The next great sci-fi show? I Have Found It!

From the moment six months ago when I saw a preview of “Eureka," I knew I would love it. Something else I love: when I’m right.

Hilarious, delightful and smart, “Eureka” is an old-fashioned whodunit set in a newfangled town that’s even weirder than Jessica Fletcher’s bizarrely murderous Cabot Cove. That's because Eureka is a top-secret village of geniuses sequestered by the U.S. government so they can concentrate on making the world a safer place. You know, like Los Alamos did.

And there you will find Jack Carter (played by the versatile Colin Ferguson), a U.S. marshal transporting a fugitive — as it turns out, his rebellious teen daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson) — back to her mom, from whom he is separated. But they are sidetracked in Eureka, where it soon becomes clear that everyone in town has the Einstein gene, even though they hold mundane jobs.

Henry (Joe Morton), a happy-go-lucky tinkerer, drives a tow truck when he’s not rebuilding the wormhole machine from “Contact.” The dogcatcher (played by Max Headroom himself, Matt Frewer, seen here in photo) seems to be busy on some mad gadget in his spare time, though currently all it does is wreak havoc on cows.

While waiting for his car to get fixed at Henry’s shop, Carter gets roped into a missing-person case. He solves it quickly, gaining the attention of key superbrains in town, notably the alluring Allison (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), who identifies herself as a Defense Department official. Defense? Well, yes, for as Carter soon learns, there’s a laboratory just outside town that’s so high security, you need to pass through a force field to get there.

At first he tries to shrug it off: “I’m from L.A.,” he tells Allison. “Nothing shocks me.” That’s before she drives him through the force field.

“I think I’ve gone blind!” he cries afterward.

“Relax,” Allison says. “That almost never happens.”

Meanwhile, Zoe, whom Jack has locked up at the local pokey, becomes best buds with her jailer, Lupo (Erica Cerra), an ex-Special Forces soldier.

Before you slap the “quirky” label on this show, know that most of the relationships are normal and real and are conveyed with an economy of words. Like when Jack is trying to explain why he and Zoe’s mom have split.

“Some people just don’t work,” he says.

Zoe’s reply, “Dad, all you do is work,” suggests that at least she has the symbolic-analytic skills for this brainy little burg.

There’s a touch of conspiracy and more than a hint of sensuality here. And some of both come wafting from the general direction of Debrah Farentino. The siren from “NYPD Blue,” “Hooperman” and “EZ Streets” (where she bared her breast on CBS when the FCC wasn't looking),  Farentino plays Barlowe, a sexy shrink who also runs a bed-and-breakfast and knows secrets that you can’t learn even with military clearance.

At a press event last January, someone rudely asked (that’s what we do) Farentino if playing a really smart person was a stretch. Very sweetly, she began her reply, “These characters are brilliant, but I finished my last series five years ago and went back to school to get my degree in molecular biology …”

Wha-wha-what?

“Well, The last series I worked on was ‘Get Real,’ ” she explained, “and I found myself reading Scientific American and other scientific magazines (on the set) and thinking, ‘I know there’s something out there for me (that’s) different.’ ”

An episode that airs next month shows that “Eureka” may have the gumption to become the best sci-fi show since the late lamented “Farscape.” It’s a story about a weapon that can create short-term memory loss and, by extension, long-term regrets. It’s a throwback to the old days, when science fiction was less about gizmos and more about the human propensity for madness. In other words, documentary in disguise.

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See the show

“Eureka” premieres at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday on the Sci Fi Channel.

Comments

[Marshall Letcher]

Because the Sci Fi Channel is not available in Canada, we downtrodden sci-fi fans in Vancouver will not be able to watch “Eureka” - even though it is filmed locally. Blah!

[Aaron]

A reader writes:

Your reference to Los Alamos in a review of a new TV show indicates a stunning lack of understanding of the events of that moment in World history. If you are going to use throw away lines in an attempt to revise history, for those that are to lazy to do their own research, at least state your comment comes from personal bias and/or a complete ignorance of the facts.

As a veteran who witnessed the sacrifices of many to allow the freedom of speech you choose to abuse I cannot tell you how deeply this offends me. I don't want to restrict your freedom of speech, an important right worthy of defense, I would like to see it exercised with more responsibility and with due respect for the facts.

...

To which I replied:

Hi Jim. I am sorry that you disagree on my interpretation of the use of atomic force. However, simply because I disagree with your interpretation does not mean that your point of view is more fact-based than mine. By your measure, even J. Robert Oppenheimer himself would be considered "lazy" and "ignorant" -- two things I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

I also disagree with your comment that this represents an "abuse" of free speech -- that sounds like something somebody would say just before taking someone else's free speech away.

...

To which he replied:

I don't know who I am writing to that speaks on behalf of Aaron Barnhardt. It appears that the only facts you recognize are the ones that might support your opinion. Mr. Oppenheimer was, as anyone responsible for the taking of human life (in this case many), tormented with the moral and ethical questions. He did at the end of the day make a great contribution to freedom around the World as evidenced by the fact that we are communicating in English rather than German or Japanese and that neither one of us is fearful of being arrested or executed for our position. He also lost his security clearance later in life as a result of some of his activities and views and his association with Communists.

I suspect while you accuse me of wanting to take away your free speech , you are a person that has made no personal sacrifice to protect that right for yourself or others. Freedom isn't free and the cost is higher than you can ever imagine and it is not possible for me to correctly describe it in mere words. War is a horrible thing and the reason you have been protected from experiencing it has much to do with hard decisions made by brave people with a wider vision of the consequences of doing nothing. In a World of madmen with visions of our demise, anything that makes us appear weak invites them to attack. Your words and position bring comfort to these people, I doubt that is your intent but that is the result.

I stand by my earlier comments and hope that rather than responding as if attacked, you will go seek the complete set of facts not just the ones you were spoon fed in school. Good luck

...

Yes, because he certainly didn’t respond at all like he’d been attacked ...

[Soonerthought]

So...lemme get this straight: you only deserve free speech in this country if you have fought in a war? Oh please. Sacrifice for freedom is not limited to battlefield exploits, as honorable as those are. Sacrifice means many things. What about Peace Corps members? What about people who volunteer in their communities? Are those of us who never wore a uniform less equal than those who have? Aaron, seems to me that your corresponding reader has a pretty narrow definition of what being a citizen means.

[trudy]

What is a real turn off about Eureka is Carter's being a sexist pig. Good for Lupo letting his jacket fall on the ground. And his attitude permeates the byplay with Allison. Ick. Hard to watch a show when the main character stinks and is always trying to degrade women.

[jennifer]

Sacrifice is fighting in a just war. Fighting in something like Vietnam or Iraq is a disgrace. Yeah, I really value the opinion of the guys and gals running Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo.

[jennifer]

Here's an example of the US bringing democracy to Iraq. Scroll down to the middle of the page:

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2376.htm#001

[DonBoy]

Was there a huge piece of sloppiness in the edit last night? They set up the thing with Zoe seeing another self, Dad and car go by, but nothing at the other end of the show. Presumably there was a version in which they're sent out of Eureka and shifted back in time so they won't be late, or something, but it got taken out, but the setup left in? Or did I blink?