SciFiAndTvTalk

The Syfy Channel Sizzles During Summer 2010

THE Syfy Channel goes boldly where it has never gone before in Summer 2010 with its first ever Thursday night reality bloc (Mary Knows Best and Paranormal Investigators); new scripted series (Haven) based on a Stephen King novella; popular returning series (Warehouse 13, Eureka, Ghost Hunters Academy and Ghost Hunters International), and fan favorite Saturday Night Original Movies including Lake Placid 3 and Stonehenge Apocalypse.

The traditional holiday movie marathon runs from Friday, May 28th through Monday, May 31st, including "cold as ice" films (Yeti), horror flicks (premiere of Wrong Turn on Saturday, May 29th @ 9:oo p.m.), "creatures in the water" films (Lake Placid 2) and a festival of Stephen King adaptations (The Stand) on Memorial Day, May 31st.

The new Thursday night reality bloc premieres Thursday, July 15th @ 9:oo p.m. EST/PST with Mary Knows Best (working title), a docu-soap reality series following Mary Occhino, a successful radio host, psychic intuitive and mother of three, who gives a whole new meaning to the term "mother is always right." Her children, Jackie, Chris and Carl, are a mismatched group f siblings consisting of a skeptic, a paranormal investigator and a reluctant psychic. In each episode, viewers will meet a humorous and unforgettable cast of family characters including Mary's outspoken older brother Charles and two adorable grandchildren. The series is produced by Atlas Media Corp.

Following @ 10:00 p.m. EST/PST is Paranormal Investigators, which debunks fact from fiction by uncovering the truth behind supernatural and unexplained occurrences which have been caught on tape. In each episode, the six-person team, led by former FBI Special Agent Ben Hansen, searches for the most intriguing and unusual images, videos and unnatural phenomenon found online and around the world. Selecting the most intriguing images, the team heads into the field attempting to re-create the video, carrying out key experiments and searching for clues and evidence. The team uses all the latest tools CGI (computer-generated imaging) and investigative techniques at its disposal to try to answer the question, "Is it real?" Produced by Base Productions.

The new drama series Haven premieres Friday, July 9th @ 10:00 p.m. EST/PST. Based on the novella The Colorado Kid from renowned author Stephen King, it follows FBI Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose), who arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine to solve the murder of a local ex-con. Before long, her natural curiosity lands her in the epicenter of activity in this curious enclave, which turns out to be a longtime refuge for people with a remarkable range of supernatural abilities. Among the townspeople are local cop Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant), who eventually becomes Audrey's partner, and the mysterious and charming Duke Crocker (Eric Balfour).

Cable's top paranormal franchise, Ghost Hunters Academy returns with brand-new episodes on Wednesday, June 2nd @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. Expert instructors Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango will once again train a group of recruits to become the newest team member, but this time, one hopeful will be voted off each week by one of the ultimate judges of paranormal investigating: Ghost Hunters' Jason Hawes! Jason, Steve and Tango will put the new recruits through the paces with challenging investigations at six of the most daunting and memorable past Ghost Hunters locations: Waverly Hills Sanatorium (Waverly Hills, KY), Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston, WV), Mark Twain House (Hartford, CT), Fort Delaware (Delaware City, DE), Mansfield Reformatory - a.k.a. "Shawshank Prison" (Mansfield, OH) and the infamous Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, CO).

Season two of Warehouse 13 debuts on Tuesday, July 6th @ 9:oo p.m. EST/PST. The series follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse's caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself. Warehouse 13 also features Allison Scagliotti, along with series guest-star CCH Pounder.

Eureka kicks off its fourth season on Friday, July 9th @ 9:oo p.m. EST/PST with the introduction of new series regular James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) as Dr. Grant, a former resident of the town whose unexpected return is cause for serious alarm and, considering his romantic interest in Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), significant friction with Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson). New and returning fans won't want to miss the big changes in store for everyone in the small town of Eureka after a cataclysmic shift turns their lives upside-down. Eureka also stars Joe Morton (Henry Deacon), Erica Cerra (Jo Lupo), Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo) and Niall Matter (Zane Donovan).

On July 14th, new episodes of Ghost Hunters International premiere @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST. Like their U.S. counterparts, TAPS (The Atlantis Paranormal Society), GHI is a squad made up of everyday ordinary citizens who investigate and attempt to debunk claims of otherworldly activity. In the premiere episode, the team travels to the famous town of Nottingham, England and search for the Sheriff of Nottingham's Ghost at the Galleries of Justice. Other countries on their global adventures will include Wales, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia and many more. The team includes Robb Demarest, Barry FitzGerald, Brandy Green, Ashley Goodwin, Paul Bradford, new cast member Scott Tepperman as well as Ghost Hunters Academy winners Susan Slaughter and Karl Pfeiffer.

Saturday Night Original Movies

Lake Placid 3 premieres in June 2010. In this sequel to Lake Placid 2 (most watched Syfy Saturday Original Movie ever), a game warden, his wife and their young son move into their aunt's cabin on Lake Placid, where the lonely boy starts feeding baby crocodiles he considers to be pets. Three years later, the crocs start looking at him and his family as food. Stars Colin Ferguson (Eureka).

Stonehenge Apocalypse premieres in June 2010. When the giant stones of Stonehenge begin to move and cataclysms occur all over the Earth, only a fringe radio talk show host who's an expect in UFOology figures out that the ancient monument is really alien technology. Stars Hill Harper (CSI NY).

Jack Hunter And The Lost Treasure of Ugarit premieres in July 2010. Jack Hunter, an adventurous fortune hunter, goes to Syria to find an ancient treasure buried thousands of years ago, which might be cured. Stars Joanne Kelly (Warehouse 13).

Goblin premieres in July 2010. A family vacations in a mountain town haunted by a goblin that steals babies. When their newborn disappears, it's up to his older half-sister to rescue him.

Mandrake premieres in August 2010. A group of adventurers searching for a Spanish conquistador artifact find that the jungle around them is a single living being - and it's not happy they're there.

James Callis Joins Syfy's Eureka

PRODUCTION begins this week in Vancouver on season four of Eureka, one of the Syfy Channel's most popular original series, it was announced by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Development at Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. The dramedy's new season welcomes an all-new regular cast member, James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) as Dr. Grant. Syfy has ordered 20 episodes of Eureka, which will once again be shot entirely on-location in and around Vancouver, Canada, and is slated to premiere on Friday, July 9th of this year.

Throughout the four-season run of Syfy's award-winning Battlestar Galactica, James Callis starred as Dr. Gaius Baltar, garnering both critical acclaim and fan adoration for his portrayal of the self-serving, opportunistic, conniving genius. On Eureka, Callis will play scientist Dr. Grant, a former resident of the town whose unexpected return is cause for serious alarm and - considering his romantic interest in Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) - significant friction with Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson). New and returning fans won't want to miss the big changes in store for everyone in the small town of Eureka after a cataclysmic shift turns their lives upside-down.

Once again this season, series stars Colin Ferguson and Joe Morton (Henry Deacon) will direct episodes, and making her directorial debut as well is female lead Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Also, special guest-stars returning this season include Jaime Ray Newman (Dr. Tess Fontana) and Matt Frewer (Taggart).

Eureka ' s Jaime Ray Newman - New Girl In Town

[caption id="attachment_3045" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Tess Fontana (Jaime Ray Newman) and Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) have an unconventional introduction to one another in the Eureka episode "Insane in the P-Brane." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Over the past several decades, the brilliant minds working at Eureka's Global Dynamics have been responsible for countless scientific breakthroughs intended to benefit humankind. Unfortunately, there are certain discoveries and inventions either far too dangerous or not yet perfected and must therefore be kept under tight lock and key. Such things are confined to Section 5, the most highly-secured of areas at GD. After an incident involving "the Artifact," the section was closed down, but this (third) season, it was reopened to deal with a new threat. GD's managing director, Dr. Allison Blake, called in an old friend, Dr. Tess Fontana, to get Section 5 up and running again. Although she has only been in town a short time, Tess has already made quite an impression on the locals, especially Sheriff Jack Carter. "Tess is very passionate, spirited, quirky and brilliant; of course everyone in Eureka is brilliant, Jack Carter [Colin Ferguson] being in his own way the most brilliant," says actress Jaime Ray Newman, who plays Tess on Eureka. "She is also a very focused gal who marches to her own drumbeat. My character comes to town to work on some extraterrestrial findings that have been unearthed. Tess ends up sticking around a lot longer than she ever imagined, and along the way a romance kindles between her and Jack. "I hadn't really done much Sci-Fi before this, so it was a matter of getting used to helping tell a story where the town and Earth are constantly in peril and about to explode. With something like that, it's important to keep that momentum up and keep things feeling like, 'Oh, this time it really is going to happen.' It's one big adventure after another, and playing that every week is a challenge, but it's a blast as well. It's not hard to show Tess' enthusiasm about the science because it mirrors my own excitement about acting and working in the arts. So it's an easy transference for me." [caption id="attachment_3046" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jack and Tess must figure out a way out of the Fifth Dimension in "Insane in the P-Brane." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Newman's character is introduced in the season three Eureka episode Insane in the P-Brane. Tess barely has time to settle into her new office at GD when a scientist who has been studying paranormal activity appears to go mad. Are his condition and the ghostly happenings around town somehow connected to the reopening of Section 5? As Tess and Carter get close to finding out the answer to that, they end up in another dimension. "The toughest part of my first episode was the language," recalls Newman. "Because of the story, I was bogged down with a lot of technobabble, so the trick was getting those words out and somehow managing to act at the same time. So that was definitely a challenge, but from the get-go, Colin and the rest of the cast as well as the crew have been amazing. These are the nicest people I have ever worked with. Everyone has been very supportive and patient, and I honestly love the character they [the producers/writers] have created for me. Tess is funny and speaks the truth, which sometimes gets her in trouble," chuckles the actress. "I'll never forget our last day of work on this episode. It was all done on-location with a second unit [film] crew and Matt Hastings [consulting producer] worked with us. We filmed the very first scene where Jack and Tess meet on the side of the road and she's somewhat irreverent towards him. Then we also did the last scene where the two of them are lying on the ground looking up at the sky. It had rained every day of the shoot except this particular one. It was a gorgeous fall day and the leaves on the trees were beautiful. It's hard to explain, but the scenes were the types of exchanges where my character and Colin's just got to be two people who are finding each other." [caption id="attachment_3048" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jack and Tess in the Eureka episode "Ship Happens." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Although Tess is developing relationships with all the characters on the show, her main ones are with Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and Jack Carter. "Allison and Tess have been friends for years," says Newman. "The two of them went to graduate school together, so they share a long history and a real kinship. Tess considers Allison to be a great pillar of strength at GD and she has a lot of respect for her. On top of that, Allison is going to be raising two kids on her own. She's a pretty amazing woman, and Salli plays her so beautifully. Salli is such a leader and really sets a precedent on-set. Everyone does, though. Colin, Salli, Joe Morton [Henry Deacon], they all come to work and do a bang-up job and are respected by the crew. "As for Tess and Jack, they start out at odds with one another. She's this pistol who kind of walks in, takes her territory and Jack is like, 'Hey, who the heck do you think you are?' Ultimately, they go through all these crazy things together, like getting stuck in the Fifth Dimension, which creates a bond between them and they find out they have a lot in common and really like each other. One of my favorite episodes is You Don't Know Jack, where Allison has her baby. Along the way, we all lose our memories and Jack has to help Tess piece together how she knows him. Colin and I really got to do some acting there. It wasn't just about the planet being in danger or some nano-technological technobabble, but rather two people connecting, and that to me is always the most fun. I know the writers like writing scenes like that, but there's not alot of time for that sort of stuff. So when we get it, I don't waste a second of it." Having appeared onstage in her first Equity professional play when she was just 12 years old, Newman went on to study acting and English literature at Boston University's School for the Arts theatre conservatory for two years before transferring to Northwestern University in Chicago. After graduating, she spent a year-and-a-half working on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital. [caption id="attachment_3050" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tess is helped through a life-and-death situation by an old friend, Dr. Bruce Manius (Billy Campbell), in "Shower the People." Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "Talk about a great training ground," notes the actress. "I come from a theater background, and onstage there's a real freedom. You can do whatever you want, within the confines of the character you've created, of course. Every night can be different and you don't have to be worried about hitting your mark, being lit in a certain way, etc. "It's not that theater isn't a technical craft like films, but in my mind it's a much less self-conscious craft. When you're in front of a camera it's not easy to ignore that big thing in front of your face that captures your every blink. So I still feel like I'm working on having that same freedom in front of a camera. I look at someone like Colin Ferguson, and you never feel like he's acting because he is so easy with it. So Colin has been a good role model for me to watch, especially with comedy. There's almost a musicality to the way he performs." A Line in the Sand, Catch Me If You Can and the forthcoming The Gauntlet are among Newman's feature film credits. On the small screen, she has appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies and guest-starred on such popular series as Supernatural, Bones, Medium, Nip/Tuck and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The actress was also seen in the recurring role of Mindy O'Dell on Veronica Mars, while her first Sci-Fi experience was on Stargate Atlantis as Lt. Laura Cadman in the episode Duet. [caption id="attachment_3051" align="aligncenter" width="207" caption="Jaime Ray Newman at Comic-Con 2009. Photo by Evans Vestal Ward and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "Veronica Mars was awesome," enthuses Newman. "I'm a huge fan of Rob Thomas [series creator/executive producer] and I loved working with Ed Begley Jr., who played my husband [Cyrus]. My character is a murder suspect kind of straight out of the gate, and early on I made the decision to play her in a very film noir, femme fatale, Veronica Lake-type of way. That was really different for me and I loved the challenge. "With Stargate Atlantis, all I can say is that David Hewlett [Dr. Rodney McKay] was such a rock star. The first episode I did was sort of an homage to the movie All of Me with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. My character's consciousness was trapped inside Dr. McKay's body and David was so good at all the physical stuff that the storyline called for. You could just tell when we were shooting that it was going to be a classic episode, and it really was." It was back in college that the actress also discovered her love of music. While living in Chicago, she performed with her own jazz quartet along with the popular funk band Sweet, Sweet Candy. Nowadays when not acting, Newman spends part of her time performing with her cover band School Boy Crush. This fall, the actress will be playing Kat Rougemont opposite Rebecca Romijn, Lindsay Price and Paul Gross in the new ABC series Eastwick. As with all her jobs, this one is sure to be yet another learning experience. "As an actress. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to meet people who are inspiring and aren't afraid to creatively stretch themselves," says Newman. "Again, it's about being around someone like Colin Ferguson, who is that good all day long. A while back I did a play [Turnaround] with David Schwimmer, and watching him do eight shows a week was just amazing. I recently did a play that [writer/producer/director] Neil LaBute directed, which was incredible, too. So for me, the best part about this job is watching others who are really free within their craft and sharing in that creative energy." Steve Eramo As noted above, photos by Marcel Williams or Evans Vestal Ward and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Eureka ' s Joe Morton Guest-Stars On This Week ' s Warehouse 13

[caption id="attachment_2986" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Joe Morton, who plays Henry Deacon on Eureka, wanders over to Warehouse 13 this week to check things out. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] FOLLOWING an appearance on Warehouse 13 by some of his fellow Eureka castmates, Joe Morton (Henry Deacon) guest-stars on this week's episode, Regrets. In it, Artie (Saul Rubinek) receives word of a rash of unexplained suicides at a Florida prison, so he sends Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) to investigate. Claudia (Allison Scagliotti), relegated to inventory duty, decides to change a light bulb - with the help of an artifact... Regrets airs Tuesday, September 1st @ 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CT on The Syfy Channel. Click on the link below to download a clip from the episode: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/732273387/290b7b6809a3499f549388177878f694 As noted above, photo is copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Eureka ' s Erica Cerra - The Enforcer

[caption id="attachment_2561" align="aligncenter" width="236" caption="Erica Cerra as Eureka's Deputy Jo Lupo - Photo by F. Scott Schafer and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Intelligent, beautiful, resourceful and sexy - all these adjectives describe Deputy Jo Lupo. Let's not forget that, given just cause, she can also incapacitate you and throw you in jail. With her as one half of Eureka's long arm of the law, the small town has nothing to worry about. Three years ago, it looked as if Jo would be promoted when her boss, Sheriff William Cobb, was reassigned after almost losing his life to a misguided scientific experiment. Unfortunately for her, the government chose U.S. Marshall Jack Carter as Cobb's replacement. At first, Jo was disappointed and somewhat prickly towards Jack, but they soon became friends as well as a formidable team. Nowadays, she is still helping him police the town, and Erica Cerra, who plays Jo in Eureka, is thrilled with her character's growth and development so far over the show's three seasons. "Each season, Jo seems to soften up somewhat, which I always think is nice because it allows the audience to get to like her a bit more," says the actress with a laugh. "Her relationship with [scientist] Zane Donovan [Niall Matter] has also helped give her an opportunity to express her feelings and become emotionally attached to someone else. I'm very happy that the [show's] writers have allowed Jo and Zane to more or less take their time and haven't married them off yet and given them children. The two of them bicker a lot, and Niall and I enjoy playing that. "As individuals, Niall and I get along very well, so that makes our scenes quite easy, and I think that's why the writers are able to give us so much bizarre relationship stuff to do. Zane has almost been taken away from Jo a couple of times, and those moments have given my character a chance to say to him, 'No, please don't go. I really do have a heart.' The [acting] challenges with this and any character are in the scripts, and I always look forward to taking on the next challenge." [caption id="attachment_2565" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Deputy Lupo on duty in Eureka. Photo by James Dittiger and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Midway through Eureka's third season in From Fear to Eternity, Sheriff Carter (Colin Ferguson) must deal with yet another technological crisis when a long-forgotten doomsday weapon discovered in an abandoned military complex threatens to destroy the town. In the process, he ends up trapped inside the facility with Eva Thorne (Francis Fisher), a scientist with a mysterious past and a secret to hide. Above ground, Deputy Lupo and Zane try to help figure out a way to rescue Carter and Eva, but have their own problems when a weird substance literally binds them together. "The original script for that episode was very different from what ended up on the screen, and it continued to change quite a bit while we were shooting," recalls Cerra. "Jo and Zane were, I believe, on the brink of breaking up in that story, or they were at least fighting; every other episode they're on the brink of a break-up, but again that's fun. It not only gives the characters something to do, but it's also very real. These are two people who passionately care about each other and are trying to find their groove. "One thing that immediately comes to mind from that episode is that in the scene in which Jo and Zane finally become unstuck, I walk away and say, 'If I had been stuck to you any longer I'd have gnawed off my own arm.' And he yells back at me, 'Well, your mouth is big enough.' That was all Niall, and it was really funny," chuckles the actress. "He just ad-libbed that and they ended up keeping it in, which was great. It's something that, again, is real. It's what a boyfriend might say to his girlfriend when he wants to get a jab in at her, so that line always sticks out for me." In the third season Eureka story Your Face or Mine - directed by Colin Ferguson - Jo Lupo becomes acting sheriff while Carter takes a Department of Defense (D.O.D.) recertification test. However, her friends being to wonder if the job might be too much for her when she starts behaving strangely. They have no idea that a scientist at Global Dynamics is using her experiment to take over Jo's physical identity. As is typical in Eureka, things go horribly wrong, and Jo comes face-to-face with herself as she fights for her life. [caption id="attachment_2566" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Carter (Colin Ferguson) and Jo in a scene from "Your Face or Mine." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "I was so excited when I got that script," enthuses Cerra. "First off, being given that much stuff to do in a single episode, it just felt so nice to know that the producers had faith that I could handle it. As an actress I had tons of challenges, and having Colin directing was such a cool experience. It was the first time that a member of the cast had directed us, and it was important to me that I do everything to the best of my ability and not let him down. "Colin and I work so much together that he says, 'I speak Erica,' which I always find amusing. The thing is, I'm not always the best as far as articulating certain things, but somehow Colin always knows what the hell I'm trying to say," she says laughing. "I'd be in a very happy place if I could take him with me as a director all the time. "So this episode was by far my biggest challenge of the season, and as the remaining 13 episodes went on, the writers gave me other scenes where Jo became emotionally attached to something. As an actor, if you're not emotionally attached to something, there's nothing to really play, right? A great deal of what I do on the program is standard, so whenever I'm given something a little different to play, I take full advantage of it." When Cerra took time out to do this interview (early January 2009), she and the rest of the Eureka cast were shooting one of the final season three episodes, which was directed by castmember Joe Morton (Henry Deacon). "In this episode, Zane comes back to Eureka after being gone for a month, and there is a possible threat to the relationship between him and Jo," notes the actress. "There's also a visit from an old love interest. [caption id="attachment_2567" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="L-R - Erica Cerra with some of her Eureka castmates at Comic Con 2009 - Joe Morton, Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Dr. Allison Blake), Cerra and Neil Grayston (Douglas Fargo). Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "As far as being directed by Joe, it's been fantastic. We get a different director with every episode, and with Joe it feels more like we're all hanging out and playing together, do you know what I mean? It's not that we ever make any of our directors feel uncomfortable, but when someone new comes in, you're trying to get to know them and there's never enough time for that. With Joe, and, of course, Colin, you already know them and they know how to talk with you and know what you need. It's just cozier and easier to sort of give them what they want because you both know how to translate each other's words." After production wrapped on Eureka's third season, the actress shot guest-spots on episodes of Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary, and can also be seen as Hera in the feature film Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief starring Pierce Brosnan and Rosario Dawson. As for Eureka, the program continues to grow in popularity and has been renewed for a fourth season. While the episodes may be driven by scientific mishaps, there is a lightness and humor involved in storytelling as well, both of which Cerra feels draws viewers to tune in. "I remember looking at one of the Eureka websites and someone was complaining that the science was wrong. Somebody else wrote in and said, 'Just watch it and be entertained.' and I agree," says the actress. "There are a lot of TV shows about murder and sadness, and what's great about Eureka is that you can sit back, watch it and just be entertained, and in today's world I think that's a good thing." Steve Eramo As noted above, photos are by James Dittiger, Marcel Williams and F. Scott Schafer and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!

Eureka ' s Colin Ferguson - Jack ' s Back!

[caption id="attachment_2318" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Jack Carter in the Eureka episode "Welcome Back Carter." Photo by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] For the past three years, Colin Ferguson has been upholding law and order as Sheriff  Jack Carter on The Syfy Channel's hit series Eureka. When its cast and crew returned to work last fall after a brief hiatus to begin shooting the remaining 10 episodes of the show's third season, the actor had the chance to put on a totally different hat, that of director. He stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct the year three story Your Face or Mine. In it, an unhappy and lovelorn scientist uses her newest invention to temporarily assume Deputy Jo Lupo's identity. Unfortunately for Jo, the scientist enjoys herself a little bit too much and decides to switch places permanently. While not the ideal position for the deputy to be in, Ferguson had the time of his life in his directorial debut. "The good news is I had [consulting producer] Matt Hastings and [producer] Robert Petrovicz to take me through the prep process," says the actor. "They taught me an important lesson, which is it's all about the prep. So during prep I slaved over the script - which was a terrific script written by [co-creator/executive producer] Jaime Paglia - and when it came time to shoot, we really didn't have a problem at all. That's one of the perks of being a regular on a show and directing it; I'm familiar with every set, every actor and every personality. So I know what works as well as what to do and what not to do, probably more what not to do because I've watched significantly more talented directors than myself come through here and seen how they've approached things. So this was a great opportunity for me to use a lot of those experiences. "Of course, working with the cast was great," he continues. "Everything went so smoothly. Everyone was so kind and rallied behind the cause. After all, we want other members of the cast to direct and have bigger episodes. So it was important on a number of different fronts that this went well, and it did. The story is all about Erica Cerra's character [Deputy Jo Lupo] and like the film Face/Off in that it's about identity theft, only on a much more literal scale. I knew the scene where Jo is facing off against herself was going to be a hugely important one, and the ball would be in Erica's court more than anyone else's. So we worked on that scene ahead of time and Erica knew that she had to deliver. Well, she knocked it out of the park and did an amazing job. You really buy the fact that there are two of her character in that scene the entire time." [caption id="attachment_2319" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sheriff Jack Carter and Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) in Ferguson's Eureka directorial debut "Your Face or Mine." Photo by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] Although the actor spent plenty of time prepping for his directorial debut on Eureka, there were times when he had to tweak his way of doing things. "The biggest thing I learned throughout this entire process is that as much prep as you do and as much as you know exactly what you want, that on the day, sometimes the 'language' you use isn't always right," muses Ferguson. "By that I mean, yes, I know what I want, but I don't always know the exact words that the other person needs to hear in order to achieve it. Is it, 'We're going in this direction first,' or, 'I'd like to do a two-shot then go into a single,' or, 'I need to start the scene from this point,' etc. So you go through all the options until you get to the right one and then you're like, 'OK, excellent, let's shoot it.' I realized I can speak quickly, rattle off a bunch of subjects and eventually get to the right one," jokes the actor. "Next time, though, I've got to make sure I'm able to speak quickly and express to everyone exactly what I want right off the bat. "We ended the episode, I believe, under budget and on-time, so I think everyone was happy about that. We shot inside on the sets for most of the time, and when that happens you have to keep it even more interesting. So I made sure to plan a special shot every day so that I could put a spark into things. I was extremely pleased with how everything turned out and, again, above all else, I received a wonderful script. Had I been given a not-so-hot script or one that needed a ton of work and massaging, it would have been quite a different experience. I got really lucky and the entire thing was a perfect fit." There is an old adage that no good deed goes unpunished, and that was certainly true for Sheriff Carter midway through season three on Eureka. He was fired for letting Eva Thorne (Frances Fisher) go free at the end of the mid-season cliffhanger From Fear to Eternity. However, the town and its residents could not do without his unique style of policing, and Carter was back on the payroll by the end of the mid-year opener Welcome Back Carter. Since then, he has been kept busy personally and professionally, both of which have resulted in one or two new acting challenges for Ferguson. [caption id="attachment_2321" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), Sheriff Carter and Henry Deacon (Joe Morton) try to figure out what is causing the gravity wells in "Welcome Back Carter." Photo by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] "The writers have brought in Allison's [Salli Richardson-Whitfield] old school friend, Dr. Tess Fontana [Jaime Ray Newman], who Carter ends up in a relationship with, " he notes. "Also, right now [early December 2008] Salli is eight-and-a-half months pregnant, so in the series her character is carrying Stark's [Ed Quinn] child and, therefore, will be doing a lot of 'heavy lifting' as far as the tech talk during the latter part of the season. In fact, she and Tess are both doing that, which has provided me with an acting exercise when it comes to trying to keep my character fresh. Carter is in a number of scenes with not a lot to do, so for me it's a matter of , OK, what can I focus on here, because he's hearing all this information, but doesn't impart much of it. "So what I try to do is give myself lighter days. One way to keep it [your character] fresh is to stop yourself from burning out, so every now and then you don't over-think it. You just literally show up and do the best you can and let the scene go where it wants to go. In doing that, you allow yourself to regenerate a bit, so when a moment comes up that you really feel like digging into, you can actually do that. Another way is to change the dialogue every so often. That's obviously a tricky thing because you don't want to become at odds with the producers and writers and make it appear as if you're disrespecting what they do. However, it helps to talk with them occasionally about changing a line or two if you feel it will better service your character. "Another thing is to take the work seriously. It's fun to joke around and get through a scene that way, but too much of that and there's the danger of phoning it [your performance] in. And that's just boring for you and the viewers. So you've got to dig in and see what you can come up with, and I have to tell you that there have been some really neat scenes we've come up with this season," enthuses Ferguson. [caption id="attachment_2322" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Sheriff Carter and Dr. Tess Fontana (Jaime Ray Newman) end up slightly out of sync in "Insane in the P-Brane." Photo by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] In the season three Eureka story Insane in the P-Brane, Carter is on his way to Global Dynamics when he discovers a car partially blocking the road. He has a rather prickly exchange with its owner, Dr. Tess Fontana, before allowing her to drive off. The sheriff later meets up with her again unexpectedly at Global, and has no idea that Tess will be helping him stop yet another experiment gone wrong from destroying Eureka. As Ferguson already mentioned, Tess and Jack become romantically involved as the latter half of this season continues to unfold. What did the actor think about a new love interest being introduced for his character? "I was nervous out of the gate, because the initial meeting between Tess and Jack was a little 'forced' insofar as how they didn't like one another," he says. "Then, however, there was a nice little transition that they [the writers] did involving the two characters actually hooking up. And what's neat about it is it's not some tedious type of thing where their passion overflows as they lock lips in an embrace. It was more like a gradual emotional melting. Again, it started off with Jack and Tess not really liking each other, but having a begrudging respect, which leads to a friendship, and then to something romantic. It's subtle, which I like, and not overdone, either. It's not episode after episode of their relationship. It's sprinkled into the plot, and hopefully the viewers will enjoy it." The actor has also enjoyed seeing his character's relationship further develop with his daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson) as well as with Henry Deacon (Joe Morton). "It's always a pleasure to work with Jordan," says Ferguson. "Her character of Zoe is a little lighter in these latter episodes, but the two of us have had some wonderful little scenes together, which I'm proud of. As for Henry, he's going through something that I can't talk about, but I've enjoyed him having this problem, if you know what I mean, because it throws something new into the relationship between him and Jack. Any time you have to redefine a relationship because of circumstance it's a good thing in terms of storytelling." [caption id="attachment_2323" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Henry, Sheriff Carter, Allison and Tess try to sort out yet another scientific mishap in "It's Not Easy Being Green." Photo by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel"][/caption] At the time of this interview, Ferguson and the rest of the Eureka cast and crew were shooting the season three story Shower the People, which guest-stars a very familiar face. "In this episode, people contract this infection and something really bad happens to them. Unfortunately, it's December in Vancouver and we're all soaking wet, which is all part of the story, but we're having fun," laughs the actor. "A good buddy of mine, Billy Campbell [Jordan Collier in The 4400] is doing a guest-spot in this episode and we've been having a ball working together. I've been in Vancouver for six of the last seven months and I definitely feel like it's time to go home for a bit, so having an old buddy on-set makes a big difference." It was announced last weekend at Comic Con in San Diego that Eureka has been picked up for a fourth season, which means that everyone involved will be back in Vancouver at some point to start filming. In the meantime, Ferguson is currently working half a world away and enjoying every minute of it. "I just finished shooting Lake Placid 3 as a actor and start prepping Fossils as a director on Monday [August 3rd]," he says. "So I"m busy, busy, busy and loving life in Bulgaria." Steve Eramo As noted above, all photos by Marcell Williams and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!

Eureka ' s Jaime Paglia - Small Town Kinda Guy

[caption id="attachment_2081" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter), Joe Morton (Henry Deacon) and Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Dr. Allison Blake) in the season three Eureka episode "Welcome Back Carter." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] BELIEVE it or not, it was three years ago that Eureka co-creator and executive producer Jaime Paglia first invited audiences into the small Pacific Northwest town where, thanks to the local government-run think tank Global Dynamics, just about anything scientifically and technologically-speaking can happen. The brains behind Eureka may be working towards the betterment of humanity, but their results often end up endangering the town and its locals. Midway through the show's third season, Sheriff Jack Carter prevented a doomsday weapon from destroying Eureka. However, when he let Eva Thorne, one of the scientists involved in a pre-Eureka research project on atomic bombs, go free, he was fired. That was last summer. Earlier this month, Eureka returned to the Syfy Channel with 10 brand new episodes to finish out its third season, which was part of the plan all along according to Paglia. "The reason that this order [for season three] got split the way it did was because once the writers' strike [of 2007] resolved itself, it was a matter of, 'OK, hurry up and catch up,'" explains the executive producer. "In order to stay on track for having episodes to air last summer in Eureka's regular time-slot, we were only able to physically shoot and complete eight episodes. "So as opposed to doing the full 18-episode run all at once, we wrote and shot eight, then took a brief hiatus while the writers furiously caught up on scripts so that we'd have more material to shoot, and gave the cast and crew a little breather. Then we went back and shot the last 10 episodes. We'd hoped that they were going to air earlier this year, around February, but economics being what they are, the network elected to hold them until this summer. "We planned to do a mini-arc with the Eva Thorne [Frances Fisher] character and that was something we wanted to resolve. We had discovered the challenges of sometimes doing a longer mythology arc that you then might not be able to explore in every episode the way we would want to. And I think we decided it was easier to focus on the active element of the first eight episodes of this [third] season and resolve things a bit quicker. That, in turn, allowed us to create a whole new mini-arc for the remaining 10 episodes, and it felt like a really nice, manageable way to approach the story breaking process." [caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="An unemployed Sheriff Carter happily lends a hand to help his friends out in "Welcome Back Carter." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] In the mid-season cliffhanger From Fear to Eternity, the lives of many of our favorite Eureka characters were turned upside-down. Besides Jack Carter's (Colin Ferguson) dismissal by General Mansfield (Barclay Hope), the sheriff's teenage daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson) almost died as a result of her exposure to an aging compound that killed Eva Thorne's colleagues. Dr. Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) also discovered that she was pregnant with her deceased husband Dr. Nathan Stark's (Ed Quinn) child. All these developments, coupled with various behind-the-scenes goings-on, steered the show's writers in a certain direction when it came to writing the rest of the season. "There were some curve balls thrown at us midway through this season," notes Paglia. "Some were production related, and others were just the types of things that happen with peoples' personal lives that, in turn, can affect how you break stories. All those elements definitely had an impact on what we ended up doing with these back 10 episodes. "We wanted to introduce a new love interest for Jack Carter and change the dynamic that we've traditionally had with him and Nathan Stark as these two Alpha males battling over the Alpha female. Also, with Stark's passing, we wanted to bring in a new character, which we did in Dr. Tess Fontana, played by Jamie Ray Newman. Tess and Allison have a history. They're old friends, but that also gets a little tense when Tess and Carter start to develop a romantic connection, which was, I think, really fun to play out. "Something else we wanted to do was step up the relationship between Deputy Jo Lupo [Erica Cerra] and Zane Donovan [Niall Matter] and challenge it as far as if it's a short-term thing or something more," continues the executive producer. "Then there was Zoe and her boyfriend Lucas [Vanya Asher]. She's coming to an age now where they're talking about college and whether or not they're planning to go to the same school and things of that nature. So I think it gave us a chance to really deepen the relationships and those connections and go to places that we haven't before. That's a challenge writing-wise and probably a lot more satisfying for our cast of actors to play as well." The second half of Eureka's third season opens with Welcome Back Carter. In it, Carter and Zoe contemplate leaving Eureka as the ex-sheriff looks for a new job. Meanwhile, everyone in town is surprised when Carter is replaced with Fargo's (Neil Grayston) latest invention, a robotic sheriff named Andy (Ty Olsson). Unfortunately, the congenial and civic-minded robot is targeted by powerful gravity wells, which repeatedly crush him. Carter investigates and ultimately teams up with Andy to help save the day. Realizing that Jack is better suited to uphold law and order in Eureka. Andy helps Henry (Joe Morton) get him reinstated. [caption id="attachment_2088" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sheriff Carter and Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston). Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] "I'd like to have Sheriff Andy make a return to the show," says Paglia. "He nearly did in this season's finale, but I would say looking forward optimistically to season four, I think it would be great to have him back on some kind of recurring basis. "Welcome Back Carter is probably the most challenging episode we did in these back 10. There's a sort of constant push and pull that goes on when you're making a show like ours because you're obviously tied to a certain budget. You do everything you can with that budget, and with that in mind, the [visual effects] guys who put the show together kill themselves to give us more than we're even paying for. I mean, they really extend themselves and I think they're more critical than any of us when it comes to saying, 'You know what, if we did just one more thing it would be better.' "One example of that is the final action sequence in this episode where Jack and Andy are in the barn. Probably two-thirds of those [VFX] shots were not originally budgeted, but creatively everyone agreed that they really needed to be there. So the networks and the studio came through with the extra money and the guys did everything in their power to get it done." Following Welcome Back Carter is the episode Your Face or Mine, in which Erica Cerra plays two very different versions of her Deputy Lupo character. Paglia is quite complimentary of her work as well as Colin Ferguson's, who made his Eureka directorial debut with this episode. "This was an opportunity where we really wanted to allow some of our other cast members to be the focus of the story, and Erica really stepped up to the task," says the executive producer. "And Colin might be a little biased, but I think it's probably one of our favorite episodes of these back 10. "Colin did a terrific job of directing and he'll be doing it again. This was actually the first episode that we shot of these back 10, and we specifically did that so that Colin would be able to prep his episode as a director without having to worry about acting in the previous one. This presented some interesting challenges for the writers, but we welcomed that as it gave us a chance to write a script that wasn't Carter-driven in every scene. That said, he's absolutely a presence through the episode. Colin got to be a fun comedic runner without having to be ferried from one set to another, which would have really impacted his work as a director. [caption id="attachment_2091" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) and Allison try to figure out who's who in "Your Face or Mine." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] "So it all really worked, and I think it proves that we have an amazing supporting cast who we can put in the center of a story and still have it feel like our show." Paglia previously spoke of the introduction of  Tess Fontana as a new romantic interest for Carter in these upcoming Eureka episodes. How will this impact the sheriff's and Allison's relationship in the future? "We want them to truly 'earn' what they have relationship-wise," he muses. "Most of us have had those unrequited relationships in our lives - those missed opportunities where the timing just wasn't right or things went in a different direction. And you always wonder what if you had managed to work things out. "As you know, we forced Carter and Allison apart in season two. She was taking over Global Dynamics and Stark was getting much closer to her and trying to help [her son] Kevin [Meshach Peters]. That was a very deliberate choice on our part to put Carter in a place of not trusting Allison for the first time because she was making some choices that were guided much more by her own personal interests and love for her child. And with the proposal from Stark at the end of the season, it really put a cap on the fact that she was going to go down that road. "Of course, all that changed when Nathan died in what was a very noble way. Then there's this pregnancy that's left over and how is that going to affect Carter's and Allison's relationship. You'll see as the rest of this season unfolds that their friendship has developed. It's interesting when another woman comes into the mix and one who Allison had a previous relationship with. She sees that Tess could potentially make Carter happy and has to make the unselfish, or selfish, choice about whether or not to be supportive of that. Salli, Colin and Jamie Ray really play that dynamic nicely. "There has been a recurring theme that we've tried to weave into the episodes over the past few seasons, which is do they [Carter and Allison] or don't they have 'a thing.' You just have to have a little faith. It may take a long time to get there, and it's not going to be the same road that was traveled down in the alternate time-line at the end of season one. We've seen different characters end up getting married and different characters being the parents of the kids. When Allison was pregnant at the end of year one it was with Carter, and last season it was actually with Stark. Those changes are part of the show. But as for Allison and Carter ending up together, well, there's still the potential. After all, you never know what the future holds, but if you believe strongly enough and maintain those connections, anything is possible. [caption id="attachment_2092" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dr. Allison Blake in "Your Face or Mine." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] Sadly, Eureka fans hoping to see the return of Dr. Stark this year will be disappointed as that is not in the cards. However, there are some other familiar faces that will be making a comeback. "I don't want to and can't spoil it, but I can tell you that there are two characters that have been a major part of our series and will be making a reappearance," teases Paglia. "Along with that, Lexi Carter, who is played by Ever Carradine, will be back for a few episodes and she's great. We also have Billy Campbell [The 4400] coming in for an episode. But, yes, we do have two favorites who will be returning." And what about the show's "big bad?" At the very end of Welcome Back Carter, an alien object is detected to be heading straight for Eureka. Can Paglia shed any light on how it may manifest itself? "We wanted to have another big bad," says the executive producer, "but we wanted it to be something different as well as have it sort of tie into the historical aspect of our characters and the town on a personal level. "So instead of it necessarily being a person, it's a thing, and we don't know what it is. The question is, is it from out there? Is it man-made? It's coming towards Eureka and we have to deal with it, and that has, again, allowed us to introduce some new characters and bring back some old ones who we haven't seen in a while." When it comes to a "wish list" Eureka episode, Paglia definitely as one. "There's the concept that we've had for a really long time that focuses on Carter's smart house, S.A.R.A.H. [Self-Actuated Residential Automated Habitat] and her desire to not just be literally a housewife to Carter, but to get out there, find a job and experience the world," he says. "There was an episode in season two called Duck, Duck, Goose where S.A.R.A.H. was downloaded in a smart car for a while and was able to get out and feel the wind in her hair so to speak. However, she hasn't managed to become personified yet, and I have an idea who I would like to play that character if we ever get a chance to do it. And I'll just say that the actress happens to be on Battlestar Galactica." Having occupied a Tuesday night time-slot on the Syfy Channel since its premiere, Eureka has been moved to Friday nights for the remained of its third season. With the shift, the series has continued to go from strength to strength, much to Paglia's delight. [caption id="attachment_2095" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Carter and Dr. Tess Fontana (Jamie Ray Newman) try to save the day in the season three episode "Insane in the P-Brane." Photo by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel"][/caption] "I'm happy that Syfy has sort of staked out a hold on Syfy Friday's for the channel," says the executive producer. "Naturally, when you've got a time-slot that seems to be working for you, there's always that little trepidation about throwing any curve balls into the mix. However, we premiered to record numbers and have managed to hold onto our number one status on the channel. "We've actually built our audience even more and we want to see those numbers continue to grow. I'm hoping that we can maintain that on Friday nights. The network has always been very supportive of the series and I don't think they would have moved us if they didn't believe we could not hold our own. Hopefully, that will prove to be the case." Steve Eramo As noted above, all photos by Marcel Williams and copyright of the Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!