I have found it!

I haven’t been blogging lately, but it’s not for lack of topics. In fact, I’ve got plenty of topics. So, as a way to – sort of – make up for not blogging for three weeks, I’m hoping to write a new blog every day this week. We’ll see.

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged lately (not THE reason) is a SyFy show called Eureka that I’ve been watching on instant Netflix during the time at which I might typically blog.

The concept for Eureka is genius, which is a play on words you’ll get in about 15 seconds. The show is set in a fictional American town called Eureka that’s home to America’s best and brightest scientific (and occasionally other) minds. By including a town full of scientifically inclined characters, the show allows for a wide range of sci-fi topics, instead of, for example V, which is pretty much locked into the alien invasion track at this point. So, for example: evil computers, contagious super diseases, cryogenics, WMDs, time travel, etc. have all been covered in the first two seasons.

The show, though, is typically pretty silly and outlandish and might be off-putting for that reason. But, in this regard, it reminds me of a couple of other shows (or, rather, one show and one “programme”) for which I generally have very high praise: Doctor Who (the current run) and – to a lesser extent – Chuck.

In all three cases, the shows are just really well written and produced, which makes up for what might be otherwise inexcusable silliness with things like plot and setting (which are traditionally fairly important).

Here’s a prototypical example from Doctor Who. Essentially, it’s an episode centered around some time travel (which is Doctor Who’s milieu) that leads to well-placed clues for a one-episode character who has to decipher the clues to help Doctor Who escape a future conundrum (by providing him with certain clues). Also, the one-episode character is being stalked by angelic statues that turn into super-fast demonic monsters who feed on other creatures’ “time energy,” but only if nobody is looking at them.

Sounds stupid right? And it is. But here’s the thing: that episode won a BAFTA award and a Hugo because it – and most other episodes of Doctor Who, Eureka, and Chuck – is really well written. Yeah, these shows are quirky and ridiculous, but the character development, dialogue, and – in all three cases – the overarching season(s)-long story arcs are strong enough to compensate.

Let me give you a counter example: Grey’s Anatomy. When it was fresh, I watched Grey’s Anatomy for two reasons: my father, oddly enough, recommended it and all of my lady friends were watching it. I was surprised to find that it was a fairly decent show, at least at first.

But, eventually, Grey’s started telling stories about ghosts and bombs inside of folks and other sorts of tomfoolery. But the show, as Katherine Heigl infamously pointed out, didn’t have the quality writing in other areas to offset that type of – Microsoft Word wants me to call it “monkey business.”

Eureka, on the other hand, has earned my devotion. I’m invested in the characters, I enjoy their repartee, and I really want to know what happens in season 3 (and 3.5). But I suppose I’ll have to postpone that if I’m going to blog this week.

Quote of the Night:

Jack Hanna, who is hilarious by the way, is on Dave Letterman tonight. Dave asked him if he’d ever lost an animal from a zoo. Jack says he lost two poisonous sea snakes through the drain system of a Columbus zoo in 1986. Dave asks, “What happened to them?” Jack’s deadpan response:

“Well, they could be real big by now.”