With simplistic plots, 'Threat Matrix' plays it all too safe

By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff, 9/18/2003

While "Whoopi" makes America's fear of terrorism into a bad joke, "Threat Matrix" turns it into an electronic sedative. The new ABC series actually converts the incendiary subject of post-9/11 domestic danger into just another TV drug of choice, a Thursday night opportunity to turn on, tune in, and zone out. If you're anxious about a repeat of the World Trade Center attack, take a dose of "Threat Matrix" and call me in the morning.

The series, which premieres tonight at 8 on Channel 5, revolves around a secret FBI-CIA-NSA task force designed to catch terrorists, and just in the nick of time. But this isn't like "24," with its wacky plot twists and its assertion that things can and do go very wrong. This is a paint-by-

numbers crime series built on guaranteed weekly resolutions and the infallibility of our protective agencies. The fact that the show is an unwavering vote of confidence for the real Department of Homeland Security doesn't make it intrinsically bad, by any means, but it does limit the possibilities of realism and suspense. It also implies that the writers won't be going deep on interesting questions of privacy and racial profiling. The "Threat Matrix" task force is a little group that spends an inordinate amount of time in a drab command loft filled with radical high technology. After the members receive threat tips from the president, they start banging hardat their computers, from which they arevirtually able to spy on anyone, anywhere.Tonight, thanks to an excessive use oflong-distance voice recognition and lie detection, as well as more fantastical e-mechanisms, they identify and capture a man literally a minute before he can blow himself up and take a part of Chicago with him. This overdependence on slick video and aural gadgetry wears thin, as it strips the action of heat and tension. The show's reliance on tech also obscures the racially diverse ensemble. Even with the inclusion of a deaf agent, the characters blur together at their keyboards, except for John Kilmer (James Denton) and his ex-wife, Frankie (Kelly Rutherford), who still seem to be in love. Their forced rapport -- "I'm not Mrs. Kilmer anymore," she reminds him, recalling her work on "Melrose Place" -- is probably the producers' attempt to give the team personality and make us care about its internal dynamics.

But it's hard to care about "Threat Matrix," not because it's bound to fail opposite ratings toppers "Survivor" and "Friends," but because it's bound to remain eye-glazing hackwork.

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

Threat Matrix

Starring: James Denton, Kelly Rutherford, Will Lyman, Anthony Azizi, Melora Walters, Kurt Caceres, Shoshannah Stern

On: ABC, Ch.5

Time: Tonight, 8-9 p.m.

Rating: TV14