The Syfy channel has long been my go-to stop for quirky television shows. Some are dark, some are just plain crazy, but every once in a while there are shows that combine funny with weird (in my world I call that quirky). Eureka happens to be one of those shows.
Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), a U.S. Marshall, is driving through the Pacific Northwest with his delinquent teenage daughter, Zoe (Jordan Hinson), when he has a car accident. Jack and Zoe end up walking into the small, seemingly backwards town of Eureka to seek help. As it turns out, Eureka is anything but backwards, it is a town full of geniuses. President Harry S. Truman, with the help of Albert Einstein, created the town of Eureka to protect and nurture America's most valuable intellectual resources. Through a series of events, Jack becomes the sheriff of this small town and over the course of five seasons we learn that it doesn't take a genius to solve problems.
Every season of
Eureka has an over-arching problem or mystery to be solved usually involving some sort of invention or top-secret technology. Each episode also has an event that takes precedence and often ties into the larger story. Watching Jack discover new things about Eureka and try to figure out life in a town full of high IQs (while being of "average" intelligence) is entertaining. Zoe, as a new girl attending a high-school full of geniuses, is a little bit harder to watch.
Jack spends the majority of his time with his deputy, Joe Lupo, and with Dr. Allison Blake. Allison is the liaison between the Department of Defense and Eureka. She is often at Jack's side when he has to troubleshoot problems that arise. Dr. Henry Deacon is a brilliant scientist who moonlights as a jack-of-all-trades. He quickly becomes Jack's closest friend. My personal favorite character is Dr. Douglas Fargo. When (not if) something goes wrong, Fargo is usually in the middle of it. Some of my favorite actors play regular or semi-regular characters in later seasons, including Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day. It is truly amazing how a town full of geniuses can do so many stupid things.
Early in season one, a character is digging for something in a dumpster and when he finds it he says "eureka". As cliched as that was, I laughed out loud. Eureka ran from 2006-2012. Initially the show was picked up for a sixth season, then seemingly at the last minute it was announced that the fifth season would be the last. One additional episode was ordered to allow the series to have a proper finale. Upon a recent re-watch, some of the technology doesn't seem so groundbreaking, but I still enjoyed the show almost as much as when it was first released.
~ Amy, Adult Services
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