After a successful alpha season, Syfy has ordered a beta run of the summer super-powered drama “Alphas.”
The 13-episode renewal puts “Alphas” on target to return with new episodes in 2012.
“‘Alphas” smart, innovative approach to a superhero franchise has clearly caught on with our audience,” said Mark Stern, who continues to have the cumbersome title of “President, Original Content, Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.” “From the first-rate writing to the outstanding cast lead by David Strathairn, we”re very proud of what was achieved in its first season and look forward to seeing this series fulfill even more of its creative potential in a second season.”
Syfy boasts that in various key demos, “Alphas” has outperformed “Teen Wolf,” “Rescue Me,” “Hawthorne” and “The Killing,” if that seems particularly meaningful. Since launching on July 11, “Alphas” has averaged 3.3 million total viewers, a figure that includes several weeks of Live+7 data, but several weeks of unadjusted figures.
The network is also proud of the number of OnDemand plays for “Alphas,” which has averaged 240,000 plays within seven days of original airings.
Created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow, “Alphas” stars David Strathairn, Malik Yoba, Warren Christie, Azita Ghanizada, Ryan Cartwright and Laura Mennell and focuses on a team of ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. “Alphas” has also done well recruiting genre-friendly guest stars like Summer Glau, Garret Dillahunt, Lindsay Wagner, Brent Spiner and Rebecca Mader.