Sci Fi Renews Drama "Eureka" for a Second Season

Sci Fi has renewed Eureka for a second season of wacky scientists, misbehaving machines, and general oddball behavior in the fictional Pacific Northwest berg of Eureka, a top secret home for the nation's most brilliant scientists to conduct covert experiments. Series stars Colin Ferguson as the a former US Marshall turned local sheriff of Eureka.

While the move to renew the show is a rather expected one, given the series' solid ratings for the cabler (it averages 2.76 million viewers), it's still good news for fans of Sci Fi's quirky drama Eureka, which wraps its first season tonight.

Thanks to high-performing series like Eureka, Battlestar Galactica (which returns to the airwaves on Friday), Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1 (now in its final season), Sci Fi has emerged as the 10th highest-rated network in viewers. Additionally, it finished 9th overall in the key A25-54 demo. Those numbers have led Bonnie Hammer, president of both USA and Sci Fi networks, to announce that one of her goals is to launch two nights of scripted original series on Sci Fi roughly within the next year. (Sci Fi currently airs its original series in rotations on Friday evenings.) My guess would be for Sci Fi to go after Sunday night, like sister network USA has done successfully on that night with series The 4400 and The Dead Zone, both recently renewed for additional seasons.

As for Eureka, Hammer said the quirky sci fi/drama "has its hit pulse and its heart... It's reaching its stride in character development, and blends mystery with quirky humor."

One can't help but utter a certain familiar cry of joy about that.

The season finale of "Eureka" airs tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on Sci Fi.