Why Was Eureka Cancelled and Could It Be Revived?

Eureka was a delightfully unique sci fi series that had a five-year run, but a sixth season was planned and a revival of the show just might work.

What Is It?

Deputy United States Marshal Jack Carter happens upon an odd little North Western town called Eureka while trying to return his rebellious teenage daughter to her mother’s home in Los Angeles. The place is populated with brilliant scientists working on super-secret experiments (which often get out of control), and when the local sheriff is inadvertently injured by one of these, Carter finds himself chosen to take over law enforcement in the town. And while Carter may not have the same level of IQ as most of the geniuses there, he makes up for that with common sense and down-to-Earth thinking.

Aired: 2006-12, The Sci Fi Channel/Syfy, 5 Seasons Totaling 77 Episodes

Starring: Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Debrah Farentino, Jordan Danger, Ed Quinn

Created By: Andrew Cosby, Jaime Paglia

Why Was It Cancelled?

This rather unique series joined The Sci Fi Channel’s schedule in Summer 2006 and managed to stick around for five seasons and 77 episodes which is a rather healthy run compared to many shows today. The series finale wrapped things up rather nicely and did not leave the show on a cliffhanger, but a sixth season had originally been planned. Its numbers had dropped off during its fifth season (not disastrously, though) and the network’s new controlling partner Comcast decided to jettison it in favor of some of the newer (less expensive) entries in the pipeline. The sixth year would have been only about six episodes long, similar to what Syfy later did with Warehouse 13, but that was scrapped by network executives. Series producer Amy Berg had the following to say about the cancellation:

Everyone is asking why. It’s simple, really. We are the network’s golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, #Eureka is an expensive show to make. And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy’s new parent company [Comcast]. Our creative execs at Syfy fought hard to keep us. Trust me, they LOVE us. We just couldn’t make the numbers work.

The cancellation generated an uproar from the fans, and a campaign to save the show was put together, but network execs could not be swayed to bring Eureka back for another year.

Should It Be Revived?

Eureka was given the chance to wrap up its storylines which is a luxury that many sci fi shows have been denied. But this was a beloved genre entry, and there are many who would enjoy making a return trip to that North Western town. And the fact is that a revival of the show could work because even though most of the storylines were resolved, there are plenty more tales to tell in the town of Eureka. Colin Ferguson’s talent is sadly being wasted these days with Maytag commercials, so I’m guessing he would be interested in signing up as sheriff again. And I would bet that many of the other cast members could be lured back to the show as well. And perhaps they could transition to a Eureka: The Next Generation type of scenario, though they should definitely keep Ferguson onboard because he is the glue that holds everything together.

This show is owned by NBC Universal and it could come back on Syfy’s schedule, or it could be used as a subscription draw for Peacock. Eureka is a fan-favorite sci fi entry and would certainly draw back many of the original viewers and perhaps bring on some new ones. In addition, one more season gets the show to 90 total episodes which makes it much more attractive to the syndication market where it could live on for years in encore runs. Whether it is a one-off season to check back in on what the characters are up to now, or a setup for a whole new set of storylines, this makes sense from a creative and financial perspective. If fans of the show were to get something trending on the social networks, perhaps a return trip to Eureka would be possible.

Where Can You Watch It?

The entire series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray, though the DVD has gone out of print and is fetching pretty high prices from third-party sellers. The Blu-ray is available at a reasonable price, though. Eureka is also currently available for streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Did you watch Eureka and would you support fan efforts to bring the show back? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments below.

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