The Eureka pilot is very good, it sets up the town and it's secrets effortlessly and a lot of that is simply down to some great characters and performances from the actors, we easily fall into cheering on Jack Carter as he is exposed to the strange events and methods of dealing with them from something simple like a stray dog through to exploding experiments, missing children and maybe the end of the world as he knows it. Yes Eureka comes with its own share of everyday problems and this is what gives us the fish out of water experience throughout it's entire run on television, Carter never quite feels at ease in the town no matter how involved he becomes.
Colin Ferguson plays Jack Carter and is ably supported by Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Allison Blake), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Jordan Hinson (Zoe Carter), Debrah Farentino (Beverly Barlowe) and Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo) with some very fun supporting characters but we do see some changes between the pilot and the series proper all of which worked out very well. As you would expect there are plenty of familiar faces if you are a regular viewer of Canadian produced US television as well as a healthy supply of actors based in the US, this mixture I suspect helped balance the budget as well as get the name recognition any show requires to maximise the US market which is critical even as the global market grows in importance.
Season 1 gives us a good mix of drama and humour, the chemistry between the characters is immediate (great casting no doubt) and to be honest it's one of the best first seasons of a genre show, even the weakest episodes have enough merit and entertainment value to make them worth watching although a 12 episode season helps out there.
Favourite S1 Episodes...
- Before I Forget
- Purple Haze
- Once in a Lifetime
I haven't included the pilot in my favourite episodes even though it's a good one but it's a scene setter and with cast changes feels a little different but when viewed as a whole the first season has much darker overtones then the series overall. I've read that Eureka was intended to be a little darker and more gritty but evolved into a more lighter and comedic series and I think that was a good call by the producers to let that happen, the audience was there for family friendly scifi which Eureka delivers in spades.
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