Parents need to know that this series starts out with a few eyebrow-raisers -- including a brooding teenage girl with a nose ring and a potty mouth -- but it quickly morphs into something that's actually OK for family viewing, within reason. While it's not meant for young kids, the show is fine for older teens, who will likely connect with the hellion described above, and might encourage them to give science a second look.

Families can talk about whether the oddities seen in the town of Eureka could actually happen in real life -- and if you're not sure, it's the perfect excuse to look it up. What exactly is quantum physics, anyway? And are top-secret, government-funded science programs merely the stuff of fiction, or is the show's plot partially based on fact? The sometimes-tumultuous father-daughter relationship between two prominent characters could also serve as a springboard for conversations about marriage, divorce, and the challenges of co-parenting.