New HGTV series Scariest House in America brings spooks to realty TV

Actress-comedienne Retta has already braced herself for the Ugliest House in America— now, in a brand-new spin-off of that popular HGTV reality series, the TV show host will be crossing the country to courageously tour homes full of frights and freakiness on Scariest House in America . "After crowning the most terrifying house of them all, designer Alison Victoria surprises the homeowners with a scary-good $150,000 renovation," reads the official series description from the network.

Debuting tonight, October 4 at 9pm Eastern Time, the series premiere will introduce viewers to three scary homes in the spooky South: a former hideout for mobsters, a historic house full of witches and ghosts, and a haunted dollhouse with creepy critters. Later episodes will explore spine-tingling properties in the Northeast and the Midwest.

For her part, Retta jokingly told HGTV , "I did not see this iteration of this show coming...I was cool with the summer road trip and ugly in paradise, but, for a gal that is spooked by every creak, critter and errant hair that brushes my shoulder, this wasn’t it. Glad I got through it, but I won’t lie and say I 'enjoyed' it.”

And yet the host will be on the receiving end of plenty of chills and thrills throughout the season—across four half-hour episodes airing each Friday, the former Good Girls star will tour terrifying properties that owners say are haunted by scary stories and hair-raising sights, with the home deemed the "scariest" of them all getting a renovation revival in a special one-hour season finale.

To watch the premiere episode of Scariest House in America on Friday, October 4, you're going to need access to HGTV. Those with cable packages can watch on their local HGTV channel or by using the HGTV GO app, but even if you don't have traditional cable, cord-cutters can also tune in online with a live TV streaming service that carries HGTV, such as Fubo , Hulu with Live TV , Sling TV , Philo TV and YouTube TV . And if you miss the television broadcast tonight, Scariest House in America will be available to stream same day on Max and Discovery+.

Check out the official trailer above before tuning into the premiere of HGTV's Scariest House in America tonight.