There is a new show called Eureka on the Sci Fi channel stating soon.
Dang, I guess I missed the first episode.
'Eureka' is Sci Fi's latest entry into the odd, weird
Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
Jul. 3, 2006 03:30 PM
We all know that small towns - at least small towns on TV - are full of the odd and the weird.
"Northern Exposure" told us that. So did "Twin Peaks," "Picket Fences" and "Eerie, Indiana."
But what would it be like to fill that town with scientific geniuses? Welcome to the Sci Fi Channel's "Eureka," which may be the summer's happiest surprise. advertisement
"Everybody is going to have eccentricities," says Jaime Paglia, one of the show's creators. "It's just more apparent in a small town because you're all kind of stuck in the same place."
He's from Warrenton, a Northwest Oregon town of 4,100. Andrew Cosby, the other creator, is from Marietta, Ga. It has 59,000 people and is near Atlanta but he says it also "has the town square and definitely that sort of 'everybody's in each other's business' " kind of feel to it.
They imagined a sort of company town. "It's always weird when people who socialize also have to work together," Cosby says.
And they made it a semi-secret place full of pure science. It's the kind of place - remember, this is the Sci Fi Channel - where time can be warped, dimensions can be altered and things can blow up.
Wandering in is a handsome U.S. marshal (Colin Ferguson), transporting an angry teenage girl (Jordan Hinson). That brings a mixture of comedy and offbeat drama.
"He's a fish out of water," Ferguson says. "He always accomplishes his course but nothing good ever happens along the way."
There are other non-scientists, including cops (Maury Chaykin and Erica Cerra) and a federal official. "I can be dumb with Colin because I just work for the Department of Defense," Salli Richardson-Whitfield says of her character.
Actually, all the characters may be quite bright. Compared to their neighbors, however, they don't seem that way.
The show pretends Eureka was created after World War II, as a super brain trust. It also needs some regular folks.
"What does it feel life if you're not one of the guys with the giant IQ?" Cosby asked.
The actors might also feel out-of-place here - except that some of them could keep up with the geniuses in real life.
Joe Morton, who plays an engineer and mechanic, is a brainy sort whose narration has added authority to many of TV's best documentaries. Ferguson is a world-traveler who grew up in Hong Kong, England, the United States. and Canada and taught high school at 19.
Then there's Debrah Farentino.
On the surface, she's a standard Hollywood beauty who co-starred in several series - "Hooperman," "EZ Streets," "Earth 2" and "Get Real." Beyond that she says she made a key decision in 2001.
"I had lunch with my agent and told him, 'I'm going to go be a scientist.' He's like, 'Yeah, right. Call me when you want to.' "
She did go back to school and got a degree in molecular biology. "When I had to make my first live presentation I was more nervous than doing a naked love scene with Alec Baldwin."
Her two worlds brought culture conflicts.
"My lab partner ... goes, 'You know, you look like the mom from "Get Real." ' And I said, 'Well, I am.' She almost broke our ... slide."
Now she plays a brilliant and manipulative psychotherapist. She also sometimes provides advice on the science in the show.
"She brought in some books that were her light reading," Cosby says. "Jaime and I looked at each other and we're just going, 'I don't understand a word of it.' And we're smart guys."
Smart guys by normal standards they were facing a blitz of high education. They felt ... well, like the people who wander into "Eureka."
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On the tube:
What: "Eureka"
When: Tuesdays beginning July 18.
Where: Sci Fi Channel
Did you know? There is a Eureka (population 26,000) on the Northern California coast but co-creator Jaime Paglia says that's not similar to fictional Eureka. "Whether it's Los Alamos (N.M.) or Lucerne Institute in Switzerland there have been real places like this."
On the Web:
www.scifi.com/eureka, official Web site for "Eureka."
