Sci-Fi Storm

The new series Urban Legends debuts tonight on Syfy, right after Stargate Universe (see a sneak peek). To give you an idea about the new series, here is a sneak peek…

In the Syfy series, underscoring the art of storytelling, Urban Legends asks its viewers to decipher fact from fiction. Three tall tales are dramatically recreated and the audience must decide which is real from these stories of astronomical proportion. In the sneak peek clip of the Season Premiere of Urban Legends, a man is held at gunpoint on his own living room floor by men that look to be on the SWAT team based on their gear and clothes. The man being held against his will can’t figure out the reasoning for the invasion in his own home, and soon realizes his two dogs have been killed and his mother-in-law has been thrown to the ground. He sees police standing outside of his house and realizes this is no ordinary invasion while trying to reason with the masked men in telling them he hasn’t done anything wrong and that he’s the mayor. The masked men think he must be crazy for claiming such a thing, and it all leads to an unmarked box. What’s inside? You will have to watch the clip and tune in on Monday at 10/9c on Syfy to find out!

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The season finales of both Merlin and Being Human scored big in the ratings for Syfy. Merlin, just concluding its third season, and scored it’s highest household rating (1.3) and total viewers (1.87 million) since premiering on Syfy in April 2010, and a whopping 31% higher than the previous week. With that and its WWE Smackdown lead in that also saw an increase in viewers, it propelled Syfy to the #1 cable network in 8-11PM primetime for both Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 viewers on Friday night.

Monday’s Being Human finale also scored big, becoming the channel’s most successful new winter scripted series since Battlestar Galactica in 2005, entrancing 1.66 million total viewers, 1.0 million Adults 25-54 and 944,000 Adults 18-49. This was the best performance in all three measures for Being Human, which has been renewed for a second season, since the January 24 episode. Compared to last week’s telecast, Being Human rose 17% in Adults18-49, 29% in Adults 25-54 and 16% among total viewers. Being Human is Syfy’s youngest skewing scripted series since Battlestar Galactica in winter 2007, as well as Syfy’s most female-skewing original scripted series ever, comprising 53 percent women viewers through its 13-episode season. Led by Being Human’s strength in this demo, Syfy rose seven percent in Women 18-34 during First Quarter ’11. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Sams (Huntington and Witwer)? 🙂

Maybe Syfy will give us the fourth season of Merlin faster this time – there was a delay of several months over the original BBC airings.

Did you like Face Off? Or did you think you could do better? If the latter, now is your chance! Syfy is looking for competitors for the second season of the hit show, and will be holding open auditions in both Los Angeles and New York this Sunday!

Who: Syfy’s Face Off, the hit competition reality series that celebrates the incredible artistry of special FX make-up, exploring the world of these pros and the unlimited imagination which allows them to create amazing works of living art. The series incorporates effects make-up, as well as a a wide range of skill sets including prosthetics, sculpting, casting and molding. Each episode involves incredible reveals of the competitors’ finished work, and the drama of one contestant being sent home by the panel of expert and celebrity judges. It all culminates in one winner and one $100,000 grand prize that will launch a career.

What: Casting men and women, both professionals and novices to the art of special FX make-up. Must be 18 years or older and proficient in beautifying, prosthetics and special FX.  Interested participants can obtain an application by sending an email to: www.syfy.com/faceoff.

Where:

LOS ANGELES MARRIOTT – MONSTERPALOOZA CONVENTION
2500 Hollywood Way
Burbank, CA 91505
Faceoofflosangeles@gmail.com

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 – 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. pacific

NEW YORK – IMATS CONVENTION (downstairs)
82 Mercer Building
82 Mercer Street
New York, NY
faceoffnewyork@gmail.com

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 – 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. eastern

Think Syfy’s been doing the wrong thing with their programming choices? Apparently not. Syfy announced today that their viewership for the first quarter of 2011 was up 12 percent overall and 16 percent in Adults 18-34, boosted by freshman series Face Off (which averaged 1.53 million viewers) and Being Human (1.8 million), both of which were renewed for a second season.

Also cited were WWE Friday Night SmackDown, with a whopping 3.2 million viewers, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, which set a new series high with the season 2 premiere last Wednesday with 1.19 million viewers, up a whopping 31 percent over the series debut in July 2010.

Along with the big programming announcement, Syfy also said that with the success of their “Countdown to Christmas Week” last December which featured special holiday episodes of Eureka and Warehouse 13, this year those shows plus Ghost Hunters and Haven will feature holiday-themed episodes, and the week’s centerpiece this year will be Neverland, featuring the voice of Keira Knightley as Tinker Bell, which we’ve reported on earlier.

Syfy will also have a Twilight Zone New Years marathon for the 17th straight year.

Syfy just announced it’s new slate of shows…and it is big. Yes, it includes a lot of reality shows (they pay the bills), but there are some interesting twists…below you can read the full press release for all the details, but here are some highlights…FYI, exact dates are to be determined later…

First off, the scripted programming…Alphas, which will debut in July along with new episodes of Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven, is about a team of seemingly ordinary people who have brain anomalies that give them extraordinary mental and physical powers. They form a team led by Dr. Leigh Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and Oscar nominee David Strathairn) to investigate cases of other possible Alpha activity.

Battlestar: Blood & Chrome (see previous news) is still in development and is awaiting a debut date.

On the reality side, three series are ready for this summer:

Haunted Collector (June, working title) follows John Zaffis and his family of renowned paranormal investigators as they investigate possible paranormal objects (Ghost Hunters meets Hollywood Treasure?)

Legend Quest (July) follows Ashley Crowe, a renowned real-life symbologist, in what is described as “Indiana Jones-type adventure and Da Vinci Code-style connections”

Paranormal Witness (September) – a combination documentary and drama recreation about people who have had paranormal experiences that defy explanation.

In the development bin there are three series described as “Single-camera half hours”. I believe this is what Mark Stern referred to as comedies in dinner last October, but done single-camera style, more typically associated with dramas:

Three Inches, about daydreamer and underachiever Walter Spackman who gets struck by lightning and develops the power to transport objects with his mind – but only three inches. And he discovers others with these “super” powers…

In The Dark, which follows a team of inept paranormal investigators.

Me and Lee, where Lee Majors comes to the rescue of a down-on-his-luck 20 something who has back surgery that goes bad, and brings him to his high-tech lab and makes him bionic.

And in development in reality series is a very long slate, with shows that feature Motley Crüe’s Tommy Lee investigating secret societies and rituals, Cleve Hall and his family run monster factory; Deepak Chopra having dinner and discussions with interesting guests; and a Scrapheap/Junkyard Wars type show for making “chain reaction” machines.

On the movie front, there is a lot as well, going well into 2012. Red Faction: Origins, based on the video game series, is probably the most anticipated and features Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Brian Jacob Smith (Stargate Universe), and Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood). A few other titles that stood out (titles subject to change – you can get more details below): Zombie Apocalypse, Snowmageddon (they stole the title from my tweet in February – they WERE filming at my house! :)), and Dungeons and Dragons 4 – although I’m not aware of a third movie having been produced…oh, and let’s not forget Bigfoot, The Asylum’s next stunt-cast monster movie, featuring Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family) vs. Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch). Time to start thinking of some of my own celebrity deathmatch movies…how about Billy Mumy vs. Wil Wheaton? 🙂

LOTS of interesting stuff. Of course, more scripted dramas would be nice…
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With 4 episodes still to air, Syfy has already ordered up a second season of their version of Being Human. Pulling in an average 1.8 million viewers each episode and being the most-watched scripted series premiere since Battlestar Galactica, President of Original Content Mark Stern said, “Being Human has proven to be a winner for Syfy on all fronts. Using the original format as inspiration, showrunners/writers Jeremy Carver and Anna Fricke – along with a superlative team of writers, cast, and production – have created an amazing, compelling series in its own right. We can’t wait to watch Aidan, Josh and Sally continue their struggle to be human in the second season!”

Being Human is also Syfy’s first female-skewed series, with women comprising of 53% of the audience (Sam Witwer and Sam Huntington can take pride in that!). No word on number of episodes at this point, but it seems likely that it will be another 13 episodes.

(I’m still waiting for a full press release and will update when it arrives, but I didn’t want to wait any longer.)
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Jason Priestley (Call Me Fitz) has just signed on to direct an episode and guest star in 4 episodes in the second season of Syfy’s Haven. Production on the second season of 13 episodes picks up April 1st, with late summer the target to begin airing episodes. Priestley will play “a handsome but anti-social marine biologist who must deal with an affliction most would consider a blessing.”

Here is the full press release:
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Syfy announced today that Academy award nominated actress Keira Knightley (Pirates Of The Caribbean) will be the voice of Tinker Bell in Neverland, a a four hour prequel to Peter Pan, being produced for Syfy and Sky Movies. Other cast members already announced are Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) as Jimmy Hook, Charlie Rowe (The Golden Compass) as Peter, Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) as Captain Elizabeth Bonny, Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) as Dr. Fludd, and Raoul Trujillo (Cowboys & Aleins) as a Holy Man.

Hoskins is apparently reprising his role of Smee from 1991’s Hook, although how this will work into the story with a much younger Hook remains to be seen.

See the full press release below.
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From the updated press release:

Directed by Jason Connery — Sean Connery’s son — Area 51 premieres Saturday, February 26, at 9PM (ET/PT). In the movie, the Air Force decides to allow a few reporters into the most secretive base on the planet, Area 51, but the visit turns into violent mayhem when one of the captive aliens leads an escape. Area 51 stars Bruce Boxleitner (Tron: Legacy, Babylon 5), John Shea (Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman, Mutant X) and Jason London (Dazed and Confused, MonsterWolf). A production of After Dark Films.