Weird science is giving U.S. Marshal Jack Carter the heebie-jeebies
"One minute I'm driving my daughter back to Los Angeles and the next I'm in the freaking 'Twilight Zone,' " says the exasperated lawman after spending a couple days in an odd little Pacific Northwest community where pleasantly normal appearances can be dizzily deceiving.
As we soon discover on the sly premiere of "Eureka" -- which is both the name of the postcard-pretty paranormal town and a lighthearted new drama that premieres at 9 tonight with a two-hour show on Sci Fi -- this is a quirky burg. Seems the government has been quietly stashing the world's leading geniuses and their families here since shortly after World War II.
It's been the perfect remote location for top-secret scientific innovation and highly classified experimental projects. But now (oops!) things are going a little supernaturally haywire.
One adventurous quantum physics brainiac has inadvertently put a dangerous, incinerating twist in the time-space continuum. Yikes, I hate when that happens.
"Eureka," which stars likable charmer Colin Ferguson ("The Opposite of Sex") as Jack Carter, is being rather breathlessly promoted by Sci Fi as "Northern Exposure" meets "Twin Peaks."
Whoa, Media Hype Machine, hold on there.
Modest, "Eureka" isn't nearly as sharp or original as the faked Alaska charms of "Northern Exposure" or the darkly warped delights of "Twin Peaks." Those were TV classics, while "Eureka" is clever paranormal escapism that sometimes teeters on the edge of whimsical excess.
But that doesn't mean you won't find plenty of affable, oddball entertainment.
It all starts with Jack Carter getting lost. While transporting his runaway daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson) back to California, he runs off the rain-slicked road one night in the middle of nowhere.
Except that nowhere turns out to be Eureka, of course.
We soon have close encounters with that freaky rip in the fabric of time and an eccentric assortment of the town's colorful citizens. The loopy, engaging lineup includes tough girl Deputy Sheriff Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra), mechanical wizard Henry Deacon (Joe Morton), slinky bed-&-breakfast proprietor Beverly Barlowe (Debrah Farentino) and daft dogcatcher Jim Taggart (Matt Frewer, "Max Headroom").
And let's nor forget goofily inscrutable Warren King (Greg Germann, "Ally McBeal"). He heads Global Dynamics Advanced Research Facility, the government think tank that includes a hush-hush military wing known as Section Five. Hello, conspiracy theories.
It doesn't take long for the curious U.S. marshal to get all tangled up in the strangeness. And that comes with the assistance of pretty, no-nonsense Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), a government liaison between Eureka and the Pentagon.
The cast is good. The characters are fun.
And series creator Andrew Cosby has infused "Eureka" with a breezy comic book energy that makes for relaxed, low-maintenance summertime entertainment. No heavy paranormal lifting required.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 4/1038/ENT
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