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Colin Ferguson has made his living mostly through guest-star spots on shows like Malcolm in the Middle, Becker, and Crossing Jordan. Which is where you've probably seen the 34-year-old actor before, since chances are you missed him in his ''breakout'' role, on NBC's much-maligned American version of the Britcom Coupling.
And then... Eureka! As in Ferguson's summer series on the Sci Fi Channel, which premiered July 18 to more than 4 million viewers, the largest audience for a regular series in the basic-cable channel's history (and yes, that's including the cult hit Battlestar Galatica). Ferguson plays a U.S. Marshall who serendipitously happens upon Eureka, Ore., which at first glance seems a normal small town but is actually stashed with the nation's top geniuses — and, apparently, is home to a secret government research facility. (Hence the holes in the space-time continuum.) Even though he plays one of the only adults whose IQ doesn't break the scales, it's clear that Ferguson's OK with that.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You've had a pretty long career in television, sometimes on shows that haven't done that well.
COLIN FERGUSON: [Laughs]
So I'm wondering what the success of Eureka is like for you now.
It's sort of fun. I think that's the reason you go to cable in the first place, to have a show that has a chance and that [the network] nurtures. It's great to know that it's going to air, that people will get a chance to see it.
It sounds like you've had experiences in the past when the show hasn't been nurtured?
Yeah. The one that comes to mind is obviously Coupling, which was such a great experience for me across the board anyway. It was such good exposure and, you know, all the checks cleared. It's hard to expect ''the next great thing,'' even though you hear that a lot — ''Oh, this show's going to be the next great thing.'' [Ratings] aren't the be-all and end-all — when a [cable] network really likes the show, they'll stick with it.
You're playing the lone non-genius in a town full of geniuses. How do you make that work?
I have to play a lot of the same [acting] beats. It's an exercise in variety — how many times can you ask, ''What does that mean?'' And [the writers] have done a really good job of shaking that up.
Do you enjoy the scientific aspects to the show?
I like science, so yeah, that's not a tough sell for me. It's the selling of the ideas that gets me rather than the science of the show. Like, for example, we have one show where [a citizen of the town] figures out to how to run really fast. I'm not so interested in the chemical composition of whatever it is that the guy is taking as much as I am [like], ''That's a pretty cool idea!'' You're back to when you're 12 — that'd be really cool to be able to do that.
What else can we expect coming up on the show?
Without giving a ton away — we've got a guy who is... not invincible, but he gets the ability to withstand a lot of punishment. But [the show] is more about who wants that information, who becomes the gatekeeper of that information, what that information does to him as a person in this small town and how his relationships will have to change. It's more about that than it is about ''Look at me, I can [fill in the blank]!''
There's an ominous question as to why the town really exists — one wonders if there may be even more going on than meets the eye, so to speak. Will the show get into that as an overriding storyline, or is it more about self-contained stand-alone episodes?
I would say sort of 70/30 stand-alone/conspiracy. [The producers] wanted out of the gate a lot of stand-alone episodes so people could miss a couple and not feel like there wasn't any point to tuning in again. But ultimately, that ratio is going to shift, and we're going to be more a serial-type show. But that would be well into the second season.
What are your theories about what's going on in the town?
People have access to the center of the company, we'll call it, which is where all the top-secret stuff goes on. People who don't have access to it want certain things from that area and are trying to recruit and connive their way in. It's a little darker than that — you just get little tastes of it every episode, where you're like, ''Oh wow, they're involved? Weird!'' But you don't know how they're involved, or what the conspiracy is.
Is that your theory as an actor, or as your character?
No, that's as an actor. I know much more as an actor than I do as the character. As a character, no, I don't really know much about it yet. Which wouldn't have been a very good answer for you. [Laughs]
A lot of reviews for the show compared it to both Northern Exposure and Twin Peaks. Will it go in more of a Northern Exposure direction, or Twin Peaks direction?
I would say it's more like Desperate Housewives and The X-Files. Because it has so many tones, we can do an episode in any one of the given tones. We can do a funnier episode, and then maybe a darker episode. So I would say more in the Northern Exposure direction ultimately, but never losing the dark aspect. The Twin Peaks reference I never got, because [Eureka] is not, like, crazy — you know what I mean? There's not stuff where you're like, ''What the hell is that?! It's sort of cool, but what the hell is it?'' We don't really have that.
I want to circle back to being a working actor in Los Angeles — I imagine your life has been a lot of ''Hey, you're that guy, who was in that thing — what was it again?''
[Laughs] Yeah — right! I do have that happen not infrequently, and it's a double-edged sword, because you can find yourself running down your whole résumé and they're going [impatiently], ''Nope! Nope! Nope!'' And you're just like, ''Oh, I don't know, maybe you don't know me.'' But today I went to change the minutes on my cell phone and the clerk said, ''Oh, Colin Ferguson! Are you the actor? I saw your show!'' That's weird. Usually it's [recognition] by face. It's pretty odd now where someone can hear my name and pull the right show. That's bizarre. That's the first time that happened.
And if the show's success continues, it seems like that will be happening more often.
[Laughs] Yeah. It used to be ''Colin Ferguson — isn't that the...?'' And I'm like, ''Yeah, that's the Long Island commuter-killer guy.'' I guess I'm out of that for the most part.
