Syfy Adds Three Reality Series

Net expanding unscripted programming slate in 2011

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/22/2011 5:24:44 PM

Syfy will announce a programming slate of 14 new original series/events to ad buyers at its upfront presentation Tuesday evening, including the addition of three reality series.

In June reality show Hollywood Treasure will return for a second season, paired with the new unscripted Haunted Collector, about a family of paranormal investigators who track down haunted items for their museum.

Premiering in July is Legend Quest, which follows a symbologist as he travels the globe in search of artifacts believed to hold hidden powers. Docu-drama Paranormal Witness, which tells the stories of people who have lived through paranormal experiences, is set for a September debut.

In July the network will launch new scripted series Alphas, about a team of ordinary people who use their extraordinary mental and physical abilities to solve cases in July, along with the return of Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven that month.

In development is Battlestar: Blood and Chrome, set in the 10^th year of the First Cyclon War, and the half-hour comedies Me and Lee with Lee Majors, In the Dark, about a team of wannabe paranormal investigators, and new adaptation Three Inches.

Joining the net's roster of Saturday Original Movies is Red Faction: Origins, based on the video game series, Shannen Doherty in a reimagined Gretl, and the aptly named Jersey Shore Shark Attack.

In December Syfy will bring back its "Countdown to Christmas Week" for a second time, highlighted by the movie Neverland with Keira Knightley as the voice of Tinker Bell.  The network will also enter the social gaming space with a suite of sponsorable games from Syfy Ventures.

Sister network Chiller will premiere two original movies and the special Chiller 13: Horror's Creepiest Kids in the third and fourth quarters of 2011. The movies are Remains, about two lone survivors of a bizarre accident that turned most of the global population to zombies, and Ghoul, about a group of friends searching for who or what is behind a series of disappearances in their town. Ghoul replaces the previously announced movie The Passenger.

Syfy's upfront is being held at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York, where the network will host a performance of the Broadway musical Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark.