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''Alphas'' is an American
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
television series created by
Zak Penn Zak Penn (born March 23, 1968) is an American screenwriter. Penn wrote and directed ''Incident at Loch Ness'' and ''The Grand (film), The Grand'', wrote the script for The Incredible Hulk (film), ''The Incredible Hulk'', co-wrote the scripts for ...
and Michael Karnow. It follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", as they work to prevent crimes committed by other Alphas. The series was broadcast in the United States on the cable channel
Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
and was a co-production between BermanBraun and
Universal Cable Productions Universal Content Productions (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal. History Universal Cable Productions In July 2008, Universal Cable Productions was split off ...
. It premiered on July 11, 2011. After initial reports that the show was canceled, on September 7, 2011, ''Alphas'' was renewed for a 13-episode second season, which premiered on Monday, July 23, 2012, at 10 p.m. ET. On January 16, 2013, Syfy announced that the program would not be returning for a third season, ending the series with an unresolved
cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
.


Plot

The series follows five people, known as "Alphas", led by noted
neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
and
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
Lee Rosen (
David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John Dos ...
), as they investigate criminal cases involving other suspected Alphas. Rosen and his team operate under the auspices of the
Defense Criminal Investigative Service The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is the criminal investigative arm of the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense. DCIS protects military personnel by investigating cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption; preventing the ...
, the criminal investigative arm of the
U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
. While investigating these crimes, it does not take the team too long to discover that a group known as "Red Flag", which was thought defeated and eliminated long ago, is using other Alphas to commit crimes.


Cast

*
David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John Dos ...
as Dr. Lee Rosen – A specialist in the study of people with super abilities, whom he has dubbed "Alphas". He leads a government-sponsored team of Alphas that identifies others of their kind—helping those in need and stopping those that are dangerous. Rosen himself has no super abilities, but is good at understanding and dealing with people. He swims two miles per day in his pool and grows his own herbs. *
Ryan Cartwright Ryan Cartwright (born 14 March 1981) is an English actor. Early life Cartwright was born on 14 March 1981 in Erdington, Birmingham, West Midlands. He has an older brother, Che Cartwright, who is also an actor. Career He began acting with th ...
as Gary Bell – A young,
autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
man who is socially awkward but functional to a degree. A prodigious
savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...
, his ability is transduction: he sees
electromagnetic radiation In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic field, electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy. It includes radio waves, microwaves, inf ...
of all wavelengths and can process information as fast as any computer. In season two, he develops the ability to find the wavelengths of forks, trees and other non-electrical items when faced with no technology. *
Warren Christie Hans Warren Christie (born 4 November 1975) is a British-Canadian television and film actor known for his roles as Ray Cataldo on the ABC drama '' October Road'' and as Aidan "Greggy" Stiviletto on the ABC series '' Happy Town''. More recently ...
as Cameron Hicks – A former Marine with "hyperkinesis", meaning his brain can process movement at a much faster rate than normal. He can achieve amazing athletic feats of timing, and has superhuman reflexes and perfect accuracy with firearms or thrown objects: he can, for example, accurately predict trajectory by eyesight. His abilities are unreliable, however, as he cannot always perform under stress. In the first episode he is found to have an abnormal growth in his brain. He is found by the team working in a supermarket after they find video of him as a child pitching a perfect baseball game. He has one child who is rarely in his life. In season one, he has a relationship with Nina. In season two, he develops a relationship with Dr. Rosen's daughter, Dani. He becomes obsessed with the idea that his son has an Alpha ability, and constantly puts him in situations to test for such an ability. *
Azita Ghanizada Azita Ghanizada is an Afghan-born American actress. She is known for her films and television series. She debuted her career with a short film entitled A Kiss on the Nose, A kiss on the nose, in which she played the role of Ciara. Ghanizada is a ...
as Rachel Pirzad – A former CIA linguist with the ability to "heighten" any of her five senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing, or touch) to extreme levels, by disabling the others. She can, for instance, view things at a microscopic level or analyse chemical composition by scent. The permanent heightening of her senses, along with her synesthesia, makes it hard for her to interact socially, and she has difficulty maintaining relationships with the opposite sex. In season two, she learns how to further control her senses. *
Laura Mennell Laura Mennell (; born 18 April 1980) is a Canadian actress known for her roles in ''Thirteen Ghosts'', ''Alphas'', '' Haven'', '' Loudermilk'', ''The Man in the High Castle'', ''Watchmen'' and '' Batwoman''. In 2011/2012 Mennell co-starred on th ...
as Nina Theroux – A young woman who can mentally "push" people into doing whatever she verbally asks of them. Her diagnosis is "hyperinduction". Before joining the team, she used her power for personal gain. Consequently, she believes she (unintentionally) pushed her boyfriend and father into committing suicide. She hopes to redeem herself by helping Dr. Rosen. Her character seems to have been with Rosen the longest, and she is the closest to him. A running gag in the first season is that she always has a different car that she has apparently "borrowed" by pushing someone. Pushing too hard or too much on a person can cause brain death. Nina has good control of her ability; people with her ability have difficulty controlling how they use it, and can become power-hungry. FBI agents who interview her refuse to make eye contact, or insist on wearing dark sunglasses, in fear of being pushed. During Season 1, Gary mentions that her ability to push does not work on him. Her memory of her past is dark and haunted by her pushing others. Her father committed suicide after being pushed one too many times to not want to leave his wife when Nina was a child. In an episode in season two, Nina succumbs to her power-hunger, but then tries to make up for her mistakes. She is shown to be reluctant to use her ability. *
Malik Yoba A​​bdul-Malik Kashie Yoba (born September 17, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his starring role as NYPD Detective J. C. Williams on the Fox police drama ''New York Undercover'' and as Yul Brenner in the film '' Cool Runnings''. ...
as Bill Harken – A former FBI agent who can activate his endocrinal
fight or flight response The fight-or-flight or the fight-flight-or-freeze response (also called hyperarousal or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. It was first des ...
at will, resulting in increased durability, endurance, speed and strength. His diagnosis is enhanced strength from flight-or-fight response. He cannot keep this up for long, however, due to the stress caused to his body. He was suspended from the FBI due to anger issues resulting from the stress of using his ability. Initially, he is rude and pushy with his teammates, especially Rachel and Gary. As season one progresses, however, his relationship with the team improves and he is no longer known as "mean Bill". *
Erin Way Erin Way (born September 13, 1987) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Kat in the Syfy drama series '' Alphas''. She joined the show in the third episode of the second season. A former ballet dancer, Erin Way started acting ...
as Kat (Season 2) – A mysterious, free-spirited young loner whose enhanced
procedural memory Procedural memory is a type of implicit memory (unconscious, long-term memory) which aids the performance of particular types of tasks without conscious awareness of these previous experiences. Procedural memory guides the processes we perform, ...
allows her to pick up any skill at a glance, but at the cost of her long-term declarative memories. Due to the information she constantly processes, she forgets whatever information she has learned after one month, although she retains the skills she has acquired. Dr. Rosen gives her a video camera to help her remember. She struggles in particular with a memory involving a lady in a blue dress.


Production


Development

Originally known as ''Section 8'', ''Alphas'' was initially developed by Zak Penn and co-creator Michael Karnow in 2006. The series was then shopped around to various networks, with some interest from both
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
and
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
. In late 2007, ABC picked up the series with an initial six episode order. However, complications arising from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike derailed the project. On August 5, 2009, after almost two further years of shopping the show around to the broadcast and cable networks,
Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
placed a pilot order. Zak Penn and Michael Karnow wrote the pilot.
Jack Bender Jack Bender (born September 25, 1949) is an American television and film director, television producer and former actor best known for his work as a director on ''Lost'', ''The Sopranos'' and '' Game of Thrones''. Biography Bender grew up in ...
was attached to the project as the director, with
Gail Berman Gail Berman (born August 17, 1956) is an American producer and television executive. She is co-owner and founding partner of The Jackal Group, a production entity formed in partnership with Fox Networks Group. The Jackal Group develops and produc ...
and
Lloyd Braun Lloyd Braun (born 1958) is an American media executive. He is the founder and CEO of Whalerock Industries, a Los Angeles based media and technology company. Early life and education Braun was born in New York, the son of Merna and David Braun, ...
serving as executive producers. Casting began in August 2010. Filming of the pilot was done in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada. Alphas was ordered to series on December 8, 2010, by
Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...
to air in the summer of 2011. The series is a co-production between BermanBraun and
Universal Cable Productions Universal Content Productions (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal. History Universal Cable Productions In July 2008, Universal Cable Productions was split off ...
. Along with the series pickup, Syfy also announced that veteran Sci-Fi producer
Ira Steven Behr Ira Steven Behr (born October 23, 1953) is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his work on '' Star Trek'', especially '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', on which he served as showrunner and executive producer. He was ...
had been picked to serve as executive producer and showrunner.


Episodes


Season 1 (2011)


Season 2 (2012)


Reception


Critical reception

''Alphas'' has received mixed reviews. It earned a score of 63 on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. The ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...
'' said of the first episode: "''Alphas'' is fun, sure, but it has a 'been there, done that' feel." TV Fanatic gave the show an average review saying, "Everything Alphas brought to the table has been done before." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' gave the show a negative review: "It's neither here nor there: low on sci-fi mystery and intrigue and not yet convincing as ensemble drama. Right now it feels like the beta version." ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave a positive review: "At first blush, though, give ''Alphas'' high marks for effort and ingenuity, demonstrating a TV show needn't provide major pyrotechnics or a reinvented wheel to lay the groundwork for solid summer entertainment where the characters, somewhat refreshingly, are only sort-of super." The ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' gave the pilot a positive review: "Alphas deftly balances all the building blocks of great genrenonhuman abilities, twisty plot, cool special effects, smart dialogue and characters you want to spend more time with. And that's the most impressive superpower of all." After eight episodes had aired, Maureen Ryan of ''
AOL TV AOL TV was the name of both a thin client which uses a television for display (rather than a monitor), and the online service that supports it, both of which were launched in June 2000 to compete with WebTV. The product and service were develop ...
'' called it the summer's most promising new drama: "Not only has ''Alphas'' successfully avoided many of the pitfalls that have bedeviled other superhero-flavored projects, it's done a good job of balancing character-driven moments with taut, well-paced storytelling."


Ratings

The pilot episode premiered with 2.5 million total viewers, scoring 1.2 million viewers in the 18–49 demographic and 1.3 million in the 25–54 demographic, making it Syfy's most watched debut in two years. Live + 7 day ratings for the series premiere updated those numbers to 3.6 million total viewers, scoring 1.7 million viewers in the 18–49 demographic and 1.8 million in the 25–54 demographic. By the 11th episode (its season finale) however, the ratings had dropped to 1.16 million total viewers. In the UK the show was broadcast on Tuesdays. The first episode had 666,000 viewers altogether, 595,000 live and 71,000 on timeshift. When the second episode aired, the viewer count dipped to 469,000 together, live and on timeshift. Despite the fall in viewers on a Tuesday showing, the show has become popular in the UK with Friday repeats rounding up around 150,000 viewers. U.S. ratings United Kingdom ratings


In popular culture

In episode 21 of season six of the sitcom ''
The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...
'' entitled "The Closure Alternative", the unresolved cliffhanger ending of ''Alphas'' causes character
Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' and its spinoff series ''Young Sheldon'', portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the latter ...
distress about not having 'closure', as a lead-in to one of that show's plot lines.


International broadcasting


References


External links

* * {{Syfy Shows 2010s American drama television series 2011 American television series debuts 2012 American television series endings American action television series American adventure television series 2010s American science fiction television series English-language television shows Superhero television shows Syfy original programming Television shows set in New York City Television series by Universal Content Productions Television shows filmed in Toronto Serial drama television series Fictional government investigations of the paranormal