Set designers fall into that group you ignore when they're nominations for awards are announced during the Oscars. And yet, creating a strong visual world is everything in a film or TV show.

Which is why it's great that their work and their creativity is being exposed in "Hot Set" (10 p.m. tonight, Syfy), a new competition show that challenges two set designers to create a world in 3 days with a $10,000 budget.

Hosted by Ben Mankiewicz, whose grandfather wrote "Citizen Kane," the show gives production designers a scenario inspired by sci fi, fantasy or horror films -- in the first episode it's a devastated alien landscape -- and a support team, and then lets their imaginations take over.