http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/05/15/syfy-summer-2012-features-record-number-of-primetime-original-programming-hours-212211
SYFY SUMMER 2012 FEATURES RECORD NUMBER OF PRIMETIME ORIGINAL
PROGRAMMING HOURS
ALL-NEW SEASONS OF WAREHOUSE 13, ALPHAS, FACE OFF, DESTINATION TRUTH
AND HAUNTED COLLECTOR
PREMIERES OF UNSCRIPTED SERIES SCHOOL SPIRITS, PARANORMAL HIGHWAY AND
INSANE OR INSPIRED?
NEW SYFY SATURDAY ORIGINAL MOVIES JERSEY SHORE SHARK ATTACK AND
BIGFOOT
NEW YORK - May 15, 2012 - Featuring a record number of primetime
original programming hours, Syfy's hot Summer 2012 will be highlighted
by the premiere of the new unscripted series School Sprits (from
executive producer Mark Burnett), Insane or Inspired? and Paranormal
Highway (working title) starring Jack Osbourne; new seasons of hits
Warehouse 13, Face Off, Alphas, Destination Truth and Haunted
Collector, along with the eagerly anticipated Saturday Original Movies
Jersey Shore Shark Attack and Bigfoot, plus the series finale of the
beloved Eureka.
Syfy will also present a Memorial Day weekend movie festival
highlighted by the premiere of Super Shark on May 26th, followed by
the semi-annual Twilight Zone marathon on July 4th.
Lost Girl will move to Fridays at 10PM beginning Friday, July 20.
Highlights of Syfy's 2012 Summer Programming Schedule (All Times
ET/PT)
MAY
INSANE OR INSPIRED? (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)
Premieres Friday, May 25 at 10PM
This new series features the most exciting videos from the Internet
that celebrate the world of imagination, invention, and extreme
experiences. Actors Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Samm
Levine (Freaks & Geeks), Brooke Hogan, Ralph Garman, as well as
television personality Josh Gates, host of Syfy's Destination Truth,
join comedians Ben Gleib, Owen Benjamin, Jodi Miller, Elliot Chang,
Jermaine Fowler, Adam Ray, Christiana Pazistky, KT Tatara and Janet
Varney to provide their unique commentary on each of the clips. The
result is a fast-paced hour-long countdown of hilarious viral videos.
Insane or Inspired? is produced by Comcast Studios with Jay James,
Betsy Rott, and Sean Olsen serving as executive producers.
JUNE
HAUNTED COLLECTOR (SEASON 2 PREMIERE)
Premieres Wednesday, June 6 at 9PM
Haunted Collector features eminent paranormal collector John Zaffis,
who searches for objects that have become home to paranormal spirits
and/or energy. Each week Zaffis and his family help someone who's
terrorized by something strange in their own home, using the latest
technology to identify the source of the paranormal activity. On the
season 2 premiere of Haunted Collector, the team heads to Warsaw,
Kentucky, where a woman's home is suffering hauntings, possibly from
two steamboats which crashed in a fiery collision, killing more than
60 people in 1868. Next, they travel to Huron, Ohio, in a race against
the clock to remove the dangerous energy from an abandoned silo,
scheduled to be destroyed in 48 hours. Haunted Collector is produced
by Gurney Productions. Executive producers are Scott Gurney and
Deirdre Gurney.
SCHOOL SPIRITS (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)
Premieres Wednesday, June 20 at 10PM
From executive producer Mark Burnett, School Spirits travels to
schools and universities all across the country to recount the true
ghost stories experienced on these academic campuses. The stories will
be told in first person narratives through the testimonials of real
students, teachers, parents and staff that have encountered the
paranormal activity, blended with bone-chilling cinematic reenactments
to further bring the haunting experiences to life. Executive
producers: Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Voice) and Seth Jarrett & Julie
Insogna Jarrett (Celebrity Ghost Stories).
SATURDAY ORIGINAL MOVIES (ALL-NEW MOVIES)
ยท Jersey Shore Shark Attack - Saturday, June 9 at 9PM - Led by an
all-star cast of Tony Sirico (The Sopranos), Paul Sorvino
(Goodfellas), Jack Scalia (Dallas), Joey Fatone ('N Sync), William
Atherton (Die Hard) and Vinny Guadagnino (Jersey Shore) the movie
unfolds during the July Fourth weekend at the Jersey Shore, where
angry sharks are on a rampage, devouring residents, leaving it to the
local Guidos to save the day. The movie also stars Jeremy Luke as The
Complication, Melissa Molinaro as Nooki, Joey Russo as Donnie, Daniel
Booko as Balzac, Audi Resendez as B.J., and Alex Mauriello as J-Moni.
Jersey Shore Shark Attack is a production of Hybrid Entertainment. The
director is John Shepphird. Jeffrey Schenck, Barry Barnholtz and Peter
Sullivan are the producers.
ยท Piranhaconda - Saturday, June 16 at 9PM - Part fish! Part snake! All
killer! In B-movie icon Roger Corman's latest, a hybrid creature -
half piranha and half anaconda -- attacks a movie crew on location
near her nest when her egg is stolen. Now they must outrun and kill
the deadly piranhaconda as well as stop the mad scientist who stole
the egg - before they all become dinner. Stars Michael Madsen
(Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: I & II) and Rachel Hunter (The
Benchwarmers). Piranhaconda is a production of New Horizons, directed
by Jim Wynorski.
ยท Arachnoquake - Saturday, June 23 at 9PM - In Arachnoquake, starring
Tracey Gold (Growing Pains), massive earthquakes unleash giant albino
spiders. Freed from their ancient subterranean prison, the spiders go
on a murderous rampage through New Orleans. Joining Gold will be Bug
Hall (The Little Rascals), Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager) and
Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgment Day). The movie is a production
of Active Entertainment. Arachnoquake is directed by Griff Furst.
ยท Bigfoot - Saturday, June 30 at 9PM - Television legends Danny
Bonaduce (The Partridge Family) and Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch)
star as life-long rivals battling over Bigfoot. Howard Hesseman (Head
of the Class), Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks), Andre Royo (The Wire) and
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper (School's Out) co-star in the
movie, which is directed by Oscar and Emmy nominee Bruce Davison
(X-Men). Bigfoot is a production of The Asylum.
JULY
DESTINATION TRUTH (SEASON 5 PREMIERE)
Premieres Tuesday, July 10 at 8PM
Season 5 opens with two special back-to-back episodes, as Josh Gates
and his team lead viewers on a chase into one of the world's biggest
caves in the jungles of Vietnam to search for Bigfoot. Then, at the
overwhelming request of fans, they'll travel to Romania for a return
visit to the haunted Hoia Bachu Forest, the site of their most
terrifying investigation to date, and then explore the reportedly
haunted Mayan ruins of Tikal in pursuit of a monster known as the
Belize Goblin. They'll also lead viewers into a remote Transylvanian
village on a hunt for vampires and journey to Kazakhstan (a
Destination Truth first) to search for the legendary Kazakh monster.
Destination Truth is executive produced by Brad Kuhlman for Ping Pong
Productions (1000 Places to See Before You Die, Celebrity Rehab, FM
Nation). Josh Gates and Erin Ryder serve as co-executive producers.
PARANORMAL HIGHWAY (NEW ORIGINAL SERIES)
Premieres Tuesday, July 10 at 10PM
Paranormal Highway puts the pedal to the metal as Jack Osbourne and
his friend Dana Workman do their own first-person investigations of
the most frightening claims of paranormal activity along America's
remote back roads. Fueled by eyewitness interviews and evidence
collected by Jack's state-of-the-art equipment, he and Dana will
travel alone, self-documenting their harrowing face-to-face encounters
with the paranormal. Production company: BASE Productions. Executive
producers: John Brenkus, Mickey Stern, Ron Ziskin.
EUREKA (SERIES FINALE)
Airs Monday, July 16 at 9PM
After five seasons, Syfy's long-running original series comes to an
end and the remarkable residents of Eureka say their goodbyes. During
the thrilling final season, the town is reeling after the Astraeus and
her crew mysteriously vanished just before their planned launch to
Titan. As the town copes with the shocking personal changes caused by
the Astraeus ordeal, they continue to uncover the truth about the
forces behind the crew's bizarre disappearance -- with shocking
results. Eureka stars Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter) Salli
Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Erica
Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo) and Niall Matter (Zane
Donovan). Co-creator Jaime Paglia and Bruce Miller are executive
producers. The series is produced and distributed by Universal Cable
Productions.
WAREHOUSE 13 (SEASON 4 PREMIERE)
Premieres Monday, July 23 at 9PM
Season 4 kicks off with the Warehouse Team still reeling from the
shocking events of the climactic season three finale - the loss of
Agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore), Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder), H.G.
Wells (Jaime Murray) and the destruction of the Warehouse itself.
Their only hope lies in racing to the other side of the Earth to hunt
down an obscure artifact, which may or may not even exist - and if it
does exist, what consequences will they face for using it? The most
successful series in Syfy history, Warehouse 13 follows a team of
government agents who work at a massive, top-secret storage facility
in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact,
mysterious relic, fantastical object and preternatural souvenir ever
collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse's caretaker Artie
Nielsen (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), Myka
Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) with
chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search
of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to
control the Warehouse itself. Sam Huntington (Being Human) will be
among the star-studded array of season 4 guest stars. Warehouse 13 is
produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book
of Daniel) is executive producer and showrunner.
ALPHAS (SEASON 2 PREMIERE)
Premieres Monday, July 23 at 10PM
In Syfy's action-packed hit drama series, an unlikely team of ordinary
people with superhuman physical and mental abilities - known as Alphas
- takes on mysterious cases the CIA, FBI and Pentagon are unable to
solve and go head-to-head with criminal Alphas.
Season 2 picks up eight months after last year's finale with the stage
set for an explosive turn of events at the Binghamton facility (the
Guantanamo of the Alpha world) that could have devastating,
far-reaching consequences. Dr. Lee Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and
Academy Award-nominee David Strathairn), having exposed the existence
of Alphas to the unsuspecting public, finds himself discredited and
imprisoned by a government desperate to cover up his revelation. The
rest of the core team has disbanded and some, without Rosen's guidance
and care, have regressed to their old, destructive ways. They must now
battle their individual demons in order to reunite and try to save
their own.
Alphas also stars Malik Yoba, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan
Cartwright and Laura Mennell. Erin Way (Detroit 187, Private Practice)
joins the cast this season as "Kat" a mysterious young loner whose
Alpha ability allows her to pick up any skill at a glance. But while
her skills are permanent, her personal memories are short-lived. The
series is produced by Universal Cable Productions and BermanBraun
Television with executive producers Bruce Miller, Gail Berman, Lloyd
Braun, Gene Stein and Zak Penn. Penn and co-executive producer Michael
Karnow are series creators.
AUGUST
PARANORMAL WITNESS (SEASON 2 PREMIERE)
Premieres Wednesday, August 8 at 10PM
Using a mixture of intimate first-hand testimony, actual home video
and gritty realistic drama, the hit series Paranormal Witness returns
to transport viewers into a world turned upside-down by extraordinary,
terrifying and sometimes life-threatening paranormal events.
Paranormal Witness is produced by Raw TV (Locked Up Abroad and Gold
Rush Alaska). Executive producers are Dimitri Doganis and Bart Layton.
FACE OFF (SEASON 3 PREMIERE)
Premieres Tuesday, August 21 at 9PM
Syfy's hit competition reality series returns for season 3 with 12
aspiring special effects make-up artists and their unlimited
imaginations, competing to create amazing works of living art. The
eleven-episode season will feature some of the most difficult
challenges ever attempted and high power special guest judges. It all
culminates in one winner and one $100,000 grand prize that will launch
a career. McKenzie Westmore returns as host. The second season finale
became the most watched unscripted telecast in the channel's nearly
20-year history, transforming 3.58 million total viewers, based on
Live+7 data. This also established a Syfy original series record - for
scripted and unscripted programs - for most Adults 18-34 viewers with
1.01 million. Face Off is a production of Mission Control Media with
Dwight D. Smith, Michael Agbabian and Derek Atherton serving as
executive producers.