This news is more than a week old, but Eureka has been picked up for a second season.
I really liked the original shows that aired over the summer. The Closer does terrific things with the crime procedural, while the chemistry between James Roday and Dulé Hill made Psych the most watchable comedy of the summer.
It’s tough to put a superlative to the comedy of either Psych or Eureka — they’re humorous in their individual ways.
The humor in Eureka is much drier than the slapstick physical comedy of Psych. When a doomsday device pops up in the middle of town, Sherrif Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) deadpans, "Nah, that can’t be good." It’s a simple line, but Ferguson delivers it with such a sharp deadpan, it’s laugh-out-loud funny.
I’ve read criticism about Ferguson’s everyman portrayal of Carter, his performance described as bland.
I can see how the understated way Ferguson plays Carter may be mistaken for blandness, but that’s what makes Ferguson’s read on Carter work.
Carter is not a genius like the residents of Eureka, but he’s clever and a quick thinker. He doesn’t know he fits in, but he does. And his predecessor, Sherrif William Cobb (played by Maury Chaykin), recognized that in the pilot episode.
A town as bizarre as Eureka needs someone as cool-headed as Jack Carter to police it.
Of course, the surrounding characters do an incredible job of rounding out the story’s setting.
Ferguson and Jordan Hinson are remarkably convincing in their father-daughter relationship. There’s a sense of affection underneath the strife, and while the delinquent tendencies of Hinson’s Zoe scream for Jack’s guidance, Jack too needs Zoe to put his personal goals into perspective.
And of course, there’s Joe Morton. Who doesn’t love Joe Morton? He’s been on Law and Order many times, and when he’s up against Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy, it’s always a nice treat.
There isn’t much in the way of chemistry between Carter and Salli Richardson-Whitfield’s Allison Blake. And the May-December pairing of Erica Cerra’s Jo Lupo and Matt Frewer’s Taggert is so been there.
Those missteps aside, there’s a lot to love about Eureka, and I’m glad it’s coming back next summer.