I am – Hercules!!
“Lost,” the most commercially successful sci-fi series since “The Twilight Zone” (perhaps even the most commercially successful sci-fi series ever), has emboldened the networks to greenlight an unprecedented number of genre series, everything from the WB’s “Supernatural to ABC’s “Invasion,” and “The Night Stalker” to CBS’ “Threshold” and “The Ghost Whisperer.”
The latest to surface is “Surface” (aka “Fathom”), a sci-fi hourlong, from Josh and Jonas Pate (“G vs. E,” “Dragnet”), about a race of creatures who emerge from below the oceans’ surface near Anarctica, California and the Gulf States. It stars Lake Bell (“Boston Legal”) and Rade Serbedzija (“Eyes Wide Shut”).
Variety says:
… a teenage kid (Carter Jenkins) who, in maybe the dumbest moment in a new show this season, finds what appears to be a water-alien egg and plops the thing in his mom's fish tank. … Jonah and Josh Pate have crafted a series as wishy-washy as its moniker -- borrowing from the best, admittedly, but a little too freely to feel remotely fresh. And while there are some intriguing underwater effects (though it's never clear what they're showing) in the no-doubt front-loaded pilot, the show offers scant sense of where it hopes to make land. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… As big as the problems may be for the characters in "Surface," they're even more challenging for the producers. At one hour, the pilot simply isn't long enough to establish the premise and hook viewers into the characters. … More problematic, there's nothing particularly appealing about any of the folks having the close encounters. A giddy Bell, so strong in "Boston Legal," is miscast here as a Ph.D. steeped in scientific discipline. The idea of the North Carolina boy bringing home a creature's egg like it was some kind of lost puppy is absurd. …
TV Guide says:
… This wishy-washy attempt at warm-and-fuxzy sci-fi is all surface, no depth. The pilot is literally all over the map … baffling rather than stimulating the imagination.
Time Magazine says:
… It does aim, clumsily, at a sense of wonder, with so much faux Spielbergthat NBC might as well have called this Jaws: The Series. Instead it was called Fathom, then renamed the equally limp Surface. Now people can't say, "I cannot fathom how this mishmash got on the air." …
The Orlando Sentinel gives it two (out of five) stars and says:
… The government wants to hush up what's going on. Whatever. Surface tells the mystery in such a scattershot way that viewers might not care about the answer. … The most enjoyable moments go to the North Carolina boy (Carter Jenkins). It's too bad Surface didn't narrow its focus and become "A Boy and His Blob." …
USA Today gives it one and a half (out of four) stars and says:
Stupid doesn't even scratch the surface. Easily the most insipid of the season's sci-fi crop, this sea-serpent soap was written, created, directed and produced by brothers Jonas and Josh Pate, who do all four jobs poorly. There isn't a moment of wonder or suspense in Surface, or a single performance or character that is even remotely involving — and that includes the slimy, electrically charged, amphibious monsters. We don't see much of them, but what we see through the murk seems more goofy than scary. ….
8 p.m. Monday. NBC.
for just $129.99!! That’s like all 144 hours for – what? – 90 cents per hour!! A better Christmukkah gift is unimaginable!!!
