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For a show that won't even be out for another six months, Syfy's Defiance has been promoted at an awful lot of conventions, with "making of" trailers and plenty of hype. But until now, we hadn't seen much of the series. That's no longer the case thanks to this new trailer, and now we can say in earnest, let the anticipation begin!

Defiance is attempting to do what hasn't quite worked before: melding the world of television and video games. A massively multiplayer online game of the same name is being produced by Trion Worlds (Rift) and will tie in to the series. Both are scheduled for release in April 2013.

But let's focus on the TV portion here, a future-set tale of aliens and Earthlings aiming to share the same crowded real estate. After their solar system is destroyed, a group of multi-species aliens looks to crash on our couch, much to the chagrin of humans. War starts, harmful technology is released, and now the planet is a dump. Thanks a lot, aliens!

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What to watch on Tuesday, September 18...

Do Tuesdays have a nickname, yet? Is Taco Tuesday really the best we've got? Because nothing on TV tonight is about tacos, I can tell you that much. While we all think about how to rectify that situation, let's take a look at what is on television tonight:

SEASON 9 FINALE, 8pm, Fox
So You Think You Can Dance
It's the finale! Who will win? Technically I should be asking, "which two will win?" because one winner will be selected from each gender category (and last I checked, there were only two types of genders out there). But anyway, this finale will be two hours long and when it's all said and done we'll all know which contestants America thinks are the best (not including the contestants we chose for the previous eight seasons, of course). Dance on!

SPECIAL, 9pm, ABC
20/20: Best in TV
This 20/20 special is called "The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time With Barbara Walters," which is pretty much everything you need to know. But if you do feel like you need further explanation: Barbara Walters will walk us through the best TV shows of all time for two whole hours! The TV favorites are said to be "fan-chosen," whatever that means, but this special will include interviews with directors, producers, and actors, so television buffs might want to take note.

9pm, USA
Go On
Last week's premiere went pretty well, yeah? Let's give it another go! In tonight's "There No 'Ryan' in Team" Ryan will have to learn how to appreciate the support group instead of keeping them all at arm's length. Does that mean he has to integrate them into his every day life? Probably, though that seems sort of out of the bounds of how a real support group should work—but this is TV, so bring it! Also, in an effort to help Ryan overcome his loss and make steps in his grieving process, Steven does something super awkward.

SERIES PREMIERE, 10pm, Syfy
Hot Set
And you thought you liked Face Off. Syfy's new series, which airs directly after its makeup-constructing sort-of-counterpart, is all about set building. Contestants will compete to create the most mind-blowing film and TV sets so as to literally cause our heads to explode. In tonight's premiere, "Crash Landed Astronaut," the teams will design a set that displays an alien crash-landing on a planet that is not Earth. Cool!

10pm, FX
Sons of Anarchy
In "Authority Vested" Jax will be put to the ultimate test, as will SAMCRO as a whole, when sins of the club's past start to resurface in a big way—how vague! How mysterious and intriguing! Let's watch.

PLUS ALL NEW EPISODES OF...
Death an the Civil War: American Experience, 8 p.m., PBS
The Voice, 9 p.m., NBC
19 Kids and Counting, 9 p.m., TLC
Dance Moms, REUNION, 9 p.m., Lifetime
Face Off, 9 p.m., Syfy
Go On, 9 p.m., NBC
Hard Time, 9 p.m., NatGeo
Mysteries at the Museum, 9 p.m., Travel
Property Virgins, 9 p.m., HGTV
Top Gear, 9 p.m., History
White Collar, 9 p.m., USA
The New Normal, 9 p.m., NBC
Abby & Brittany, 10 p.m., TLC
Addicted, 10 p.m., Discovery Fitness & Health
All the Right Moves, 10 p.m., Oxygen
Covert Affairs, 10 p.m., USA
Counting Cars, 10 p.m., History
Flipping Out, 10 p.m., Bravo
Frontline, 10 p.m., PBS
Gangsters: America's Most Evil, 10 p.m., Bio
Hot Set, SEASON PREMIERE, 10 p.m., Syfy
Man, Fire, Food, SEASON PREMIERE, 10 p.m., Cooking
Parenthood, 10 p.m., NBC
Shipping Wars, 10 p.m., A&E;
Sons of Anarchy, 10 p.m., FX
Twisted, 10 p.m., Investigation Discovery
Teen Mom, SEASON 4 UNSEEN MOMENTS, 10 p.m., MTV
TV Guide Magazine's Top 25 Best Oprah Show Moments, SPECIAL, 10 p.m., OWN
House Hunters International, 10:30 p.m., HGTV
The Burn With Jeff Ross, 10:30 p.m., Comedy Central

LATE-NITE PICKS:
President Barack Obama on Late Show With David Letterman, 11:35 p.m., CBS
Justin Timberlake and pro basketball player Steve Nash on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, 11:35 p.m., NBC
Richard Gere and Josh Radnor on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 12 a.m., ABC
Jon Cryer, Taraji P. Henson, and Nelly Furtado on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, 12:37 a.m., NBC
John Goodman, Arjay Smith, and Melissa Etheridge on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, 12:37 a.m., CBS

What are you watching tonight?

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Face Off S03E04: "Year of the Dragon"

I love Face Off. It certainly follows the same formula originated/perfected by Project Runway or Top Chef, but unlike those shows it continues to feel fresh and inspired. Much of that has to do with the sense that makeup artists might actually be getting a big break by appearing on this show whereas the recent seasons of PR or TC reek of a barrel-scraped casting pool in which it can be a real step down to appear on those shows these days. So in that regard Face Off is closer to something like So You Think You Can Dance: The artists in these particular fields may never have an audience as large as these shows' viewerships and that maintains a sense of positivity and excitement on-camera, as though just being there is a reward in itself.

That said, this show is A CONSTANT NIGHTMARE GENERATOR. Holy moly! This week's challenge seemed innocent enough: Design dragons in keeping with traditional Chinese art. But look at these ghoulish demons everyone created!

I mean, good work, everybody, but dang! My heart is racing just looking at these.

That first image above was designed by Tommy and Derek (this was a team challenge) and it won! Image #2 was the losing design by Eric (Derek's twin brother) and Sarah, and Eric ended up being the one to get kicked off. It's saying something that even the losing design was an insanely complicated, still-amazing design that none of us could ever even dream of doing on our own. Reality competitions where everyone is super talented are the BEST!

NEXT WEEK'S CHALLENGE: Alice in Wonderland but with ZOMBIES! (Obviously.)

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Face Off S03E01: "A Force to Be Reckoned With"

The unofficial title of Face Off's Season 3 premiere should've been "Why Change What Works? Also: Star Wars!" Because TV's best reality competition (that is not So You Think You Can Dance) returned this week and it was business as usual: Meat 'n potatoes drama, backbiting, and sincerely talented competitors. And as if this show couldn't get any geekier, the main challenge involved creating characters who'd look at home in the Star Wars cantina scene! (Which, let's be real, George Lucas hasn't tolerated prosthetic makeup for decades now.)

We met the new cast of charmingly awkward makeup artists on top of the Downtown Los Angeles Standard where they were greeted by host McKenzie Westmore and Rudy himself, Sean Astin! The new crop contains a pair of twin brothers, at least three women with hair that's dyed bright red (one of whom is currently dating a Season 2 contestant), and two flighty men (who were destined to be "randomly" paired together). After a very brief and ridiculous challenge involving creating makeup that involved whatever the contestants found outside by the pool, we came to the main Star Wars-themed challenge.

There were warnings from the beginning that things weren't going so well. After having only seen a season of this show, it's clear that many artists only have two designs up their sleeves: aerodynamic demon and hamburger-faced ghoul. We saw a lot of both, including the hilariously awful entry by the losing team of flighty men which was deemed "unacceptable" and "offensive" by the judges. (Seriously, check out the barefooted abomination in the photo gallery below.) However, the repulsive gnome in a mech suit was truly inspired (if not necessarily appropriate for the Star Wars universe).

And then, in a reality TV moment that seemed as genuine as it was dramatic, one of the men on the losing team stormed out and was disqualified before he could be eliminated. The reason it felt so genuine was how unprepared the production seemed: The cameras had to re-enact the door slamming and then only appeared to have six seconds of footage of the contestant walking across the parking lot, which was played twice. Oh well! Who could've imagined that a grueling reality TV competition may not be the best place for sensitive eccentrics? It's frankly surprising this sort of thing hasn't happened more often.

Anyway, this 90-minute season premiere was as entertaining (and creatively inspiring!) as we've come to expect of Face Off. From the teaser montage it looks like a lot of fun stuff might be in store, including an increasingly impressive roster of expert judges and a live broadcast of the final competition. It's still not clear just how talented these competitors are—and we likely won't know for sure until the challenges are more individualized—but for now take a gander at the below gallery of supposed Star Wars creatures and let's judge them together!

Face Off's Season 3 Premiere Photos

Which creature did YOU like the best?

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