SHERIFF ANDY - TAILOR-MADE FOR "EUREKA"

'Eureka' returned last night, after nearly a year off the air. (Okay, about ten months, but you could have gone through a whole pregnancy in that time!) When it last aired, it was on the Sci-Fi Channel only to come back to its new home, SyFy. (I'm not sure, but that name may end up growing on me. Which may not be a good thing... toe fungus could do the same thing.)

But within the "reality" of Toobworld, the timeline is much different. "Welcome Back, Carter" (nice play!) picked up just a few days after the events of "From Fear To Eternity" - Sheriff Carter had been fired by the Department of Defense and was now searching for a new job with Homeland Security. And although Deputy Jo Lupo (former sister-in-law or maybe a cousin to Detective Cyrus Lupo of 'Law & Order'?) wanted the sheriff's job, the DoD had other plans.

They hired an android.

"Sheriff Andy" didn't last long in the job, however. Artificially produced gravity wells caused him nothing but trouble - from getting sliced in half by a falling telescope dish to being squashed inside the sheriff's vehicle. By the end of the episode, Sheriff Andy found himself an out to leave the job - there was an item in the town charter that allowed the mayor of Eureka to over-ride the DoD's decision to fire the sheriff.

"Sheriff Andy", being an android, doesn't have any rights of his own, really. He's nothing more than property of the DoD. They could force him to go to war in Afghanistan, for instance; really get their money's worth with him fighting the Taliban. (Andy cost about 1.6 billion dollars to build.)

But if the producers of 'Eureka' are smart, they'd keep Andy around - as another deputy to work with Sheriff Carter. His pre-programmed down-home bon homie works in small doses and that's perfect for the role of deputy. I'm not sure Ty Olsson is available or not - he is in at least the pilot for 'Defying Gravity' on ABC later this summer. But once his schedule is clear, he and the producers should give Sheriff Andy a permanent home in the town of 'Eureka'. By the way, there's no Zonk to be found in naming him "Sheriff Andy". The DoD probably gave him that moniker because "Andy" could be considered a nickname for "android". And as there was no mention of Andy Taylor, sheriff of Mayberry, we're in the clear!

Andy was called "Robo-Cop" and "Tin Man", but we can scratch those off as references to the movies "Robo-Cop" and "The Wizard Of Oz", without even worrying about any Zonk connections to the TV version for "Robo-Cop" (which may be set in an alternate TV dimension - I'll have to do some research on that.....)

BCnU!