This month, Syfy debuts the 10-episode first season of a "Day of the Dead” TV series (10 p.m. Oct. 15), developed by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas ("The Banana Splits Movie”) and inspired by the 1985 George A. Romero film. "The series differs quite a bit from the movie because we didn’t want to just remake what Romero had already done,” Thomas said. "He’s the godfather of the modern zombie, and anyone who tackles a zombie project is doing so in his shadow. But we decided that if we were going to take this on, we wanted to spin it off in a new direction while staying true to the spirit of Romero’s works.” To that end, Thomas and Elinoff opted to build out the world beyond the bunker where most of the original movie takes place while keeping the social commentary Romero embedded in his zombie films. "We also wanted to find a way for this show to stand out from other zombie shows and films like ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘28 Days Later,’” Thomas said, noting the series is set in fictional Mawinkaken, Pa., as a tribute to Romero’s Pennsylvania ties. "But fans of the original movie can rest easy that the story of Sara, Rhodes, Dr. Logan and Bub are 100% a part of our show.” Elinoff said the team drew inspiration from some of the random zombies that appear in Romero’s film, including a zombie bride story that plays out over the entire season. And, yes, the "Day of the Dead” series zombies are shufflers, not runners, but it may take more than a bullet to the head to stop them. "We also wanted to drive home that, especially in the beginning of the zombie outbreak, these are corpses that have become reanimated,” Elinoff said. "So we asked ourselves, on any given day, in any town, where might there be dead bodies and how can we have some fun with them coming back to life? That included showing the dead digging out of their graves, which was a sequence we had a lot of fun filming.” ‘Night of the Animated Dead’ Due to a clerical error, Romero’s black and white classic film "Night of the Living Dead” wound up in the public domain, which is how Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was able to affordably remake it in animated form. But "Night of the Animated Dead” producer Michael J. Luisi says it’s not a shot-for-shot remake, although many of the shots are the same, albeit with minor differences (in the opening scene of the original film, a character wearing driving gloves smokes a cigarette; the gloves are there but the cigarette is omitted in "NOTAD”). "We’ve got to give people a reason to see this movie beyond just the reference to the original movie,” Luisi said in an early September phone interview. "Anywhere there was opportunity for us to reimagine, to reinvent, to make it something that was hopefully utterly respectful of the original film, but at the same time allows new audiences and even the original fans to come to it with a fresh perspective and to see things that are different and not what they’ve seen before.” "Night of the Animated Dead,” now available on DVD ($14.99), in a Blu-ray combo pack ($19.99) and via digital download, includes one scene referenced in the original but not shown on camera. "We’ve taken the liberty to give you our interpretation of that scene on camera, as it happens, rather than it just being described,” Luisi said. The animated "Dead” is also about 26 minutes shorter than the original film - Luisi explained producers of the animated version tried "to pace it up a little bit.” "Animation gave us not only the ability to paint in color and to tell that story through a different lens than Romero could originally,” Luisi said, "but animation also gives you the flexibility to do things that Romero could not have done technologically through visual effects or through the resources he had financially.” ‘Chucky’ More schlocky than campy, the new series about killer doll "Chucky” (10 p.m. Tuesday, Syfy and USA) is as much a teen drama as it is a horror series. I suppose it has to be: In a "Child’s Play” movie, the doll can go on its killing spree ASAP - but for the eight-episode first season of a series, those deaths have to stretch further. Set mostly in the present at Halloween - with flashbacks to Chucky’s origin story - the show’s focus is on bullied gay middle school artist Jake (acted with natural vulnerability by Zackary Arthur), who early on threatens to fall prey to Chucky’s bad influence before episode four sets up a more conventional teens vs. murderous doll rivalry. Jake’s had it rough: His mom died and his homophobic father is emotionally stilted/abusive. Making Jake gay, a reflection of openly gay "Child’s Play” creator and "Chucky” writer/director Don Mancini, offers an admirably different perspective for a horror franchise - but viewers will need to buy into the teen drama to appreciate this iteration of "Chucky.” ‘Hidden Temple,’ ‘Simpsons’ The CW’s reboot of ‘90s Nickelodeon game show "Legends of the Hidden Temple” (8 p.m. Sunday, WPCW-TV) - four teams of two adults each compete in an assortment of low-rent "Survivor”-esque challenges — keeps a lot of what fans loved about the original (Dee Bradley Baker returns as the voice of Olmec), but unfortunately expands each episode to a bloated one-hour compared to the half-hour original. Still, the finale Temple Run remains the highlight of the show, now hosted by Cristela Alonzo. This year’s annual Halloween episode of "The Simpsons” (8 p.m. Sunday, WPGH-TV) includes take-offs of "Parasite” and "The Ring” along with a segment done in the style of illustrator Edward Gorey. "Treehouse of Horror XXXII” delivers a decent number of laughs across its multiple shorts that begin with a parody of Disney movies with dead parents. Channel surfing Former WPXI-TV meteorologist Danielle Dozier has landed her next gig almost five months after leaving Channel 11: Beginning next week, she’ll be the chief meteorologist at WHNT/WHDF-TV in Huntsville, Ala. … ABC ordered the pilot for an "LA Law” sequel series with Carnegie Mellon University grad Blair Underwood reprising his role as Jonathan Rollins from the original 1986-94 NBC show. WPXI-TV added a new reporter to its staff, Pete DeLuca (no relation to Channel 11’s Gabriella DeLuca), a suburban Philadelphia native and University of a Virginia grad who arrives in Pittsburgh after a two-year stint at WDBJ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va. By the end of this week, Comcast customers with the X1 box should start to see the app for subscription streamer discovery is available. A few X1 boxes are not compatible, so customers who don’t see the app should contact Comcast and request an X1 box that is compatible. Showtime will partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania to provide up to 650 year-long scholarships to underserved youth enrolled in BGCWPA programs in Allegheny and Somerset Counties, where Showtime’s "American Rust” (10 p.m. Sunday) was filmed. You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow Rob on Twitter or Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.