Sci Fi Channel Unveils New Series

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Beverly Hills, Calif. -- Sci Fi Channel said it green-lit several new original scripted series, reality shows and mini-series, including Battlestar Galactica mini-sodes, an animated skein and a UFO-based offshoot of Ghost Hunters.

Beginning in October, Sci Fi will deliver to Battlestar Galactica fans an eight-week series of exclusive two- to three-minute mini-sodes that will lead up to the Nov. 24 premiere of the show’s two-hour special Battlestar Galactica: Razor, the network said.

Among the other new shows announced during Sci Fi Channel’s Television Critics Association tour presentation here Sunday are The Awesomes, an animated series described as “SuperFriends meets The Office,” which follows the lives of a team of past-their-prime superheroes; and Going Homer, a retooling of the classic Odyssey tale in which a young boy encounters Greek and Roman deities unseen to others that walk among us in the 21st Century.

Other scripted series include God Inc., based on a Web series developed by filmmaker Francis Stokes, and an untitled Thomas Jane/Steve Niles miniseries set in the future in which a lost pilot defends the inhabitants of a new world against his fellow humans bent on ravaging the world’s natural resources.

On the reality front, the network green-lit Run for Money, a reality competition series; Brain Trust, which uses science technology to solve daily mundane, small problems; What Can’t I Do?, which puts infomercial products to the test; and UFO Hunters, a takeoff on Sci Fi’s popular series Ghost Hunters, which will investigate claims of UFO sightings and other worldy experiences.

The network will also launch new content on SciFi.com's broadband-video site, Sci Fi Pulse. The network will resurrect popular space series Farscape on the Web with a 10-part Webisode series. Executive vice president and general manager David Howe said some of the show’s original cast would appear in the Webisodes but would not comment further.

Another web series, Invent This!, will seek the world’s quirkiest inventions and reveal the secret behind what bring these contractions to life.

The network will also turn its Sci Fi Tech technology-based blog into a live-action weekly Web series that will test new gadgets in various scenarios.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.