On Monday, NBC premiere its newest live entertainment event, American Song Contest. The series is based on Eurovision Song Contest. The series will feature original live musical performance from across the country, featuring both new talent and legendary icons, in different styles and genres. Both solo artists and groups will be featured.

The competition is host by Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg.

Recently, Clarkson, along with executive producers Audrey Morrissey, Ben Silverman, Anders Lenhoff, and Christer Björkman took part in a Zoom conference to discuss the competition series.

Clarkson has previously worked with Snoop Dogg on The Voice and was happy to get to work together once again. “I love Snoop,” said Clarkson. “I loved working with him on The Voice. We worked really well together, and the thing I loved most about him is that he really took his time listening and kind of taking it in, each performance because, honestly, you only see the edited version on TV, but we are actually there...We were there for hours, and he still took the time to really invest. He really cared, and he gave really solid feedback. He was into it, and you can really tell, and America can tell...While we are from, like, different areas, we both really love people succeeding. We both really love watching people nail it. We both really love supporting other artists, and he's just fun to work with. So, I know we might seem like the odd couple, but we get along well."

Earlier in the week, Syfy aired the mid-season finale of its hit comedy, Resident Alien. In the series, based on the comic book of the same name, an alien (Alan Tudyk) crash lands in a small town in Colorado and takes over the identity of the town doctor, Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle. During his time he meets Asta Twelvetrees (Sarah Tomko), who tries to teach him how to be human, which causes him to start to question his secret mission to destroy the human race.

Gary Farmer plays the role of Dan Twelvetrees, Asta’s adoptive father who owns the town’s diner.

Dan is a member of the Ute Native American Tribe. To Farmer, who is Haudenosaunee, representation is very important, and Resident Alien, which features many Indigenous performers and incorporates Native culture, shows them in a positive light. “As a performer,” said Farmer to SciFi Vision, “[I’m] very conscientious about representation and how we're portrayed on television, which for this particular show is very positive.”

Yesterday, AppleTV+ dropped the third episode of its new series, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey - a heartbreaking examination of aging, memory and the devastating effects of dementia. This week, Ptolemy (Samuel L. Jackson) and Robyn (Danielle Fishback) explore a promising new treatment that comes with a tremendous caveat. 

Although Ptolemy’s wife, Sensia (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams), passed away years ago, her presence has overshadowed the first two episodes. This week, as Ptolemy’s memories are restored, viewers get a look into their complex relationship and how she continues to influence Ptolemy’s actions.

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams told SciFi Vision that “Sensia's real power in the story is that when she was alive, and when she was in Ptolemy's life, the way that they impacted one another was so vibrant and so electric, and such a challenge to each other. That level of fierce love and connection is what allows her to…pierce through the fog of his dementia and encourage him again, and challenge him again, and ask him to face his fears again.”

The science fiction film Expired, which premieres today in theaters and On Demand, stars Ryan Kwanten as Jack, a hitman whose life is forever changed after meeting a club singer, April (Jillian Nguyen). The two fall in love, and Jack finds himself with a strange affliction that only gets worse the deeper he falls.

One of the things that attracted Kwanten to the project was the blended genres. “I've always loved sci-fi, and the amalgamation of a love story and a thriller under the sci-fi guys guise was pretty powerful to me,” said the actor to SciFi Vision, adding that he also enjoyed that it was character driven and the science fiction wasn’t that far out there. “[T]he high tech gadgetry and imagery, it really felt like an extension of the world as it is now: more near-fi than sci-fi and kind of almost tangible, almost, scarily so.”

Last night NBC premiered the second season of its hit comedy Young Rock, inspired by the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. 

Other than Johnson, who also appears in the show, three actors play him at different points in his life, from childhood into the beginning of adulthood. That means that the actors have to have a consistency throughout their performances to make them seamless. According to Bradley Constant, who plays the character at age fifteen, the success of this partially had to do with the casting, but they didn’t really worry too much about it. “From our end,” said the actor to Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision during a recent roundtable interview, “I think we really are so similar already in a lot of ways, and we just get along; we hang out together. It's in the writing too, and I don't think we really stressed too much about trying to make sure that it all aligned.”

Adrian Groulx, who plays Johnson at age ten, agreed that it happens without effort. “While we were hanging out together and doing these different events with each other, I think it kind of naturally did it itself with the similarities…we didn't really have to talk about it too much,” said the youngest actor.

Today the third season of the UK crime drama The Bay comes to American audiences via BriBox. The series follows DS Jenn Townsend, played by Marsha Thomason, the new FLO (family liaison officer) at the MIU. She must help a grieving family while also trying to solve a murder.

Thomason was a fan of the series before taking on the role, and she really liked that you get to see more than just Townsend as a detective. “What I really liked about getting the opportunity to play Jenn,” said Thomason during a recent exclusive interview with Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision, “is that she's at work, and she's a badass, even though she's not necessarily feeling her badassery when we find her, but she’s a badass. Then, we see her at home with all of the turbulence that’s going on there. So, we get to see a fully rounded person, which is what attracted [me to it].”

The role of a FLO is not something that most people know about, and Thomason wasn’t familiar with it either, which she feels is one of the reasons the series is so popular. “I don't know of any other show that comes up at it from the angle of the family liaison officer,” said the actress. “…We all love police dramas, but what we're dealing with is a cop who’s very specifically tasked with working with the family who are going through this horror…that's really interesting.”

The Eternal Wait Is Over

Lucifer: The Complete Fifth Season
 
Your Date with the Devil Arrives on Blu-Ray^TM and DVD May 31, 2022
 
Available on Digital March 28, 2022

BURBANK, CA (March 15, 2022) – Indulge your deepest desires as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment brings you Lucifer: The Complete Fifth Season on DVD May 31, 2022. You’ll have a devilish grin as you indulge in all 16 hell-raising episodes from the fifth season with tantalizing deleted scenes, and a gag reel included in the bonus features. Lucifer: The Complete Fifth Season is priced to own on DVD at $29.98 SRP ($39.99 in Canada) and will also be available on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Archive Collection. Warner Archive Blu-ray releases are easily found at www.warnerarchive.com and on your favorite online retailer sites.
 
Lucifer: The Complete Fifth Season will also be available to own on Digital on March 28, 2022 via purchase from digital retailers.

Mr. Mayor is back this week for its second season with Los Angeles’ new chief executive still learning to manage City Hall. Created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, the comedy stars Ted Danson as Neil Bremer, a retired billionaire who runs for mayor of Los Angeles almost on a whim; once elected, he’s quickly in over his head. With a year of experience under his belt, the mayor is ready to shake things up at City Hall – by hiring a team of “innovation” experts. Holly Hunter costars as Arpi Meskimen, the no-nonsense deputy mayor who uses her decades of experience to steer Bremer into and out of trouble.

After a first season cut short by COVID-19, the cast was delighted to get back to work.  In a roundtable discussion last week, Hunter described the atmosphere on set as “joyful” and “delightful.”

Friday marked the return of CW’s Charmed with Season four. This season is anticipated to have some twists since the Power of Three has been shattered with the season three death of Macy. The first episode reveals the newest addition to the cast as well as the name of the “big bad” that infiltrates this season.

Christiane Elin represented SciFi Vision in a virtual press round table with Melonie Diaz (Mel Vera) and Sarah Jeffery (Maggie Vera). The interview was tailored to be spoiler-free. SciFi Vision was interested in finding out about the changing dynamics with the new addition to the cast and if this is reflected in relationships with characters Harry and Jordan.

PARAMOUNT+ DEBUTS NEW TRAILER FOR HALO FOLLOWING SXSW WORLD PREMIERE

The Highly Anticipated New Series will Premiere Mar. 24 Exclusively on Paramount+
 
“Halo” Is Produced by SHOWTIME® in Partnership with 343 Industries
and Amblin Television

March 14, 2022 - Tonight, following its SXSW premiere, Paramount+ revealed a new trailer for HALO, the service’s highly anticipated upcoming original series based on the iconic Xbox franchise. HALO will launch on Paramount+ in the U.S. and in all international markets where the streaming service is available on Thursday, Mar. 24.
 
The series stars Pablo Schreiber (“American Gods”) as the Master Chief, Spartan-117; Natascha McElhone (“Californication”) as Dr. Halsey, the brilliant, conflicted and inscrutable creator of the Spartan super soldiers; and Jen Taylor (“Halo” game series, RWBY) as Cortana, the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race. Additional stars include Bokeem Woodbine (“Fargo”), Shabana Azmi (“Fire”), Natasha Culzac (“The Witcher”), Olive Gray (“Half Moon Investigations”), Yerin Ha (“Reef Break”), Bentley Kalu (“Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Kate Kennedy (“Catastrophe”), Charlie Murphy (“Peaky Blinders”) and Danny Sapani (“Penny Dreadful”). Also joining the cast as original characters are Ryan McParland (“6Degrees”), Burn Gorman (“The Expanse”) and Fiona O’Shaughnessy (“Nina Forever”).