Each day of the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter Tour, TV Tango will highlight a few panels and important events with detailed information, insights and observations. Today, we focus on two of yesterday's sessions on Day 9 -- Syfy's BEING HUMAN and Oxygen's THE GLEE PROJECT. If you want up-to-the-minute live news about TCA, check out our Twitter feed since we are live-tweeting the event -- well, as often as our internet connection holds out.

BEING HUMAN

If you're a fan of the supernatural, you'll love the new series BEING HUMAN on Syfy. Premiering on Monday, January 17th at 9PM ET/PT, BEING HUMAN is a show based on BBC's hit show by the same name. BEING HUMAN follows three roommates living in a Boston Brownstone, but they're not just any normal human roommates. In fact, they're not human at all. Living dual lives, a vampire (Sam Witwer), a werewolf (Sam Huntington) and a ghost (Meaghan Rath) share not only a house, but their true identities.

Meaghan Rath as Sally (back row), Sam Huntington as Josh (front, left)

and Sam Witwer as Aidan (front, right) on BEING HUMAN. Photo credit: Philipe Bosse/Syfy.

Yesterday at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, we got a closer look at the show and its stars, which was a nice followup to our Wednesday conference call. Several fans may immediately recognize series regular Sam Witwer from SMALLVILLE and Mark Pellegrino, who played the devil last season on SUPERNATURAL as well as Jacob on LOST.

Mark Pellegrino as Bishop, a very old vampire who turned Adain,

on BEING HUMAN. Photo credit: Jill Greenberg/Syfy.

Though the show is based on the original BBC series, Executive Producer/Writer Jeremy Carver assures audiences that their version has “a certain grittiness and realism” to it. Both Carver and Anna Fricke (Executive Producer/Writer) claim that they didn't even watch the second season of BBC's BEING HUMAN so it wouldn't influence their writing. Star Sam Witwer claims that when he read the scripts for the series, “there were no weak scripts in the bunch.”

So what prevents this show from being just another run-of-the-mill supernatural show with another vampire and werewolf? It's got heart and the characters are personable. Carver says the show is grounded and he loves how it's set in an urban environment where the characters are living a double life in New England. Fricke explained that they "chose Boston for a few reasons. You haven't really seen New England in this type of show." That choice allowed them to make their characters, especially the vampires, unique because the show's "vampires are a New England breed of vampire," according to Carver, contrasting them with the TWILIGHT vampires of the Pacific Northwest.

Josh (Sam Huntington) and Aidan (Sam Witwer) of BEING HUMAN.

Photo credit: Philipe Bosse/Syfy.

"I would say if you're a fan of the original, you're going to see a show that starts much in the same way," says Carver. He added "I think you're going to see a show that's a very nice nod to the original but spun out in surprising ways."

Another difference is that Syfy will air at least 13 episodes, whereas BBC only ran six in the first season. This will give the American adaptation better story lines with more heart and human connection. Carver believes that although the main characters are a vampire, werewolf and ghost, they are very human and deal with human issues. With more episodes, Carver and his writing team will really explore what it means to be human.

Even though the characters deal with human issues, they are still supernatural creatures and struggle with the duality of their nature. Sally, the ghost, can't touch anybody and she is at least initially confined to the house, which proved challenging for Rath as an actor. "I'm a physical person and I like to touch people," said Rath, expressing her own true human nature. When asked about her character being confined to the house, Rath responded "That is part of her journey. Who she is, what she can do and where she can go. The fact that she's confined to the house for the first bit helps explain her frustration." But she'll be happy to know that her character may one day be able to see the outside world. Carver teased some inside scoop when he added, "Sally is not strictly confined to the house for the duration of the series."

Meaghan Rath as Sally on BEING HUMAN. Photo credit: Philipe Bosse/Syfy.

To see first hand how the American version of BEING HUMAN compares to its British counterpart, tune into Syfy on Monday, January 17th at 9PM ET/PT.

THE GLEE PROJECT

“We didn’t want joke auditions. It’s all about a positive outlook,” says Robert Ulrich, the casting director for Oxygen’s new reality series, THE GLEE PROJECT.

Thursday, at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, Oxygen revealed more information on its much anticipated GLEE-based reality show. Recently having teamed up with executive producer and creator of GLEE, Ryan Murphy, the new show will focus on finding the next potential star of GLEE.

Panelists for THE GLEE PROJECT at the TCA Winter Tour, January 2011.

Pictured (left - right): Dante Di Loreto, Executive Producer; Michael Davis, Executive Producer;

Shauna Minoprio, Executive Producer; Robert Ulrich, Casting Director.

Photo credit: Chris Haston/Oxygen Media

Premiering in mid June, the 10-episode run of THE GLEE PROJECT will narrow down over 40,000 people to 85. Those 85 will then be whittled down to 12 lucky hopefuls next week in Los Angeles, California. The top prize for the winner is a guest starring role on GLEE -- written especially for them.

“This show is giving kids opportunities they’ve never had before,” said Ulrich. The show aims to inspire and mentor kids, unlike the audition process for such shows like AMERICAN IDOL that sometimes joke or use hurtful words to describe their contestant’s auditions and performances.

“People who have never sung for anybody in their life sang in front of our casting director,” says Michael Davies the Executive producer. They went on to say how GLEE and THE GLEE PROJECT are creating a place where characters and real people can be different and be embraced by the general public as well as their peers.

Unlike, THE GLEE PROJECT, AMERICAN IDOL doesn’t often embrace the differences of their contestants but makes them conform. With IDOL you’ve got thousands of people auditioning and the producers see every person before they even get to the judges, often picking out the craziest ones from the bunch to create dramatic television. With the THE GLEE PROJECT, however, you won’t see any of that, just good talent and charismatic contestants. The show won’t be discouraging people from trying out, but wants to help contestants chase after their dreams.

THE GLEE PROJECT premieres on Oxygen in summer 2011. To watch episodes of GLEE tune into Oxygen’s first ever, “Gleekend” on Saturday, February 5th starting at 11am ET/PT.

Kayla Grosse is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison in film, radio and television. An aspiring television writer, Kayla also spends her time drinking coffee and listening to music.