The good news: Syfy is finally releasing Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge. This channel is rapidly becoming the Food Channel of props and special effects, and that's a good thing when you get Henson's company involved. The bad news: Syfy's new show titled Carvers, which is about carving things.
The Syfy channel just announced their 2014 lineup and there's some good and and bad here. We've already crowed about our excitement over the Jim Henson Creature Shop series. As long as you're in that building, there's no way the show could be boring, right? Carvers sounds... interesting. I don't know. It's cool idea, but I don't know how much time I'm willing to allocate from my life to watching actual video of people carving stuff. Pictures are usually pretty fine for that. However I'm a sucker for any and all wedding shows, so more weddings of the geeky persuasion is A-OK by me.
More bad news includes the end of Warehouse 13, which just still hurts. But color us intrigued for Metal Hurlan. It has a pretty fun cast and I'm contractually obligated as a nerd who grew up in the 90s to watch anything James Marsters is in. Here's the full press release for your perusing pleasure:
Highlights of Syfy's 2014 Spring Programming Schedule (All Times ET/PT) MARCH
CARVERS (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)
Premieres Tuesday, March 4 at 10 PM – The special Carvers follows Ray Villafane and Andy Bergholtz, two uniquely talented and quirky craftsmen, who wield knives as their artistic utensil of choice. These best friends, along with their staff of eccentric carvers, create masterpieces out of wood, ice, pumpkins, chocolate, sand, meat and anything else their clients desire. From high-end corporate events to state fairs, this crew works feverishly to design and sculpt jaw-dropping works of larger-than-life art. Carvers is produced by Coolfire Originals. Executive producers are Jeff Keane and Steve Luebbert. Aaron Bowden is the showrunner.
MY BIG FAT GEEK WEDDING (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)
Premieres Tuesday, March 11 at 10 PM – In the original, one-hour special My Big Fat Geek Wedding, Syfy presents the wedding of Julian Roman and Mandie Bettencourt, geeks in love who met online while playing "Final Fantasy." After an eight-year courtship, Julian popped the question onstage at a renaissance fair. Now the couple is excited to create a medieval fantasy style wedding that is a true reflection of their relationship and shared passions, complete with a ring bearer hawk swooping down from the sky. The couple enlists a team of experts to help bring their fantastical ideas to life, led by wedding planner Kristin Banta. With ten years of wedding planning experience under her belt, Kristin has executed everything from a Victorian Tim Burton themed-wedding to a Pirate-themed affair. Anything Kristin executes is a jaw-dropping extravaganza. To make the wedding even more spectacular, Kristin has brought Brandon Hillock to the team. Brandon is a party planner, genre expert, Cosplayer and the founder of Character Masters, a theme-driven event planning company. Kristin and Brandon will take the couple on the ride of their lives as they scout possible castle venues, choose elaborate costumes, create wondrous props, plan a swordfight, and even execute a dragon surprise that promises to make this wedding the ultimate celebration of fandom and love. My Big Fat Geek Wedding is produced by T Group with Jenny Daly serving as executive producer.
FOXY & CO (ORIGINAL SPECIAL)
Premieres Tuesday, March 18 at 10PM – Popular former Face Off contestant Eric Fox (aka Foxy) is taking on Hollywood with his charmingly sinister personality and characteristic good humor in the original Syfy docu-special, Foxy & Co. Foxy appeared on season four of Face Off and became an immediate fan favorite thanks to his original style, wild imagination and mad-scientist-like creations. This all-new special follows Foxy as he opens up his very own creature effects shop with the help of fellow former Face Off contestants Nicole Chilelli, RJ Haddy and Roy Wooley. But this time, instead of competing against each other, the artists have come together as one unbelievably creative force. From creating dozens of zombies for the upcoming Brian Pulido film Zack the Zombie Exterminator to an inspirational breast cancer awareness campaign for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the team dives into each job with artistic passion and consistently hold themselves to only the highest of standards. Komen ambassador Kimberly Williams makes a guest appearance. Foxy & Co. is produced by Mission Control Media with Michael Agbabian, Dwight Smith and James Flint serving as executive producers.
JIM HENSON'S CREATURE SHOP CHALLENGE (SERIES PREMIERE)
Premieres Tuesday, March 25 at 10PM – Syfy introduces ten hopeful creature designers who have come to Los Angeles with an incredible shared dream: to land a job working in Jim Henson's Creature Shop™. The new eight episode reality competition series provides a fascinating window into the imaginative and wildly creative environment of world-class creature design, fabrication and mechanization. The series features host Gigi Edgley (Farscape) and lead judge Brian Henson, Chairman of The Jim Henson Company, who also oversees the groundbreaking work of Jim Henson's Creature Shop™. Henson is an award-winning writer, puppeteer, director and producer whose mentor was his father, the iconic genius Jim Henson. The competing creature designers are allowed unprecedented access to the world-renowned Creature Shop, gaining hands-on experience to learn every aspect of what it takes to become a master creature designer. Following a series of elaborate challenges, only one will be awarded a prize worth up to $100,000, including the opportunity for the job of a lifetime – a contract working at the world-renowned Jim Henson's Creature Shop™.
Highlights of Syfy's 2014 Spring Programming Schedule (All Times ET/PT) APRIL
CONTINUUM (SEASON 3 PREMIERE)
Returns Friday, April 4 at 10PM – Season 3 of Continuum amplifies the mythology, technology and the stakes of time travel to an intense and personal level. At the end of Season 2, Alec Sadler made the Earth-shattering decision to hijack Kiera's (Rachel Nichols) chance to get home, in order to save Emily, the girl he loves, from certain death. This act of desperation not only jettisoned Alec into the near past, but it condemned Kiera to incarceration by the Freelancers, who are 'collecting' time travelers in order to protect history. Now, Kiera must face the consequences of Alec's betrayal and somehow escape the Freelancers. Even if she can, has Alec's decision to time travel already changed the future in ways Kiera couldn't even imagine? What will Kiera sacrifice to ultimately survive – and how will Liber8 factor into this challenge?
Continuum, which was the #1 cable program among Adults 25-54 in its Friday 10PM time period during Season 2, co-stars Victor Webster (Castle, Melrose Place) as detective Carlos Fonnegra and Erik Knudsen (Jericho, Scream 4), who plays teen tech genius Alec Sadler. Executive producers of Continuum are series creator Simon Barry (The Art of War), Pat Williams (Smallville), and Tom Rowe (Tin Man). Continuum is a Showcase original series and is produced by Reunion Pictures in association with Shaw Media.
WAREHOUSE 13 (SEASON 5 PREMIERE)
Returns Monday, April 14 at 9PM – Everything has been building to the fifth and final season. Claudia's (Allison Scagliotti) epic battle with Paracelsus (Anthony Head) will unleash an unexpected horror — and the Warehouse may never be the same. In the new season, the entire Warehouse team confronts old questions – and new revelations. From a painful realization that Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) must face, and Artie (Saul Rubinek) accompanying Claudia on a soul-searching journey about her sister, to Steve (Aaron Ashmore) colliding with his past, the final six episodes of Warehouse 13 takes viewers on an emotionally-charged roller coaster ride. Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel) is executive producer and showrunner.
METAL HURLAN CHRONICLES (SERIES PREMIERE)
Premieres Monday, April 14 at 10 & 10:30PM – Based on the popular comics anthology Metal Hurlan, each of the 12-episodes (comprising Seasons 1 & 2) take place on a different planet with a different cast, linked together by the presence of an asteroid, which plays a vital role in their lives – and the future of their civilization. The international cast includes James Marsters, Rutger Hauer, Michael Jai White and Joe Flanigan.
ZODIAC: SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE (ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERE)
Premieres April TBD – A curator of her university's collection of antiquities is thrilled when a new artifact arrives: a 2,000-year-old ivory carved astrology board. But little does she know that the fate of all humanity will soon be decided by this ivory board's deadly forces. Stars Joel Gretsch (V), Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Andrea Brooks (50/50) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future).
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 98 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
Not sure what happened to the 1,000 other shows that were in development with this channel — but fingers crossed for a meatier science fiction series in the fall. Please.
onlinecollegedegreee.blogspot.com Syfy's new 2014 TV line up has some good news... and some bad news