Amy Amantangelo over at Zap2It made a list of summer substitutes. One I’d like to add is "Eureka is this summer’s Desperate Housewives".
Yes, it’s an odd comparrison, but something about Eureka reminds of the promising early episodes of Desperate Housewives.
Both shows are set in a community with a very defined social environment. A town full of geniuses where things routinely get strange is every bit as insular as a suburban community with a dark underbelly.
Both shows are also very funny, but hell — I could have made that comparrison with Gilmore Girls. But beyond the snappy, ’40s movie-style dialogue of Gilmore Girls, there’s a realism to the way each generation of Gilmore interacts with each other.
Eureka and Desperate Housewives aren’t saddled with that kind of undertone. They’re funny because they’re ultimately absurd. And the characters, on some level, buy into that absurdity.
Moreso with Eureka.