Surface - Off the List!

OK, the first casualty of the new season happened for me last night.  I crossed Surface off my list.  Had to do it!  I actually missed the second episode, but had hopes for the third one.  Sadly, I was almost immediately bored. First of all, it’s just stupid.  But if the acting and writing was great, I could overlook that!  Sadly, it’s not.  None of the actors have any charisma or any real ability.  I watched the kid with the pet sea monster (lame) and thought of how much better Malcolm David Kelly (Walt) on Lost is as a child actor.  And the adult actors just don’t hold the screen – you’re not riveted by them, you don’t believe in them, and you especially don’t care what happens to them.  Some actors are just born for TV – Jensen Ackles (see my earlier blog on Supernatural), Jimmy Smits, Mariska Hargitay – and not just because they are extremely attractive.  Plenty of attractive people have no chemistry on TV.  It’s because you just can’t stop watching them. You want to know what they’re going to do or say next.  You feel what they feel.  You care about what they care about.

Surface, unfortunately, has no actors like this – plus a dumb story and weak writing.  It doesn’t add up – and I don’t have time to waste watching it, especially when I have great shows piling up in my TIVO!

One more note – these new shows are all ripping off Lost’s opening title and it stinks.  Threshold, Surface, and Invasion are all doing it – the name of the show comes up after the opening and fades out, just like Lost.  In an industry that’s supposed to be creative, you’d think these show runners could come up with a new and fresh idea.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – but it usually makes the imitators suffer by comparison.