Sci-Fi Storm

It’s finally happening…celebrities will be facing the fears of Total Blackout! If you had a sharp eye in the new season’s previews, you may have caught Eureka‘s Neil Grayston (Fargo) – and I knew that an episode had been filmed quite a while ago, but I never got any info as to who was in it…back in 2011, when the the press were given a preview of the show, Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson bravely faced the dark with good results, and I asked then when we might see a celebrity version, but they wanted to get the show up and running first…but now the time has come.

On the July 9th episode, “Celebrity Blackout,” international music superstar Aubrey O’Day (Making the Band, Celebrity Apprentice) joins television host Bob Guiney (Showhouse Showdown, The Bachelor), and actors Erin Way (Alphas, Detroit 1-8-7) and Neil Grayston (Eureka, Wonderfalls) as they go head-to-head in pitch blackness playing Total Blackout for a cause! In a first for the series, all four contestants will participate in each of the show’s three challenges with an opportunity to win up to $15,000 for their individual charities. Charities represented include Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Guiney), Responsibility (O’Day), Lungevity (Way), and Doctors without Borders (Grayston).

Total Blackout is a half-hour, extreme game show hosted by Jaleel White (Family Matters, Dancing with the Stars) in which contestants battle each other and their fears in a series of challenges played in complete darkness. There are no lights, no blindfolds and no-holds-barred as the players face their anxieties and unexpected surprises in a series of nerve-wracking games.

Now, if we can get a few more of these…who’s up for a special Warehouse 13 edition?

Check out what some of your favorite Syfy say their favorite – and weirdest – gifts on the holidays are, what their New Years resolutions are, and what their favorite holiday specials are! Jaleel White (Total Blackout), Julie Benz (Defiance), Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13), Kristen Hager (Being Human), and Rachel Nichols (Continuum).
(continue reading…)

We got a special preview of the new competition show Total Blackout back in October (including a great demonstration by Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson), but here’s an all new sneak peek of the show, hosted by Jaleel White (who, incidentally, will also be appearing on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars this season).

It’s a competition that you never saw coming where contestants battle each other and their fears in a series of challenges, confronting their own worst enemy – themselves. However, there is a twist — all the challenges are played in complete darkness; no lights, no blindfolds and no-holds barred as the players face their fears and unexpected surprises in a series of nerve-wracking games. Catch the sneak peek and tune in to the premiere of Total Blackout on Wednesday, April 25th at 10/9c.
(continue reading…)

Syfy is bumping up its programming schedule this Spring season with more original series and more hours of programming than any prior Spring season. Here are some of the highlights coming up:

March:
Monster Man (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)
Special Premiere Wednesday, March 14 at 11PM following Face Off season finale; regular time slot Wednesdays at 10PM beginning March 21 — Monster Man goes behind the scenes of one of Hollywood’s most respected monster prop building workshops. For more than 30 years, when studios have wanted a bizarre creature or out-of-this world alien, they’ve turned to Cleve Hall and his very unique family business. Only the horrifying monsters they build match the craziness of this extremely talented family. Monster Man stars Cleve Hall, his daughters Constance and Elora Hall, his ex-wife Sonja Maddox-Hall, best friends Roy Knyrim, Hill Vinot & Johnny Saiko, as well as office manager Cindy Miller. Executive producers are Scott Gurney and Deirdre Gurney for Gurney Productions.
(continue reading…)

The final panel of the Syfy Digital Press Tour was a complete surprise. All we knew was it was an unscripted show with a surprise host, and they wanted volunteers who had to sign a waiver that they were in good health, etc…I volunteered, although I was not selected. I did, however, get an early clue as to what was going on as I was out in the hallway briefly, and one of those electronic signs at convention centers that tell you what is happening where called it a “Total Blackout” panel. But I was told I had to forget everything I saw or I’d be mind wiped or something like that…

The new show is, of course, Total Blackout, based on the hit European game show. In it contestants enter a completely darkened room while filmed by infrared cameras and have to determine objects just by their other senses – objects that could be alive.
(continue reading…)

EIGHT EPISODE ORDER FOR NEW GAME SHOW FROM FREMANTLEMEDIA NORTH AMERICA (AMERICAN IDOL, THE X FACTOR)

ORLANDO – October 10, 2011 – Continuing the expansion of its popular unscripted programming, Syfy will bring the international hit Total Blackout – a half-hour game show which places contestants in complete darkness to compete in challenges — to its prime time schedule in 2012, it was announced today by Mark Stern, President of Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head of Content for Universal Cable Productions.
(continue reading…)