The legend of Sleepy Hollow gets a cheesy contemporary makeover in the 2007 made-for-cable shocker “Headless Horseman” (8 p.m. today, Sci Fi). Not content with the 19th-century Hudson Valley setting of the Washington Irving tale, the reanimators of “Headless” move the locale to the backwoods of some nameless southern state and add a few themes out of “Deliverance” and a zillion other gothic yarns.

“Horseman” takes place in present day but begins with a scene out of the Civil War that has little to do with the rest of the movie. The action resumes when seven college kids embark on a two-hour drive to a far-off party. A wrong turn leads them to a dirt road and a town time forgot when everybody except for a nubile Daisy Mae stereotype is bathed in a creepy sepia glow.

It’s not giving too much away here to reveal that the town is cursed and that it’s demonic headless guest views the snotty visitors as a midnight snack. And with the exception of two characters, the kids are such odious, clueless dolts that you almost root for their decapitation.

¢ “Halloween Madness” (7 p.m. today, TLC) has nothing to do with goblins. Instead, it follows the truly terrifying trend toward ever more elaborate, expensive and competitive holiday decorations. “Madness” follows a family that transforms its house into a haunted mansion and a professional special effects expert that prepares his West Hollywood neighborhood for the onslaught of 50,000 trick-or-treaters.

¢ “25 Hottest Hollywood Cougar Tales” (4 p.m. today, E!) counts down the celebrated love affairs between female celebrities (Demi Moore, for example) and younger men (Ashton Kutcher). Why should we care? And why are they called “cougars”? Why not pumas? Lynxes? Ocelots? I don’t have a clue.

¢ A Halloween campfire story passing as history, “The Lost Book of Nostradamus” (8 p.m. Sunday, History) should be entertaining for viewers who can’t get enough of the souped-up symbols and conspiracy theories found in airport novels like Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code.”

Over the years, the writings of Nostradamus have become a one-size-fits-all grab bag of prognostications. He’s said to have foreseen everything from Napoleon to the Kennedy assassination. If he predicted the recent collapse of the Mets, I wish somebody would have told me.

So it’s no stretch for the experts assembled here – including mystics, psychics, an alchemist and the head of the Nostradamus fan club – to infer that a recently discovered book linked to Nostradamus may have predicted the tragedy of 9/11, described here as “the most important event in history.”

Historians may wince, but viewers who consider “The Da Vinci Code” a documentary will not be disappointed. We hear the words “symbology” and “codex” once or twice, and the Knights Templar even make a guest appearance. By the way, if you want to know when the world will end, don’t miss this. I’m not telling.

Tonight’s highlights

¢ The center is implicated in a number of murders on “Torchwood” (8 p.m., BBC America).

¢ Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): A Marine’s death may be murder.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ TV Land spends a night exploring the scary myths and legends of television and Hollywood, starting with “The Ghost and Mrs. Gabor” (6 p.m.).

¢ Jane Goodall visits chimpanzees in the special “Almost Human” (7 p.m., Animal Planet).

¢ Sarah faces a custody war on “Brothers & Sisters” (9 p.m., ABC).

¢ Larry insults those he would help on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (9 p.m., HBO).