Let's begin...
EUReKA, Sci-Fi Channel, Tuesdays 9pm
IMDb; Sci-Fi Channel; TV.com; Wikipedia
The basic idea is that Albert Einstein had proposed a secret community for the country's greatest minds to do their scientific research in seclusion, I guess. Thus was founded the town of Eureka, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, though few people know if its existence. For the past 50 years or so, our greatest innovations have been created in Eureka, though there are also occasionally accidents when experiments go awry, which may threaten the continued existence of the world, or even the space-time continuum itself. Though it's not always quite that drastic, there does seem to be some kind of bizarre problem, every week.
Anyway, one day a U.S. Marshal named Jack Carter is transporting a teenaged girl, Zoe (who we like), to Los Angeles; she's apparently some kind of criminal, though it's soon revealed that she's his daughter. She doesn't get along with him well, because she blames his dedication to his career on his divorce from her mother. Well, they have an accident and get stuck in Eureka, at least the portion of it that looks normal enough. It will take a few days for the local mechanic, Henry Deacon (a former space shuttle engineer) to fix Jack's car. Meanwhile, Jack leaves Zoe in the local jail, to be looked after by Deputy Jo Lupo (an ex-Army Ranger who seems to really like big guns). Jack stays at a bed & breakfast run by Beverly Barlowe (who we like). She's a psychotherapist whose clients include not only the brilliant scientists of Eureka, but all sorts of important people, from celebrities to heads of state.
At first glance, the town might simply seem particularly quirky, but it soon goes beyond quirky to downright eccentric, and then bizarre. When a boy goes missing after an accident in his parents' RV, Jack butts his way into the search, being conducted by Sheriff Bill Cobb, as well as an agent from the Department of Defense, Allison Blake (actually a liason between Eureka and the Pentagon). Jack is the first to find the boy. The accident, which had destroyed the back end of the RV, had involved a vortex created by one of his father's experiments. And these vortexes continue showing up around town. One of them nearly kills Cobb, and while he's incapacitated, Blake recruits Jack to help investigate the phenomenon. She makes him sign a non-disclosure agreement (if he reveals anything he sees, he will be charged with treason), and takes him to the town's hidden Advanced Research Facility. (I loved it when Jack asked, "Where are you taking me, Area 51?" and Blake responded "Please. They wish they had our security.") He's still not allowed to see Section 5, where secret military projects are conducted.
Eventually, Jack ends up saving the day... or at least figuring out who will be able to save the day. The vortices are stopped, and Jack heads back to L.A. But then, he's given a promotion: he's going to be the new sheriff of Eureka, as Cobb has retired. Well, I should probably mention some other characters. First of all, the Advanced Research Facility is run by an organization called Global Dynamics. In the pilot, it seemed to me that the head of Global was Warren King, but I may have been wrong about that. Or, maybe he was just replaced, as so far I haven't seen him again in the series, but I'm not sure what exactly has become of him. Anyway, the head of Global is now clearly Nathan Stark, who is Allison Blake's soon-to-be ex-husband. He and Carter really don't get along, and it does seem like something more than a professional relationship might develop between Carter and Allison. Oh, and I should mention that there's also some mysterious object contained in Section 5 that Stark wants to learn the origins of, and stuff. Most people don't seem to even know it exists....
There's also a scientist named Fargo who seemed to be a lackey for Warren King, and now for Stark. And there's a "biological containment specialist" named Jim Taggart (played by Matt Frewer, with an Australian accent), who's also a cryptozoologist and veterinarian. And there's Vincent, who runs a local diner called Cafe Diem. And Spencer, who, I forget what he does, but he sometimes hangs out with Fargo and Vincent. And there may be other characters I wanted to mention, I forget. I should probably say more later, about the characters and the show in general. But, it's all... uh, you know, it's okay. Not great, but not bad. Doesn't quite live up to its potential, but I like it, more or less.