Six years ago a remarkable television series EUREKA debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel (later renamed Syfy). Premised around a small town sheriff recruited to protect a community funded by the U.S. government and Department of Defense to foster creative scientific advances, the show could have been a dark journey into the perils of government science run amok. Instead, what creators Jaime Paglia and Andrew Crosby brought to life was a fun-filled, hilarious and the oh-so-wonderful world of EUREKA.
From the opening notes of Bear McCreary’s musical theme to the fantastic visual intro, and that now famous opening scene where Sheriff Jack Carter drove into the small town of Eureka, only to see himself driving in the opposition direction leaving town, we knew that whatever crazy science was at play in EUREKA, it was not at all that dark and dubious. It was instead uplifting, zany, wildly wacky, and full of curiosity.
It sparked our imaginations and introduced us to the wondrous world of Sheriff Jack Carter, Zoe Carter, Deputy Jo Lupo, Allison Blake, Kevin Blake, Douglas Fargo, Henry Deacon, Jim Taggart, Beverly Barlowe and Vincent. Then each new season introduced more fascinating characters, including: Zane Donovan, Deputy Andy, Grace Monroe, Holly Martens and Dr. Parrish. There was also the “smart” house S.A.R.A.H., which just as vital a character throughout the show’s five seasons, ensuring that Jack, Zoe and the multitude of revolving door inhabitants were never completely alone when they came home from a long day chasing down the latest scientific experiment gone awry.
The first three seasons were about Jack Carter’s assimilation into his new life and responsibilities as sheriff in a town where crime was not so much about robbery, murder and mayhem as much as it was about misguided scientists not fully considering the ramifications of their actions – whether self-serving or altruistic. It was also the time in which Jack fell in love with Allison, and their romance became an intoxicating part of the show.
No matter how mind-boggling the mystery– from tachyon accelerators involving quantum mechanics to potentially alien artifacts in Section 5 to androids and clones to computer viruses to pharmaceutical catastrophes to low-level frequency waves and hijacking Z-brain waves to black-holes, wormholes, and deep-freezes to space junk to ray guns to parasitic bacteria to killer drones to robotic dogs to time loops, time shifts and time travel to green goo and smart-dust to magnetic disturbances to space-time bridges to a brain-stealing matrix and trips to other planets – EUREKA found a way to solve it.
It was a show that invited us on an extraordinary journey and which introduced us to even more extraordinary characters. It is thus with bittersweet joy that we celebrate the series finale of EUREKA on Monday, July 16th at 9PM on Syfy (10PM on Space in Canada). It feels too soon and we are not yet ready to say goodbye. If there could be but one last mystery to solve, it would be to find a way to visit EUREKA again from time to time and check in on our beloved heroes: Jack, Allison, Jo, Zane, Fargo, Holly, Kevin, Vincent, Henry and Grace. We know they are living adventures that we can only dream of and hope that we will be privy to those stories again one day. To the series we cherished, we now celebrate its last goodbye. We are grateful and look forward to a future where there are more EUREKA adventures.
To hear what the cast and co-creator Jaime Paglia had to share about the finale and what they will miss the most about the show, the following are video interviews from the red carpet at the Paley Center:
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).