Simplistic plot haunts 'Surface'

Surface
Starring: Lake Bell, Jay R. Ferguson, Carter Jenkins, Rade Sherbedgia
On: NBC, Channel 7
Time: Tonight, 8-9

''Surface" wants to be a global supernatural-adventure series, and so it plays leapfrog across the planet. Tonight's premiere, at 8 on Channel 7, pops in and out of so many different locations, each named in type across the screen, that you may want to multitask MapQuest while you watch. Maine, Antarctica, San Diego, the Gulf of Mexico, Monterey. You are there and there and there, trying not to get motion sickness.

The complicated itinerary is the show's way of introducing its simplistic mystery about a new deep-sea species. ''Surface" is one of the season's many new horror series, in which humans come face to face with otherworldly forces. And it's among the weakest of the lot. It's not awful -- ''Ghost Whisperer" with Jennifer Love Hewitt is closest to that -- but it's a bland Spielberg wannabe that doesn't succeed in evoking much creepiness or wonder. Are those underwater creatures a gaggle of Loch Ness monsters? Or a fleet of aliens? Keep me posted.

The story involves four mostly unrelated characters. Teenager Miles (Carter Jenkins) brings a creature egg home and puts it in his family aquarium. Oops. Laura (Lake Bell, looking very Mary Ellen Walton-esque) is a single-mom oceanographer driven to figure out what's happening. Richard (Jay R. Ferguson) is a Louisiana fisherman haunted by the circumstances of his brother's diving death. And Dr. Aleksander Cirko (Rade Sherbedgia) is a knowing government scientist who wants to keep this business top secret.

Close encounters ensue.

While ''Lost" and, potentially, ''Invasion" and ''Threshold" involve unfolding puzzles, ''Surface" doesn't promise much genuine mystery. It seems to tip its cards early on, and they're not very interesting. The show won't scare you away from the beach, and it's not likely to keep you riveted to your couch, either.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.