Colin Ferguson: Eureka

Colin Ferguson said it plainly: "I think Eureka is as good as it's ever been. That had to do with a big shift down here in the writers room and finally f…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

Colin Ferguson plays Sheriff Jack Carter on Syfy's hit series Eureka, now in Season 4.5 and kicking off Syfy's new Monday night lineup of scripted originals. The Canadian actor — whose credits include Ghost Hunters, CSI: Miami, Girlfriends, and Malcolm in the Middle — has also stepped behind the camera as a director on the show. Premier Guide Miami caught up with him to discuss the new season, the show's creative resurgence, and what he's learned about himself over six years on set.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: You've been both an actor and a director now — which of these do you find more challenging, and which do you prefer?

COLIN FERGUSON: I don't know. About a year ago I would have answered the question saying, "Hands down, directing." It was new, it was fresh, it was so exciting. Now, three episodes and a movie in, I sort of get it, and I really embrace both in the same way. It's project by project, scene by scene in what you can really do. What I like about directing more is that you get the story earlier, you can affect change in a more profound way, and stay with the story longer — and that's a really rewarding process. As an actor, you really are sort of a professional athlete or a hired gun. You show up on the day and do your little magic and that's what goes on tape. The problem is you show up so late that sometimes you can't affect the change that you'd like to. So it's good and bad for both, but I think we'd all have the same answer — we really enjoy doing both.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How was Salli's directing?

COLIN FERGUSON: It's really nice when one of us directs because it's always great to have a cause to rally behind. Close to eighty episodes at this point, and you just sort of go, "Okay, great — at least there's a reason to show up today." You have to know how to do it on our show. We're a cable show, so we don't have $4 million a week to get this stuff done. You can't learn on the fly. So it's a great training ground because it's trial by fire. When I'm directing I'm all about making the day and keeping a calm environment, and I respond to how Salli directs because she's very calm and she knows what she wants.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Are there any similarities between the role you play and your real life?

COLIN FERGUSON: Well, I'm a sheriff in real life, so that sums that up. Personality-wise we're pretty similar at this point. They've done an amazing job of taking the best of me and making it palatable for other people. I guess the biggest difference would be relationships. Jack has a steadfast commitment to Allison and pushes through the problem — and that's something I'm working on in my own life. It's a hard thing working out of town and trying to get something going back in Los Angeles. But I'm working on it and I'll figure it out.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Is Jack oblivious to how Allison is feeling, or does he have a hard time admitting it?

COLIN FERGUSON: No, I don't think he's oblivious. It's difficult when you're working with someone and having a relationship with them, as these two characters do. You have to give each other more space and the latitude to have more off days than you normally would. And Allison is a character who has two kids, so you really have to move slowly and be patient with that if you're going to try to partner with her. I think he's patient and aware of it — but we're dealing with something in the next episodes we shoot that he's not aware of, so there are still bumps and problems to come.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What are you excited about the fans seeing as we approach this new season?

COLIN FERGUSON: We pick up right where we left off with the big arc of the season — the Astraeus Project, basically Eureka going into space. I was concerned when we started it that it was going to be just a mission-of-the-week for 13 episodes, but it actually balloons and blossoms into this fantastically complex plot. And then at the end of the season it kicks into the whole next year in a way that you completely don't expect. What I'm really looking forward to is everyone next summer going, "Oh my God — really? That's happening now?" Because it's Eureka going into space, and it's really interesting.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Can you talk about how things changed with the new timeline? And are you surprised the show has lasted so long?

COLIN FERGUSON: I think the show is as good as it's ever been. That had to do with a big shift in the writers room and finally finding our footing and getting our way back after the writer's strike and all of the big Hollywood problems that happened. It made it really difficult even to know if you were going to have a job. We have a really solid group of writers and a core group of people that hasn't changed, so it feels really energized and is firing on all cylinders. The reboot was sort of a symbolic gesture on behalf of the network that we were allowed to do what we wanted to do. One of the biggest characters on the show is the Town, so to change the Town is a really tall order — and it was a big sign-off by the network saying the writers knew what they were doing. Plus the casting has been unbelievably helpful. We've got Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Wallace Shawn coming in, Dave Foley coming in — God bless the recession. Those names are great to get on the show.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How are you coping with the new changes on the show?

COLIN FERGUSON: That's actually difficult. It requires a lot of communication and a lot of trust that you build up over time — with the visual effects guys, for example. Acting to green screen, if you don't know how to do it, can be one of the more humiliating things you can do, because you don't know to ask certain questions. You don't know to say, where's the outline? How big is the explosion? Is everybody going on the same cue? It's all those sorts of tricks and necessities that if you don't do, you'll see it on screen and you'll know it doesn't work.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What do you think is the special ingredient that makes the show a draw to all ages?

COLIN FERGUSON: The comedy we throw in really helps. It takes the sting off of ideas and makes it fun. When the show began I really wanted it to be dark and edgy, but then we started hearing from people saying, "We watched this with our parents," or "I watched this with my kids, my grandparents watch it." And I've gotten older and I'm really proud of that. For the last bunch of years it was all CSI and murder and rape — TV was hard — and it was really nice to do a show that people could watch together. It became a source of pride for us. We got lucky. The right combo worked and we were on a network that was patient enough to keep us on the air.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is the funniest thing you can recall that's gone wrong on set so far this season?

COLIN FERGUSON: Some things go wrong and they're not funny — like when Frasier had his collarbone ripped out this year. I'd been going through a rough time personally and said, "Have Frasier do the stunt," and he went to do it and tore out his collarbone. The funniest thing that went wrong was probably Neil Grayson a couple years ago. We use this stuff called Methocel — it's the stuff in McDonald's milkshakes, a food additive. One of its properties is that it wicks all the heat from your body and then dries, so it's really cold. Neil was supposed to shoot first and ended up shooting six hours later, so he was covered in this stuff, painted green, standing in his trailer for six hours — functionally naked with just a little banana hammock on. That provided us with endless amusement. And right before we stopped shooting I was supposed to get peppered with paintballs. They systematically missed more times than they hit, and I'm supposed to be reacting like I'm in pain — which was good, because I was. Those things kill.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What have you most learned about yourself since you started this show?

COLIN FERGUSON: It is something that you can mark the passage of time by because it has been six years, and who you were six years ago and who you are now are very different people. I have a respect for my body that I didn't have before. I really try not to damage it so much. And I have more respect for life and emotion and all sorts of things that I didn't have before. I was sort of all about work before. And just the difficulty — the trauma and the tragedy of not being around those that you love while you're doing 14 hours a day for five months in a row.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What would you consider to be your definitive episode of Eureka?

COLIN FERGUSON: There are a bunch of episodes that meant different things at different times. I remember when a good friend of mine, Johanna Stokes, wrote an episode — first or second season. I remember the first time Salli directed — that's a big thing. I remember the first time I directed, which was Your Face or Mine. It was a smaller episode and that was a huge thing for me. And for our script supervisor Alexandria to be rewarded and respected by getting an episode to direct — she's really one of the people who held the show together when it was going through rough times. For her to get that episode was absolutely huge for us as a cast. It felt like we'd had a big victory.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What is your dream role?

COLIN FERGUSON: A musical would be fine. I'd really like to do something where I shot it, maybe acted in it, and then edited it. Coming from TV where we have to move so quickly, it'd be really nice to move slower and really hone something. So it doesn't really matter what it is, as long as it was with friends. I think with the technology finally getting to the place where anybody with a story can tell it, it's a really exciting time to be someone who wants to tell a story.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What's something that people would be surprised to know about you?

COLIN FERGUSON: I'm shy, in my own way. I'm brash and I'm all sorts of things, and there's this one side of me which is very out there — but people who know me know me as someone who's quite different. That's always strange for them when they go, "Oh wow, he's actually quite shy."

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