‘Zombies’ cast includes big names

Scientists and other Bay Area survivors of a sudden plague seek refuge on Alcatraz Island in the 2012 shocker “Rise of the Zombies” (8 p.m. Saturday, Syfy). While this grade Z imitation doesn’t pretend to the production values of “The Walking Dead,” it does borrow the notion of a prison as a place of safety.

On the bad side, these zombies seem smart, or motivated, enough to swim and float to the island hideaway. On a positive note, there seems to be a mad scientist working on a zombie “cure.”

”Rise” sports a better and bigger cast than the usual Saturday Syfy fare, including Mariel Hemingway (“Manhattan”), LeVar Burton (“Roots,” ”Star Trek: The Next Generation”), French Stewart (“3rd Rock From the Sun”) and Ethan Suplee (“My Name Is Earl”). For all of the gore, the most monstrous thing about the movie is its dialogue.

• A high school student flees the father of her unplanned infant when she discovers that he is violent and manipulative in the 2012 made-for-TV movie “Stalked at 17” (7 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime).

Saturday’s other highlights

• The San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers meet in game 3 of the World Series (6:30 p.m., Fox).

• Notre Dame and Oklahoma square off in college football (7 p.m., ABC).

• Catherine Bell returns for “The Good Witch’s Charm” (8 p.m., Hallmark), the fifth helping of the gently magical series of TV movies.

• “Doomsday Preppers Bugged Out” (9 p.m., National Geographic) profiles the obsessed.

• Ben Affleck, Usher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Corbett and Miranda Hart appear as “The Graham Norton Show” (10 p.m., BBC America) returns for a new season.

• Actor/comedian D.L. Hughley sets out to save the black man with his comedy special “DL Hughley: The Endangered List” (10 p.m., Comedy Central).

• Seth MacFarlane hosts “Saturday Night Live” (10:30 p.m., NBC), featuring musical guest Frank Ocean.

Cult choice

A cad’s embittered mistress (Simone Signoret) and naive wife (Vera Clouzot) conspire to murder him and hide the evidence in the 1955 French shocker “Diabolique” (7 p.m. Saturday, TCM), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.