare to be spooked right in your own living room. These aren’t Halloween specials... these are a crop of horror happenings that will keep you on the edge of your seat well after your Halloween candy has gone stale. So rather than wait until the end of the month, sit back, grab a hold of someone near you and get ready to be scared straight through the end of the year. And don’t worry... I promise no poltergeists will drag you into the TV.

THE MOST GRUESOME
“Dexter” — Showtime — Sundays at 9 p.m.

By now most people at least know of Dexter Morgan — Miami Metro Homicide’s blood splatter analysist by day and vigilante serial killer by night. After last year’s somewhat demure season, “Dexter” returned in full force with last Sunday’s season six premiere.

This season Dexter runs into a series of faith-based murders committed by a professor (Edward James Olmos) and student (Colin Hanks) from a religious cult, with the first victim having his intestines replaced with snakes; in turn Dexter takes into question his own sense of faith and religion.

“The Walking Dead” — AMC — Sundays at 9 p.m.

Zombies — you either love ’em or hate ’em. With the critically acclaimed “The Walking Dead” it is hard not to love ’em. Season one’s short six-episode arc left viewers wanting much more, and after a year-long wait, they can finally rejoice.

We last left the group of zombie apocalypse survivors fleeing from the Center for Disease Control after a bomb went off inside. With the premiere episode of season two on Oct. 16, we find the survivors searching for higher ground. They find it by leaving Atlanta and heading for the countryside.

“American Horror Story” — FX — Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

As I stated in my fall TV preview, “American Horror Story” is a show to watch. And judging by Wednesday’s premiere, it may be one show you’ll need to watch in the daytime. It’s a creepy, frightful show from the creator of “Nip/Tuck” that pushes the boundaries, just as “Nip/Tuck” did, especially when it brought us the character of The Carver.

Here, a family looking for a fresh start moves into a haunted house filled with past residents — ghosts if you will — who were all doomed by the house itself; ergo, this new family is also doomed. If only they were smart enough to leave the house when the first ghastly ghoul showed up, but then we wouldn’t have a show on our hands.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FRIGHTS
“Halloween Wars” — Food Network — Sundays at 9 p.m.

No need to whisk the kids out of the room for this one, as the only zombies and haunted houses on this show are made out of cake.

Food Network’s “Halloween Wars” brings together the country’s best cake decorators, sugar artists and pumpkin carvers to compete for a $50,000 grand prize. A four-part series, with the first installment airing last Sunday (it will be re-run this Sunday at 7 p.m.), “Halloween Wars” divvies up five expert cake makers, sugar blowers and pumpkin carvers into teams, one of each specialty on each, to create amazing works of art. An the end of each episode, one team is eliminated.

The pumpkin carvers are my favorite — the detail that the artist carves into any size pumpkin from ity-bitty mini ones to 300-pounders in a matter of minutes is just crazy. They really know how to bring a pumpkin to life. Add in sugar artists who can create glass hair strands for a witch with cake artists who sculpt buttercream into grim reapers and you’ve got yourself some great “Halloween Wars.”

“Once Upon a Time” — ABC — Sundays at 8 p.m. — Starts on Oct. 23

What if one day you found out Snow White and Prince Charming were your parents? Crazy right? Well that’s the premise of “Once Upon a Time,” a show that brings classic fairy tales to life in a modern-day setting as viewers travel to Storybrooke, Maine.

It’s a premise that is out there — Storybrooke is actually another universe where fairy tale characters look like your average joes but happen to not remember their true identities or their former lives — but if you can get past how unrealistic this show is, you might be in for a fun treat. With appearances by characters such as the Evil Queen, Jiminy Cricket and Rumpelstiltskin, along with actors Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison and Giancarlo Esposito, you might wish you were part of the fairy tale world yourself.

“The Secret Circle” — CW — Thursdays at 9 p.m.

After her mother dies in a car accident, a young girl, Cassie, returns to her mother’s hometown to live with her grandmother. While there she makes plenty of friends, who she soon finds out have all descended from witches — and it turns out, Cassie has too. They’ve been waiting for her to complete the sacred Secret Circle, but after Cassie finds an old spellbook of her mother’s in her childhood room, Cassie realizes she could be dealing with some dangerous and dark powers — some of which may have led to her mother’s not-so-accidental death.

“The Secret Circle” is the sister series of CW’s “The Vampire Diaries” to which I’ve heard is quite good. Both are helmed by horror writer Kevin Williamson (“Scream” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”), so you know you’re in for a surprise or two along the way.