Monday, September 19, 2005

'Surface' treads water with fish tale

Pilot throws out too many storylines; not enough substance to sustain interest.

By Diane Werts / Newsday

Review 'Surface' GRADE: C 8 tonight on NBC, Channel 4 Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

"Surface" is a show that likes to build. Tonight's NBC pilot episode builds up suspense about something bursting forth from the sea, maybe even creepy monsters.

It builds a list of unrelated characters that practically requires a lineup card to follow. It builds a geography-test assortment of locations: California, North Carolina, Louisiana, Maine, the Antarctic sea, the Caribbean. It builds an impressive array of big-boy toys: Navy ships, nuclear subs, research submersibles. It builds and builds and builds just about everything but interest.

Whether there's a "there" there to "Surface" remains unclear. The pilot ladles in tantalizing clues and varied stories, a half-dozen or more, without giving us much indication where our attention should focus. While fans of daytime soaps can follow that many story threads, new viewers of a weekly prime-time hour aren't likely to be quite that dedicated. Adventure freaks and curious kids may be the only ones still tuned in by the time all the loose ends get tied, if indeed they do.

The key one seems to be Lake Bell ("The Practice") as a busy single mom/marine biologist whose submersible deep-dive uncovers sea-floor craters with something zooming up out of them to produce lights and energy and screamy sounds.

The effects reoccur for spear-fishing Jay R. Ferguson and his beer-chugging bayou buddies, for lonely nerd teen Carter Jenkins, and for mysterious Russian scientist and U.S. government consultant Rade Sherbedgia, who quickly circles the military wagons to shut out other inquisitors like Bell, who of course doesn't take kindly to the slight.

But military might can do nothing to stop young Jenkins, who, in a shameless steal from "E.T.," decides he just might take one of those floating sea-creature eggs home to mom's aquarium. Will his nagging teenage sister squeal if she gets upset about all the goo it produces?

"Will we care?" seems the better question. The pilot serves up flashy ooh-ah instead of anything tangible to wrap our arms around. Not clearly showing the central creature may not be such a great notion, either. Delaying the payoff means it had better be better than we'd expect right off the bat. Twin creators Josh and Jonas Pate previously served up ABC's "youthful" remake of "L.A. Dragnet" and Sci Fi's gonzo "G vs E," which give us little indication where they're going here. Down for the third time, maybe, unless "Surface" floats something stronger fast.