TVSquad

While channel-surfing on my little office TV last week around 1 a.m., looking for something to keep me company, I stumbled across an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (star Richard Basehart, pictured), followed by Combat!.

"What is this channel that plays all these old shows I remember as a kid?" I asked the TV Gods.

"It's AmericanLife," they replied. "They feature classic family shows aimed at Baby Boomers -- shows like Remington Steele, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Lost in Space, and Welcome Back, Kotter."

Ok, the TV Gods didn't really say that. I looked it up on the AmericanLife Web site, not to be confused with Showtime's This American Life, the fab documentary series hosted by Ira Glass.

With the announcement that the unaired pilot of Aquaman would become a downloadable video courtesy of iTunes I began to ponder all of the television shows that took place, or featured characters that lived, under the sea. After some extensive research (about five minutes) I discovered that there weren't many. So, as a public service to you, the dedicated TV Squad reader, I present the following list of underwater shows. Please put on your wet suits.

Surface: This on the list first because it was the most recent show telecast that featured underwater creatures. Only lasting one season on NBC (despite a strong fan base) the show starred Lake Bell as an oceanographer who is attacked by an unknown life-form in the Pacific Ocean. After that initial encounter, things go a little bonkers on planet Earth, including stars falling from the sky into the water, and unknown creatures washing up on public beaches. A cliffhanger episode was aired at the end of the first season, but was left up in the air due to the show's cancellation.