Fill Those Stockings with Kitty Litter- Here Comes "The Black Cat"-Tonight!

That prancing and pawing you hear tonight on MeTV is not little hooves- but cat’s paws-and nobody should come down the chimney of it this old dark house during a nasty, ( not snow) stormy night! Iyou could get hung up on a killer who is stalking ( not stocking) victims- and making a list of those who cross the path of "The Black Cat"!

Welcome to this old mansion, over-run by the many pet cats of its wealthy old lady owner- whose relatives have gathered, not for a holiday celebration, but in anticipation of her shuffling off this mortal coil. Whatever concern they may have for her for seems to be far out-weighed by their hopes of gaining an inheritance from her estate. Unfortunately for them, old lady Henrietta, like her multitude of feline friends, seems to have nine lives, and keeps returning from the brink of death! She wisely has no pretensions about her relatives' agendas, and opts to read her will to them herself before her time is up. She does so, unafraid of letting each relative know what she really thinks of them, but the reading is interrupted by the entrance of blustery realtor Gil- who grew up in the area, and is familiar to her. Gil, now a real estate agent, has crafted a lucrative deal for the old woman's mansion and property, with the only hold-up being that he must convince her to sell! Accompanying him to the house is a rather screwy antique dealer who hopes to get in on the deal and stake a claim to the many antiques in the house. Unfortunately, Henrietta, though fond of Gil, refuses to sell- while the poor real estate agent spends his whole time coughing and sneezing since he's allergic to the cats that run wild over the whole estate.

The old crazy cat lady has equipped the place with every convenience for her four-legged friends who live there, and she has even thoughtfully prepared for their passing- with a crematorium on the grounds. It is there that a mysterious tragedy occurs- and the appearance of a black cat seems to be part of it-which is odd, because superstitious Henrietta has never allowed any black cats on the premises!

Upsettingly, circumstances point to the reality of a killer being somewhere on the estate- as well as the black cat. Tensions build as the estate housekeeper annoyingly repeats the unsettling lore that the black cat always appears right before a death occurs! Gil, the giddy antique dealer, Henrietta’s heirs and her household staff begin to suspect each other, as more murderous mayhem ensues- building up to them all trapped in the house when the power and the phone go out, and the only road away from the estate becoming impassible, as the thunderstorm rages. No one is sure who they can trust, or who might actually be the killer- or the next victim!

I always have to mention that this is the 1941 "Black Cat" -with Bela Lugosi in a supporting role- as opposed to the eerie and unsettling 1934 film of the same name starring Bela and Boris Karloff. In our film tonight, the creepy moments are offset with laughs, several provided by comedian Hugh “Hoo-Hoo!” Herbert as the wacky antique dealer. We'll walk you through the cast listing, with such notables as Broderick Crawford as the allergic real estate agent, Basil Rathbone and Alan Ladd among the heirs, and Gale Sondergaard as the housekeeper. We'll have a commercial for some purr-fect pizza, a song, and we’ll chat with both Santa Claus aficionado Mick Foley and with an artist whose work is often seen on our dungeon studio walls and in our comic books- artist Christopher Jones! Plus, another “Too Drawn Out” game, and plenty of Sven stocking-stuffing Christmas shtick- including trying to get our Sven Squad to join me in a holiday greeting!

"The Black Cat" prowls tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, and, if unsure of time and channel in your area- please check local listings or the information you can find at www.metv.com . We are honored to continue to trend among the most mentioned topics nationally on Twitter, with fans live-Tweeting during the show using the hashtag #svengoolie .Our Chicago area viewers can again experience the nightmare of “The Night Walker” with Barbara Stanwyck this morning at 11 am on our sister station CW26!

Let us take this opportunity to wish all who celebrate a merry Christmas. We hope you can spend some time with the people who mean the most to you. Your loyalty to our program is the best gift we could ever hope for.

Join us tonight, while wrapping those gifts, baking those cookies, and filling your tabby’s four stockings with Meow Mix and Tidy Cat!