Why You Should Watch Eureka
So your DVR is empty. You've probably re-watched a DVD of a favorite show and have added an extra movie to your Netflix subscription to fill the void, right? Why on Earth wouldn't you want to catch fresh new content in the form of one of the funniest and new shows out there?
On a random Tuesday night in 2007 a show called Eureka premiered on Scifi to an audience of 4.1 million. Following the classic, "fish out of water" archetype the show features Colin Ferguson as the everyman Sheriff Carter, a normal beer-and-cereal-for-breakfast kind of guy surrounded by frakkin' geniuses. He finds himself in a town called Eureka, which is home to the best and brightest scientists in the world who are given free reign to do what they do best: create mind-bending inventions, reinvent the wheel, and try not to alter the timeline, blow stuff up, bring the world to an end, or other such nuisances.
The show is at its best when it doesn't take itself too seriously and has something so many shows lack: heart. Ignore anyone who says that this is "sci-fi light" or "fluff." This is character driven dramatic comedy. And it's exactly opposite in tone from Battlestar Galactica. It's bright. It's cheery. And there's always hope -- even during the occasional invasion of nanites.
Season 3.x (or 4, or call it what you will as "Season 3" featured only eight episodes) of Eureka premieres on Sci-Fi July 10th, 2009, but don't let the fact that it's in its third season stop you from checking it out for fear of not knowing what's going on. You already know the basics -- Sheriff carter, Eureka, frakkin' geniuses -- but if you want to catch up or refresh your memory, all of season one is available on Hulu until the new season premieres. (Season two, sadly, remains offline for now.)
Eureka [Hulu]
Eureka [SciFi.com]
Eureka Frak Party [GWC]
Galactic Watercooler 
Modern Geek 
Save Eureka 
Eff This Week 
FitSmart 
No, Season 3 just appeared in stores as a DVD, Season 4 is what is debuting (Or season 3.5, whichever, these half-assed buys are just damn confusing.)
The GF and I are big Eureka fans, but we’re still waiting for a friend to finish S3 before we can borrow it. Best damn show on television (or DVD) at the moment. Lots of wild characters, and you love them all, even the problematic ones (because they’re all problematic on some level.)
And don’t forget to join us for the Frak parties for each episode in the Community Frak Party section of the forum!
Thanks for the clarification Pike. I wasn’t sure how to address that (season 3 being only 8 episodes) so I will amend in the post.
Solai, I’m calling what will be premiering Season 3.5. The eighth episode of 3.0 was deliberately written as a stopping point for the show in case it didn’t come back after the writer’s strike. One quality that S3E8 shared with the third season of 24 that made them so good was their unpredictability as well as the later revelation that they had to make it up as they went.
I am going to be curious as to how they deal with [SPOILER DELETED, GO WATCH THE FRAKKING SHOW].
I may have to tune in 🙂 Thanks for the heads up!
Last year at Comic Con, the panel “Science in Science Fiction” had one of the science advisers for Eureka on the panel. It was a pretty brilliant panel, hosted by Phil “The Bad Astronomer” Plait. I recently tweeted this as one of my most anticipated panels for the upcoming 2009 Con, and he replied saying that there would definitely be a panel again this year, and that there would be special surprise guests! I am going to guess and say that he’s going to have on some people from Fringe, only because I saw him tweeting about how much he enjoyed the show.
Sorry to get so far off track from Eureka, but I have only seen the first few episodes of the first season. What I have seen so far has been fantastic, you should all take Solai’s advice and get on this.
I saw the first episode of Eureka way back when it premiered but then forgot about it. I’ll have to give Eureka a try. I love sci-fi with hope.
Way to kick off the Community blog, Solai.
I can’t remember why I lost track of this show! I remember some of Season 1, but I’ll now have it in my queue!
How can I go on a media diet (let alone a ‘real’ one) with all this cool GWCer recommended stuff out there?!
eep!
Great writeup Solai. Looking forward to tonight’s premier. Just one nitpick though: I think the series premiered in 2006. I remember it was paired with a preview of BSG Season 3 New Caprica sequences…