SCI FI Channel Orders 3rd Season of “Eureka”

SCI FI Channel has greenlit production on a third season of its most-watched Original Series “Eureka,” ordering 13 new hours of the dramedy. SCI FI is also renewing its investigative reality hit “Destination Truth” for a second season, it was announced late yesterday (Thursday) by Mark Stern, SCI FI Channel’s Executive Vice President of Original Programming.

“Eureka” will begin production on a third season in Vancouver early next year for a summer 2008 premiere. The second season of “Destination Truth” is also slated to premiere in 2008 with six new episodes.

“Eureka rose to an even higher creative level in its sophomore season, combining entertaining, compelling stories with deeper character development and great cast chemistry. And clearly the audience noticed, bringing millions of new viewers to the Channel,” said Mark Stern. “Destination Truth with Josh Gates proved to be a great addition to our Wednesday night lineup and the perfect companion piece for ‘Ghost Hunters’.”

In keeping with SCI FI’s mission to broaden the scope and appeal of its programming roster, “Eureka” is a relatable, earth-based dramedy credited with bringing in over 3 million new viewers to the Channel in its second season alone. The series premiere on July 18, 2006 broke Channel records and remains the highest rated series telecast in SCI FI history. “Eureka” continued to grow in its second season, achieving season high household and key demo ratings with its August 28th episode (2.1 HH, 1,654,000 adults 25-54).

“Eureka” seems like any other cozy Pacific Northwest town, but is actually a secret community of geniuses assembled by the government to conduct top-secret research. The result is a place where anything imaginable can happen… and does. Returning for a third season are stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson, Joe Morton, Jordan Hinson and Ed Quinn and executive producers Jaime Paglia and Charlie Craig. Eureka is a SCI FI Channel presentation and is produced and distributed by Universal Media Studios.

In the second season of “Destination Truth,” adventurer and truth-seeker Josh Gates will once again take viewers off the map in his search for answers to some the world’s most notorious unexplained mysteries. The show will feature even more exotic locales, stunning finds and fascinating eyewitness accounts as Josh brings his humor to brand new investigations. This season “Destination Truth” will be Executive Produced by Brad Kuhlman (“1000 Places to See Before You Die,” “Daisy Does America,” “FM Nation”).

Josh’s thrilling and humorous adventures into the unknown made “Destination Truth” a bona fide ratings hit for SCI FI, bringing in over 1 million new viewers over its 6-week run last summer. The series premiere in June 2007 was the highest-rated premiere for an alternative reality series on SCI FI since the debut of “Ghost Hunters” in 2004.