With my DVR on what it would consider a vacation from all the shows it normally records, some surprises showed up this week.

First, the final season of Orphan Black. That was a fast year! Final seasons are always extra stressful as it all comes down to the show runner’s sticking the landing. A bad ending can taint a whole series. OB still has a long way to go to get to the end. The sisters are all spread out and the Neolution movement has new management and they are getting aggressive. The hunt for the cure is still on, Sarah is badly hurt and there is some kind of human experiment running around Neolution’s main camp. There’s a lot of mysteries left to solve.

Ink Master is back with a quick turnaround. This time, it’s shop vs shop. Nine teams of two are in competition so these artists have to be excellent at working together in order to survive. As usual, there are some clearly weak contestants that are simply not going to make it. The added wrinkle is that when one team gets eliminated, another team comes in to take their place (I guess this will happen 4 or 5 times). At least one person on that team will be a returning contestant who failed on their season. That’s a big change for the show as it’s combining the occasional team up challenges with the Redemption angle. The first replacement team has come in and they’ve rattled the rest of the cast by having a well known and respected artist.

Face Off is another one with a quick turnaround. I could have sworn it was coming back at the end of the summer, but I’m clearly wrong. The wrinkle this time: two teams. These “shops” mimic how working in a real effects house is like. One person is elected to be the shop foreman. Since it’s six people on a team, there are more creatures to make at once. This also exactly how the season finales are done and it seems so obvious to do now that they’ve done it.  One shop is chosen as the winner of the challenge with one artist from that team being selected as the week’s best artist. That leaves the losing team, which means one of them is on the chopping block. I’ve got my favorites already, we will see if I’m right. My long shot is the kid from NJ. He doesn’t have a lot of experience but I think he has the talent. The longer he stays on the more he’ll learn so I think the show is very promising for him.

Blood Drive on SyFy starts today. Essentially grindhouse cinema on TV. The first one is about cars that run on human blood instead of gas. Fun idea, we’ll see how wild and wacky they go. A great chance to see what the practical gore produces can do outside of Evil Dead vs Ash!