I Found It! Eureka!
Fri., July 6, 11:22 AM
You do know that eureka translates to “I found it.” What I found was a really good show on the SciFi Channel — science fiction or, if you prefer, speculative fiction. It started just about a year ago, when most of my other favorites were running repeats anyhow. I was certainly willing to give it a chance, even if I didn't expect it to stay on long.
I watched it right into the fall, even if it meant forgoing “House.” The final episode — which I will not relate here — was excellent. And I figured that was that; this show would never have widespread appeal. It's just my kind of show.
The Eureka of the title is a town of geniuses, owned and operated by a large corporation whose main customer is the Department of Defense. As a matter of fact, the only people in town who don't work for the corporation are DoD employees, including the sheriff, who was assigned there when the former sheriff was injured. Many of the other citizens aren't quite sure they trust him.
Sheriff Carter is by no means stupid, but he is not ready for all this ultra-high technology. Even his residence, a fully automated house, is the stuff that dreams are made of. He is our voice; he asks the questions we would ask, so that one genius or another can explain. And the plots are full of what-ifs. What if a man cloned his wife? (Would anyone realize she was dead?) What if some repair-and-replicate nanoids replicated the boss? (The boss can't stop them because they think as he does.) What if some old Cold War programming got into the modern computer system?
A couple of weeks ago, SciFi Channel ran an thirteen-hour marathon of all the episodes. I had seen most of them, and they were still good. What I had not known, until I sat down to watch, including commercials, is that there is going to be a second season! (If you are so inclined, visit the site and take the Energy Efficient Challenge. It's no harder than any other quiz you do online.)
I am willing to bet that I am one of their oldest fans. After all, we all know that SF is for kids. Right?
