TV Reviews: Opposite Worlds / Helix On Syfy Channel

By Nathan Young on January 23, 2014

This TV Reviews post will talk about two new shows that are on Syfy Channel. One show takes place in a weird house, and the other show focuses on a disease outbreak.

Opposite Worlds

When I first heard of Opposite Worlds by seeing the commercials on Syfy, I thought this was Big Brother meeting The Hunger Games. The show is based off a show called Mundos Opuestos in Chile. The series revolves around a group of strangers living in a house that is divided by a “future” and “past” theme. The contestants are divided into two teams, and compete in weekly challenges to determine where they will live. One contestant, known as the Decider, selects two contestants to compete in a challenge, with the loser being eliminated from the game. The winner of the series, determined after six weeks, will win a $100,000 prize. The series is hosted by Luke Tipple.

After watching the first two episodes, I think this show is a rip-off of Big Brother on CBS. And why is this show on Syfy, this belongs on another junk network like Bravo or E! The house is custom-built with one half being a futuristic type house with all the latest gadgets and gizmos. The contestants in the future side also get unlimited food, supplies, and luxury items. On the other side is the past, where everything is inside a custom cave. The supplies are primitive, there are few supplies, and yes, they go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground. Separating these two worlds is a giant glass window, and the contestants can look at each other through the glass. The future people can laugh at the ones in the past. And the ones in the past can wish they could be in the future, it’s almost like torture.

The viewers can tweet using the “Twitter Popularity Index,” sponsored by Verizon Wireless. The most popular contestant receives a reward, while the least popular receives a punishment. And on each live episode, there is the “The Duel of Destiny”, where The Decider chooses one person from the future and one player from the past to compete in a challenge. The loser is eliminated while the winner stays in the game. Sadly, some people online are comparing the contestants on this show as rejects from Big Brother. Since one player from the past was injured and forced to leave during the first “Worldly Challenge”, I wonder if the producers are happy that someone from the future was eliminated during the live challenge to even things up? And what will those two new players mean to the current players?

Opposite Worlds airs new episodes on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 9 pm Central. To learn more go to: http://www.syfy.com/oppositeworlds

Helix

Helix is a new show that premiered on Syfy Channel a few weeks ago. Syfy was so confident in this series, they aired the first two episodes with limited commercial interruptions. The series follows a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who travel to a research facility in the Arctic to investigate a potential outbreak of disease. While there, they find themselves stuck in a life-or-death situation that could decide the future of mankind. Helix is executively produced by Ronald D. Moore, Lynda Obst, Steven Maeda and Cameron Porsandeh. And it stars Billy Campbell, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kyra Zagorsky, Mark Ghanimé, and others.

So after watching the first few episodes, I have already come up with a response to this series, and it’s so-so. This series reminds a lot of people of the series Resident Evil, and Syfy here is trying to capitalize on the zombie trends that is so hot right now! The series takes place in an Arctic research facility. Several scientists have come down with a mysterious disease that turns their bodies into this zombie like creature with blood veins almost coming out of their skin.

So far, the team of scientists have found a couple of dead bodies that were affected. And no matter how many tests they do on rats, they are going to run into some crazy things that are at times, predictable. One problem, how many more tests and affected people are they going to run into before they get down to business on why this mysterious disease is happening? And two, I thought there was too much soap opera like moments in this show. I come to Syfy to watch a sci-fi show, not watch a soap opera. If I wanted a soap opera, I would watch Soap Net, oh wait, that channel is off the air.

And what is that creepy guy doing with that interesting music playing in the background? I thought that part was somewhat annoying. I do like the thriller aspect, you see plenty of dead and affected people. And you also see some futuristic and action stuff. But you also see safety procedures in the show not being followed or non-existent, and this show can easily compare to Alien or The Thing. I see where this show is going, each episode will build up to something big at the 13th episode, but will the show explore other plots other than that disease plot, I hope so. For now, I will record this show and watch it later. Too bad I can’t watch the episodes on the Syfy website, since they don’t recognize Cable One as a provider.

New episodes of Helix airs on Friday nights at 9 pm Central. Learn more at: http://www.syfy.com/helix.