By Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist Published Apr 12, 2013 at 3:14 PM

When show creators develop a concept, they usually have a niche in mind. It is a simple business concept – know the audience you intend to sell to.

On Syfy, its newest offering keeps the audience in mind. "Defiance" debuts on Monday night. The science fiction drama takes place in the future, as alien races and humans all try to just get along in a frontier mining town. Those of us in the Midwest know the location as St. Louis.

But beyond the show, the Syfy network is releasing an interactive game where watchers of the show can become part of the greater universe. It’s a big concept in shows today. Networks are intently searching for ways to prove the size of an audience beyond Nielsen ratings. One way to do that is through social media.

Gaming has evolved from the simple pong of yesteryear. They are engaging, giving people the opportunities to interact with others with similar interest. It is evermore social though the internet. This effort was five years in the making. SyFy budgeted $40 million for the first season of shows, and it shelled out close to $35 million more to develop the video game.

"In many ways it’s an immigrant tale," said actress Jamie Murray in an interview with Red Carpet News TV. "Playing an alien, it’s an interesting way of looking at humanity from a totally different perspective."  

Set 35 years in the future, the show deals with many of the hot topics of today like religious freedoms, racism and dealing with adversity. In the video game world, participants are involved with an on-going battle.

"The sci-fi genre gets you to look at universal themes from a different perspective," Murray said. She went on to point out that through telling a story, like a fable, a person is removed enough to be able to take a look at how our preconceived notions and prejudice against others truly can affect who we are.

SOMETHING NEW: Jaime, Tiara, Tahiti and Presley, "The Lylas," will star in a new show on WE. The sisters will bring the cameras with them as they record an album together.

The Women’s Entertainment network is hoping the star status of "The Lylas" famous brother, Bruno Mars, will be enough to draw in an audience. The series will air on Friday nights, starting this fall.

ON THE BUBBLE: This is the season when TV critics try to guess which shows will get canceled. Some of these have already gotten the ax, others are awaiting to hear their fate. TV Guide is offering this list of the Top 25 shows that appear to be on the bubble:

25: "Beauty and the Beast" on CW

24: "Body of Proof" on ABC

23: "The Carrie Dairies" on CW

22: "Community" on NBC

21: "CSI: NY" on CBS

20: "Go On" on NBC

19: "Golden Boy" on CBS

18: "Happy Endings" on ABC

17: "Heart of Dixie" on CW

16: "Last Man Standing" on ABC

15: "Law and Order: SVU" on NBC

14: "Malibu Country" on ABC

13: "Nashville" on ABC

12: "The Neighbors" on ABC

11: "The New Normal" on NBC

10: "Nikita" on CW

9: "Parenthood" on NBC

8: "Parks and Recreation" on NBC

7: "Rules of Engagement" on CBS

6: "Smash" on NBC

5: "Suburgatory" on ABC

6: "Touch" on Fox

5: "Up All Night" on NBC

4: "Vegas" on CBS

3: "Whitney" on NBC

2: "1600 Penn" on NBC

1: "The Cult" on CW

Steve Kabelowsky Contributing Columnist

Media is bombarding us everywhere.

Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.

The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.