Monsters mar the 'Surface' of ABC's new show

ABC's new show, 'Surface,' sinks before ever floating.

Date published: 10/23/2005

By ROB HEDELT

THOUGH it advertises itself as the type of TV series Spielberg would make if he was making one these days, NBC's "Surface" is more of a mess than anything else.

It's one of the many monster- or alien-based series this fall, thanks in large part to the success of otherworldly hit "Lost" on ABC.

But while ABC's "Invasion" has the good sense to keep the alien critters largely unseen--What's scarier than our own imaginations?--this show that airs Mondays at 8 makes the mistake of showing off the monster critters from the get-go.

Not just little ones, mind you, but a dragon-fish monster big enough to take a bite out of a nuclear submarine.

Big enough, mind you, to swallow a small fishing boat whole, or to swallow up a cabin cruiser with one snap of its yawning maw.

So just what are these big critters and where have they come from?

I've watched the show for a month now and I'm not sure.

Early on, we see one come flying through an underground crater being probed by a young scientist named Laura (Lake Bell), whose world is turned upside down by her interaction with this monster that came flying out of the magma under the sea floor.

Soon enough, the plot thickens with a government cover-up, a sinister scientist who knows all about these bad beasties and military/government conspiracy that soon enough has Laura's career canceled and her on the lam.

But she's not the only one this story is told through, which makes its weak storytelling even more diluted.

There's also a good-ol' boy named Richard (Jay Ferguson) , a fisherman who goes diving off an oil platform with his brother.

Of course, one of these big, bad scaly things comes swimming by, and Richard's brother makes the fatal mistake of shooting the critter with his brand-new spear gun.

When the spear locks into the critter's hide, the brother goes flying down into the deep, never to be seen again.

Richard is plunged into his own private nightmare as he tries to find out more about the monster and the campaign to keep the public in the dark about it.

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Date published: 10/23/2005