Fix: Light-hearted Sci-Fi Comedies With Quirky But Loveable Characters
Platform: Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime Summary:
The best minds in the US are tucked away in a remote town where they build futuristic inventions for the government’s benefit.
FYA Summary:
While Federal Marshal Jack Carter tracks down his estranged teenage daughter after she runs away again, he ends up getting more than he bargained for when his car breaks down in Eureka. He gets sucked into working a missing person’s case, and, after proving his mettle with gorgeous but mysterious government-liaison Dr. Allison Blake, Jack winds up with the dubious honor of becoming the town sheriff in a place where everyone has an IQ higher than his own.
Turns out, Eureka is a government-funded town founded by smarty-pants people like Einstein who envisioned a safe haven for scientists to create and experiment free from the pressure and judgment of mere mortals. It’s now Jack’s job to keep these absent-minded geniuses from (accidentally) blowing each other up, while also trying to keep his daughter from growing up to be a delinquent.
Familiar Faces:
Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Jack Carter
This show is where Colin really broke out, though taking a look at his IMDB page shows he’s been around for a while: Haven, and FYA fave, The Vampire Diaries, as jerky, cultish vampire hunter Trippe Cooke. (You may also recognize him as the Maytag Appliance Guy in those old commercials where he pretends to be an oven or a washing machine…)
Erica Cerra as Jo Lupo
If you watched The 100, you may look at Ms. Cerra and want to put some duct tape over her mouth so you can stop hearing about that insufferable City of Light, but, trust me, on THIS show, Jo Lupo is a delight as the no-nonsense, gun-loving, sarcasm-toting Deputy to Jack’s Sheriff. She’s a veritable CW vet who’s also had guest spots on shows like Supernatural, Smallville, and iZombie. Jo is probably one of my favorite characters.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Allison Blake
Salli isn’t someone I was familiar with before Eureka, but she’s had a long and varied career. The most interestingly random gig on her IMDB, to me, is her work as a voice actor on the cartoon show, Gargoyles, in the ‘90s. I loved that show! On a personal note, I have a huge lady-crush on Salli. Lady is gorgeous. I dare you to watch this show and not want to be Allison Blake: smart, awesome at her job, beautiful, and totally adored by two adorably handsome men.
Joe Morton as Henry Deacon
I am so, so glad I saw Joe Morton here before his role on Scandal, because my love for Henry Deacon would’ve been severely tainted if I’d had to first recall those over-the-top, scenery-chewing speeches he made as Papa Pope before watching his turn as Eureka’s town mayor/mechanic du jour. Joe’s probably the most prolific actor on Eureka, as he’s been in everything from blockbusters like Terminator and Speed to hit shows like The Good Wife.
Felicia Day as Holly Marten
If you don’t know Felicia Day, you probably lived under a nerd-sized rock in the early and mid 2000s. Holly doesn’t show up until later seasons, but Felicia is in all her rambly, nerdy-girl glory on this show.
Wil Wheaton as Isaac Parrish
Wil is best known for being Wesley Crusher, StarFleet-wunderkind on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Like Felicia, Wil isn’t introduced until later seasons, but you will still get major enjoyment seeing him in the role of crotchety, one-upping scientist Isaac.
(Shout-out to Zane, the snarky bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold of Eureka, in the picture above. Zane and Jo’s relationship is my kind of romance catnip.)
Matt Frewer as Jim Taggert
Matt is another prolific actor who is no stranger to some of FYA’s favorite shows. You’ve seen him as one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on Supernatural and as creepy Dr. Aldous Leekie on Orphan Black. He sports an extremely odd Australian accent in this show, for no good earthly reason I can determine.
Jaime Rae Newton as Tess Fontana
Jaime is one of those actresses that, whenever I see her, I always go, oh, YOU. She’s had a ton of guest roles (Drop Dead Diva, Veronica Mars as Mindy O’Dell, and Bates Motel) as well as a starring role in the short-lived witchy series, Eastwick.
Couch-Sharing Capability: Bring Your (Nerdy) Friends
You really don’t have to be a genius to watch Eureka, but you do have to have an healthy interest in sci-fi, silly humor, and a high tolerance for people who always manage to get themselves into ‘situations’. A love of time-travel plotlines and of houses-that-talk is also a must! You can binge-watch this show on your own, but it’d also be great to share with someone who will want to debate the fantastical science-y portions of the show with you.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Brews With Your Buds
This isn’t a show you can be wasted during because they do like to toss out some pseudo-science mumbo-jumbo that’s already difficult to follow while sober. But if you want to partake in a hard cider or two, you’ll still easily be able to follow along.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Eureka!
This is the kind of show that just makes you feel good. It can seem goofy and light-hearted on the surface, but there’s a lot of heart and depth to these characters who rely on each other as not just coworkers and neighbors, but as family. I remember ignoring this little show while it was on the air (it seemed too silly for my *ahem*refined*ahem* TV tastes), but I’m so glad I decided to give it a second look when it came up in my streaming suggestions way back when.
(Fun fact: I have been sitting on this Stream It post since 2016—it was actually one of my FYA audition pieces! And right after I wrote it I realized Netflix had removed it from rotation, but thankfully Amazon now has it in all its glory!)
I’d never heard of this show before you wrote about it! It sounds so fun and nerdy. (Also, I love that you’ve been sitting on this review for so long.)
Legit I would look every so often to see if the show was streaming somewhere again so I could finally post this, haha!
Man, I kept thinking someone needs to review this show. Glad you did. But you leave out my man Fargo? This was one of the first ‘Regular person sucked into a weird vortex of secret nerds’ genre: Warehouse 13, Scorpion, Chuck, the Librarians, etc.
Damn, you’re totally right, I did Fargo dirty! My only excuse is that when I wrote this way back when, I took the “familiar” faces thing more seriously than I do now (ahem, lol) and he probably hadn’t been in anything else I recognized at the time so I excluded him because he wasn’t “familiar” to me outside EUREKA. But I love Fargo! He really got the opportunity to grow as a character throughout the series.
I love Eureka! I might have made Brian and Soph rewatch it all a couple of times now 🤷♀️
And secret nerds genre is totally my jam ❤
Love it! 🙂