Alphas

This July, Syfy launches its newest original scripted series Alphas. In the action-packed thriller from writers Zak Penn (The Avengers, X-Men: The Last Stand) and Michael Karnow, five ordinary people are brought together to form one extraordinary team. They are known as Alphas -- people with the unique power to stretch the capabilities of the human mind giving them superhuman physical and mental abilities -- and the impossible is what they do best.

Alphas premieres Monday, July 11 @ 10:00PM ET/PT, and will be presented by Verizon with limited commercial interruption.

Alphas follows a clandestine group of average everyday citizens with amazing abilities operating within the U.S. Department of Defense. Led by preeminent neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Lee Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and Academy Award-nominee David Strathairn), the team investigates cases that point to others with abilities like theirs, and as they work against the clock to solve this new brand of crime, they must prevent their own personality differences and disparate backgrounds from interfering with their missions.

Rising star Cody Deal, who starred in Syfy's Almighty Thor earlier in the year, is still working hard to make it in Hollwood (and blogging about it). We at SciFi Vision talked to Deal before the release of the Asylum film on Syfy. Since then, Deal is still working on his career, his goals, and following his heart.

During the beginning of his career, Deal hired a publicist, like most actors do, which is how he first became involved in Contamination, a horror, sci-fi, and popculture convention that starts today in St. Louis that he will be attending. However, he since he has learned he can promote himself well on his own. "Originally when I did Almighty Thor, I was like "I need to hire a publicist, I've got a movie out there."

"...So I hocked my iPad and got a publicist for $500 that month. He said I was getting his full services, but that didn't happen. But I learned about how to do it from him. I was like, "I can do this."

"...And then I put that grass roots effort into getting onto all the major networks and different stuff. But he is the one who got the event booker in contact with me, it was that publicist that actually got that set that up."

Contamination is Deal's first convention - as a guest or attending, so he doesn't know what to expect. Deal, however, who is always very personable, is looking forward to meeting people at the convention. "I hope there are a lot of people who show up who know who I am, that's what I hope. I feel like the majority of people are going to show up and not have any clue of who I am. "Oh, you were in [Almighty] Thor, that's cool!" I want people to have excitement on their faces and go, "I loved your movie!" Or, "Your movie sucked! But you're a cool dude." That's what I'm looking forward to the most.

"...I'm a pretty approachable guy, and I'm going to bring cards that have my Facebook and twitter on there...I'm such a small town guy, that I say hi to everybody."

By Jamie Ruby

 Swamp Shark, Syfy's new original movie, which premieres tomorrow night at 9pm ET/CT, is about a killer shark who is released illegally into a river of a remote Louisiana town. The town, including the crooked sheriff, must fight to save the town and its people.

The Syfy Saturday "creature feature" stars Robert Davi (Profiler, Stargate: Atlantis), Kristy Swanson (Dude, Where's My Car, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), D.B. Sweeney (The Event, The Cutting Edge), and National Baseball Hall of Fame Member Wade Boggs.

Davi, Swanson, Sweeney, and Boggs recently talked to the media about tonight's movie.

By Jamie Ruby

Maxine Wasa is a long-time industry professional. She is known not only as an actress, but also a model, and was a model for Playboy Magazine. She also sings and produces music as well as works with charities and writes for Paw Print Magazine.

Wasa will be appearing as a special guest this weekend at Contamination, a horror, sci-fi, and pop culture convention in St. Louis. Wasa recently took the time to sit down with Jamie Ruby at SciFi Vision for an exclusive interview.

Wasa is happy to be appearing at the convention. She has attended other conventions in the past, but not Contamination. "This is a new convention for me, so I'm excited to see how it's run. I know Dave Dyer is really good at throwing great events and I'm excited about that and I'm excited to be with some of my friends that are on the same convention circuit. So it's always really fun to meet up with them and to get together for the weekend and just have a good time."

One of Syfy's hottest summer series, Warehouse 13, which follows a team of agents who locate and return mysterious artifacts with strange powers to the top-secret warehouse they protect, will be entering its third season next month.

Last season left fans questioning what was to come of the Warehouse team as Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) chose to leave for good. There was also the question of whether fans would see the villian H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray) again.

This season, a new character, young ATF agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore) will be joining the team and will become Pete Lattimer's (Eddie McClintock) new partner. What will this mean for Myka?

Recently, executive producer and showrunner of the series, Jack Kenny, sat down with Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision for an exclusive interview to talk about the upcoming season of Warehouse 13, which will premiere July 11 at 9pm ET/PT on Syfy.

Wilfred, based on the critically acclaimed Australian series of the same name, has been added to FX's programming schedule with an order of thirteen episodes. This comedy series stars Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as "Ryan" and Jason Gann as "Wilfred," who will be reprising his role from the original series. Gann was also the creator of the original series and serves as co-executive producer and writer on the FX remake.

The story follows Wood's character, who after struggling to find happiness after listening to everyone but himself, has become suicidal. That is when he meets "Wilfred," his neighbor Jenna's (played by Californication's Fiona Gublemann) dog, who he sees as a man dressed in a dog suit. "Wilfred" is "Ryan's" alter-ego, trying to help him find happiness and break out of his shell.

Wood and Gann recently sat down with Jamie Ruby of SciFi Vision and MediaBlvd to discuss the new series which airs tonight at 10pm ET/PT on FX.

By Jamie Ruby

St. Louis, Missouri is home to the horror, sci-fi, and popculture convention Contamination for the second year running. The event looks to be a great place to meet some of your favorite celebrities and have a fun-filled weekend, without breaking the bank. The convention will offer a chance to mingle with some stars, play a little zombie laser tag, see a concert, and more. Contamination runs from June 24th - June 26th this year and is being hosted by Dyer Straits Productions.

Contamination organizer Dave Dyer sat down with SciFi Vision in an exclusive interview to talk about the upcoming event and all it has to offer.

Dyer previously worked as a dealer/vendor around the United States before he decided to also start Contamination. "Going to all these shows that I've gone to, there's nothing like [Contamination] in St. Louis. So I came up with the bright idea to try to take it upon myself to try to put this thing together, and it was two years in the making for the first one, and now hopefully every year gets a little easier."

By Jamie Ruby

Skyler Samuels is probably best known for her recent work on the supernatural series, The Gates. She, however, has appeared in a few series, including The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Wizards of Waverly Place, for example, as well as films such as The Stepfather and Furry Vengeance.

For Samuels's newest project, she will be starring in the upcoming ABC Family series, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, which premieres tonight at 9pm eastern. The series is based on a series of books by the same name, written by Liz Braswell (a.k.a. Celia Thomson).

The story follows Chloe, as on her sixteenth birthday, she starts developing some strange powers. Chloe is actually part of the ancient race the Mai, who are considered both part god and part human. She must race to save her people from extinction by the assassins that have been hunting her kind for millennia.

Samuels recently sat down with the digital media, including SciFi Vision, to promote the new ABC Family series.

WHO IS CHLOE KING?

ONE BIRTHDAY CHANGES DESTINY FOR A TEENAGE GIRL, IN ABC FAMILY'S ORIGINAL SERIES "THE NINE LIVES OF CHLOE KING," PREMIERING
TUESDAY, JUNE 14 AT 9:00 PM ET/PT

New Original Series Based on Alloy Entertainment's
Successful Book Series of the Same Name

Burbank, CA (Wednesday, May 4, 2011) – A smart, pretty, slightly offbeat teen girl who lives alone with her single-mother suddenly discovers her destiny is far greater than she could have ever imagined, in "The Nine Lives of Chloe King," premiering Tuesday, June 14 at 9:00PM ET/PT on ABC Family. The new one-hour scripted action drama follows Chloe King, who is looking forward to celebrating her 16th birthday with her friends and single mother -- just like every other year – that is until she starts developing heightened abilities and discovers she's being pursued by a mysterious figure. Chloe soon learns she's part of an ancient race called the Mai, which has been hunted by human assassins for millennia — and that she may ultimately be their only hope for survival.

By Karen Moul

Blind auditions and exceptionally talented contestants are not the only things that sets The Voice apart from other singing competitions. The show has aggressively embraced online media and even has its own "V Correspondent," Alison Haislip, who blogs, tweets, and posts to Facebook during the episodes.

She encourages the performers to do the same, saying it is "incredibly crucial" to interact with fans if they hope to advance in the competition.

"People can vote not just by telephone," Haislip explains, "but online at nbc.com and using the NBC Live app. [So] the more you can get yourself out there online the better chances you're going to have."

But Haislip also believes online interaction has benefits beyond The Voice.

"Something this show has become known for," she says, "is giving artists a second chance.

"And some of those artists...have said that the reason they didn't have their first chance is because labels or managers or whoever said that they just did not have a strong enough online presence, they did not have a big enough fan base online to get their news out there."