By Jamie Ruby

Friday Syfy premieres its new zombie series Z Nation. The series follows a group of survivors during a zombie apocalypse as they attempt to transport a man (Keith Allan) across the country who may hold the key to a vaccine for the zombie virus.

In preparation, the showrunner and executive producer, Karl Schaefer, talked to the digital media about the new series.

Schaefer talked to SciFi Vision about how Z Nation stands out from series of similar subject matter on television now. "First off there is obviously a great zombie show in The Walking Dead already on, so our mission is sort of to go where they don't, and I think the biggest difference between us and them is our series has a sense of hope and also a sense of humor. We're kind of trying to put the fun back into zombies. Our heroes have a mission that they're on, so we're traveling every week. We're going across the country. They're not just sort of fighting for survival and hunkering down into one place. They really have somewhere to go and something to do.

By Jamie Ruby

Haven returns to Syfy for season five tomorrow night. In preparation, two of the stars of the series, Emily Rose, who plays Audrey Parker and her incarnations, including the newest, Mara, and Lucas Bryant, who plays Nathan Wuornos, recently talked to the press about the new season.

Bryant talked to SciFi Vision about the transition of filming scenes with Mara and Nathan compared to Audrey and Nathan. "First of all Emily Rose, who is sitting next to me is edible this season as always, but exceptionally so in the role of Mara. It's a total treat to watch her and get to play with her.

"...But I mean, for Nathan, this is a nightmare, you know. I can't really tell you all the things that Mara is capable of, but she is a force."

By Marcina Zaccaria

On September 10 at 11 AM, fans of the show, The Voice, got the chance to try a new, virtual reality experience. The Voice 360: Be The Coach offered the possibility to get the experience of being a coach on The Voice using the Oculus Rift.

NBC LAUNCHES LIVE-ACTION VIRTUAL-REALITY EXPERIENCE FOR 'THE VOICE'

"The Voice 360: Be the Coach" Uses Oculus Rift Technology to Allow Fans to Judge a Blind Audition
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — September 9, 2014 — To promote the return of "The Voice," NBC has created "The Voice 360: Be the Coach" fan experience.

Fans will get to sit in the famous coaches' chair and via Oculus Rift virtual-reality — a complete 360° immersion — will allow them to physically and virtually experience an entire "blind audition." Fans will sit next to and interact with new season seven coaches Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, as well as returning coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.

With the public encouraged to participate, "The Voice 360" will tour the nation with four real-life coaches' chairs starting in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 9, and will end in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 22, the day the new season of "The Voice" premieres.

By Jamie Ruby

Next Wednesday Fox airs its new dramedy Red Band Society. The series is a unique coming of age story about a group of friends who are live-in patients at the Los Angeles' Ocean Park Hospital and the adults at the hospital who help them through good times and bad.

Octavia Spencer, who stars as Nurse Jackson, recently talked to the media about her new series.

Spencer talked to SciFi Vision about how she became involved in the project. She was requested for the role. "I have a great team at WME. They were fielding a lot of requests for me to read a lot of stuff. I read a few pilots and I just – Steven Spielberg is my favorite director. So when his name is on anything, of course I'm going to take it seriously.

"But I was really relieved that I absolutely, positively loved the show. Everything that you experienced as a viewer, I experienced as an actor reading the material. It's on the page.

By Jamie Ruby

Sean Astin, who plays the part of Jim Kent on FX's The Strain, recently talked to the media about his time on the series. In the most recent episode, Kent became infected and had to be killed in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Astin talked to SciFi Vision about his involvement with digital and practical effects on the series, particularly when Jim becomes infected. "Basically they would put little orange dots, reference dots, all over the area where the worm would be...The actual prosthetic of the cut...they had a brilliant piece that they put on my cheek that they could sew and unsew, and it was really, really good. People really responded to it on the set, and I liked working with it, so it didn't take very long to put on at all. It was a piece that started at the top of my inner eye, at the bridge of my nose, and went down right under the eye all the way around the eye basically, kind of like in a half moon, and then up into the hairline and down around the jaw, and kind of underneath the jaw, on the top of the neck and then up and around the same side of the mouth. So it almost looked like the Phantom of the Opera's mask, sort of like a miniature version of that, or that with a convertible version of the Phantom of the Opera mask.

"And then they painted it beautifully... [what] was really cool, was they pull the thread through it, because if you've ever had stitches, I've had lots of stitches in my life, and it felt the same. When they numb you, they put a long needle in, and they numb the area that they're going to give you a stitch; you can still feel it, but it doesn't hurt, and that's exactly what it felt like when they're threading the cut on Jim's face.

"The actual worms, though, were orange dots."

By Jamie Ruby

Season four of Haven is the best season yet, and really gets into the mythology of the show and who Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) really is.

Episode one picks up six months after the events of season three after Audrey entered the barn. Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour), who had disappeared with Audrey returns to find a different Haven. Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) has left the town after being blamed for the Troubles getting worse after Audrey disappeared, who is nowhere to be found. Dwight Hendrickson (Adam Copeland) is now running things as the sheriff.

Audrey meanwhile is stuck in a bar with a new identity, believing herself to be Lexie, with no memory of her last life. A mysterious man, William (Colin Ferguson), claims to be there to help, but it's unclear if he is part of the problem.

By Jamie Ruby

Utopia, which premieres Sunday on FOX, is more than reality tv; it's a social experiment. The unscripted series is based on the hit Dutch version of the same name. The show follows fifteen Americans who move to a remote location and must create their own civilization from scratch.

In preparation of the premiere, Executive Producer Jon Kroll and Vice President of Alternative Entertainment Simon Andreae recently talked to the media about the new series.

Kroll talked to SciFi Vision about how the audience can become involved with the show. "There is a replacement process that's designed to take place once per month, and in that process, the [14] Utopians...nominate or select who they think should leave based upon their contribution to the society.

"Anyone with two or more votes could leave, and two new people who would like to replace that person arrive, and the Utopians pick one of those to stay and become a permanent member, and that person chooses which of those people who got two or more votes must leave. At each of the two selection points, when they're selecting which Utopians are eligible to leave, and which of the two new people should join, the viewers weigh in and have the 16th vote and they participate in that process."

Andreae added, "As a viewer, as the show goes on, you will be able to put yourself forward as a possible entrant to Utopia."

By Jamie Ruby

Bitten, which is based on Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld novels, follows Elena Michaels (Laura Vandervoort), the only female ever to survive the werewolf bite and transformation.

Elena struggles to put her supernatural past behind her and live a normal life, hiding her true self. She seems to have done it with sexy fiancé Philip Greene (Paul Greene) and her photography career, until she is called back to Stonehaven by Pack leader Jeremy Danvers (Greg Bryk) after a girl is murdered.

Things become more complicated when Elena is reunited with Pack member and former lover Clayton Danvers (Greyston Holt). She helps her werewolf family to deal with the attacks and try to track down the killer, all while still trying to hold on to her life in Toronto, and not able to tell Philip the truth.

AMC's The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors during the zombie apocalypse as they battle "walkers" and often each other, as they learn that the living can be more dangerous than the dead.

The series keeps getting better, and season four is the best yet. The first half of this season focuses on what happens when a simple virus threatens to destroy everything they have built at the prison, when people get sick and die and then turn into walkers. A big storyline that starts during this half is discovering who burns the bodies of two of the infected, as well as who has been feeding the walkers. The first half culminates with the return of The Governor (David Morrissey) and the subsequent brutal standoff.

The second half of the season focuses on the survivors trying to regroup after being separated during the prison attack. They also meet a trio of new characters along the way, who might have some insight on the walker virus. The groups work to find their way back to one another on the way to Terminus, which may be their salvation, or it may be something much more sinister.