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Eureka Avoids Dark Depression Trap of Shows Like "Full House"

Apparently fluffy Sci-Fi channel show Eureka, about a town of zany geniuses who do silly things, is just too dark. Even though every episode is packed with sappiness worthy of Full House, its creators have vowed to make it even "lighter" this season, packed with ultralite parodies of movies like Groundhog Day, according to Sci-Fi Wire (how do you parody a movie that is already a comedy?). Let this be a lesson to other scifi shows, such as Jericho, which could really have used a little lightening up. And how about 4400? Why not turn each episode of that into a "funny" parody of a movie like X-Men? That could have been both shows' tickets to renewal if only they'd known about this whole lightness thing. [Sci-Fi Wire]

2:22 PM on Thu May 8 2008
By Annalee Newitz
571 views
15 comments

Comments

  • Wait.. wha?

  • Love this show, but boy another program with an episode of people caught in a time loop? But seriously for anyone not watching this show who feel like some Chocolate mousse after their BSG Steak and Potatoes it does the job.

  • Shame.
    I thought this show walked that thin line quite well.

  • Jericho wasn't all that dark.

  • I understand that this show isn't bringing in BSG ratings but that doesn't mean it has to be re-tooled. It's a great show the way it is - don't try to make it into something that it isn't.

  • I have to agree that the second season was notably darker than the first (what with Henry's obsessing over his girlfriend and all) but it was still really good and walked the line between dramedy and comedy rather well. I find myself looking at this season with a dose of fear.

  • @Garrison Dean, King Awesome: There is the theory of the mobius.. where time becomes a loop....
    where time becomes a loop...where time...

    @wolfjoat:I agree the second season was significantly darker.. but not inappropriately so...
    come on, you can't keep a show about hyper secret government research involving weaponizable energy sources totally light, that is crazy...

  • @DocGratis:
    Lay off the house music kid, it's rotting your brain.

  • The end of the first season, and the entire second season were more serious than comedic. Sometimes it seemed like too much - it was hard to watch Henry betray his friends and principals and know that only the audience is in on it. The story lines were relatively good, but it was a bit of a shock after the relatively light-hearted first season. I imagine this would be similar to a show like Psych ending a season with the revelation that Gus had been making plans for a death machine that ate homeless people... but yet is still plying the fake detective trade.

    I'm with the swing back towards happy-go-lucky as long as it doesn't entirely abandon the good character development they've had and head straight into camp.

  • @Belabras: I wanted to see which reference would click first here, the music (with the sample) or the TV show...

    Thanks for playing.. (and that group would never rot my brain)

  • TV viewers love only dark, depressing and grungy stories. So I can't understand why shows like Eureka and Doctor Who are so successful. If the ratings for Eureka drop this year, that article indicates the reason why.

  • @Lost_Thought: Yeah, it's true. All those comic dance routines really lightened Jericho up last season.

  • @Plague: Shame. I thought this show walked that thin line quite well.

    Same here, though the second season was remarkably more sinister than the first. I could handle a return to the first season antics, but any more and you might very well start confusing the audience into not tuning back in, like what happened to SeaQuest.

    The problem with zany sit-com antics is how can you tell an ongoing story unless there are some stakes and risks?

  • Eureka's problem is not that it's fluffy. Eureka's problem is that the two main characters are terrible actors with worse lines. Paula Abdul in particular has. to. go.

  • @DocGratis: First thing i thought of. ..and Belabras. Orbital is housemusic?

    ..Eureka is one of my guilty pleasures

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