by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Living in the U.S., I feel like I often miss out on jewels of television shows because whereas it’s common to run popular American shows in other countries, we rarely get the same consideration.  Or if we do, then they’re “Americanized” versions, which sometimes works (see: The Office) and sometimes doesn’t (see: Coupling). And don’t even get me started on BBC America, which my cable line-up doesn’t even offer (and has a repertoire of about five different shows anyway–but I give them kudos for including Torchwood).

Of course, the show that I’m bringing to your attention today hails not from the UK, but from Canada. So for our Canadian readers who saw this headline and scoffed, I can only say that I’m jealous that you probably discovered this gem four years ago. ReGenesis is about lab in Toronto where a group of scientists investigate things like bio-terrorism, environmental issues, and mysterious diseases. It’s science bordering on science fiction, and it’s fantastic. It seems like most of the science procedurals we see lately are crime-based (CSI, Bones) or heavy science fiction (Fringe).

I included the main character, Dr. David Sandstrom, as an honorable mention in my list of sexy geeks. I don’t see the character as quite as misanthropic, but I’ve heard comparisons to House. And Peter Outerbridge is one of those actors who always makes me think, where have I seen him before?, because of his roles on a lot of different shows. In fact, you may recognize him from the pilot of Fringe. His part there was so small, though, that I wonder if he’s going to be showing up again. And speaking of faces you might recognize, Ellen Page (the rising star of Juno) plays Sandstrom’s daughter Lilith in the first season.

Of course, now you non-Canadians might be thinking–fantastic, now I know of a potentially great show I can’t watch! Which brings me to the reason I’m writing about this in the first place. Some random flipping through upcoming dates on my TIVO the other night revealed that ReGenesis plays sporadically on CBS, usually at 2:07am. This may not be true for where you live, but if you have TIVO (or a TV Guide), it’s at least worth checking out.

And even better? If you don’t mind your television Internet-style, the first two seasons are available on Hulu.com, so you can watch it from the beginning. There are four seasons altogether, and I’m hoping that Hulu will put the rest up eventually, because I haven’t seen all of the episodes myself. According to Wikipedia, there’s a planned North American DVD release in the near future. Not so imminent as to be listed on Amazon yet, but if you happen to be in a Region 2 country (or have a region-free DVD player), you can already get Season 1.

I know that there’s a lot of exciting new television right now, but at the very least this might be a good one to file away for entertainment during mid-season repeats!