Michael Jackson in animated special

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

Here’s a chance to trick or treat with the eyes and ears. Catch “Michael Jackson’s Halloween,” a for-all-ages animated special airing Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS.

It costumes Halloween as a life-affirming way to explore hopes and dreams.

The story unfolds in a familiar Halloween setting: a haunted mansion. A couple of teens, Vincent and Victoria, are by chance drawn into this mysterious manor on Halloween night. There awaits adventure, discovery and, of course, music.

Vincent and Victoria are voiced by Lucas Till and Kiersey Clemons, with Christine Baranski, Alan Cumming, George Eads, Brad Garrett, Lucy Liu and Jim Parsons furnishing the voices for a whimsical array of supporting characters.

At issue is an evil force that aims to impose mindless conformity on everyone and to banish music from the world.

“Michael was a big kid who loved Halloween and loved animation, and, of course, his video ‘Thriller’ is the most popular music video of all time,” said executive producer John Branca, who is also co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate and whose close relationship with Jackson reaches back to his wedding in the late 1980s, when Jackson served as his best man. “We thought: Michael deserves to be part of Halloween.”

In the special, the late King of Pop appears in many alternate forms: as the Man in the Moon, as a bat, a dancing jack-o’-lantern and a mad-scientist cat.

“We wanted to imbue the show with the legacy of Michael and the world he created, and the songs that mean so much to so many people,” said Mark A.Z. Dippe, the show’s director.