And this great post Bob Goodman, one of the show's writers, on why he thinks Warehouse 13 matters, is part of why:
There's a difference between writing on the first season of a series and the second. During season one you're busy figuring out what the show is, finding the tone and balance, and probing it around the edges to see what sort of stories you can tell. In season two you have that first season to look back at for reference. The show exists to tell you what works and doesn't, and what it's about. And thanks to that altered point of view, I now have my own theory about what Warehouse 13 is. Why it's meaningful in this moment in history. Why it's a hit; why it speaks to enough viewers to have made it the most popular scripted series ever in Syfy's eighteen-year history:
Warehouse 13 is about the collective, cognitive anxiety we're feeling, caused by the sudden collision between our primitive, analog selves... and digital access to everything.
I admit I got a little overwhelmed by the glut of objects in Warehouse 13, and backed away from the show a bit. I really would like for it to return to a focus on objects that have clear literary and historical allusions, if only because I think that reinforces the "everythingness" of the show. The possibilities of the objects will seem more overwhelming if they force us to rifle through our own sets of memories and knowledge banks: we'll experience some of the same overload that the characters do, and we'll think about the mysterious possibilities of the world we know already.
Also, Goodman's piece is just a really nice piece of writing about what it's like to work on a television show. And hey, Jewel Staite's going to be on the show. So much goodness.