Dart McAdoo ‘Surfaces’ on NBC show

By Mark Schulman
Campus Life Editor

Mass communications major Dart McAdoo made an appearance on NBC’s primetime television thriller “Surface” on Oct. 24.

Over 9 million television viewers watched the UNCP student act as a soldier who chased down his enemy through a maze of corridors in a military installation. McAdoo, donning a green uniform, led a small division of soldiers through the steel passageways until they were sealed off in a containment area.

“Surface” is part of the new fall prime time line-up and centers around a wide range of characters who investigate a mysterious sea creature that dwells in the deep ocean. It is an E.T. meets Jaws supernatural thriller, according to “Surface’s” executive producers. The show’s storyline and characters are spread out all over the globe including a family residing in Wilmington, N.C. where the show is actually filmed.

UNCP alumnus Phoenix Locklear informed McAdoo that NBC needed extras on “Surface’s” production set in Wilmington.

McAdoo then contacted the show’s casting director and was instructed to go to the set that was transformed from an old power plant.

“I was kind of nervous because I’ve never done anything like that,” McAdoo said.

His only expectation was to be a paid extra and play a small role on television. Little did he know that he would be an actor in an action scene accompanied by a close-up shot on a major broadcasting network.

He was accompanied by another 30 extras and he was required to check-in and receive his military costume, accessorized by a fake gun, from the wardrobe department. This was the beginning of the 14-hour ordeal where McAdoo spent 85 percent of the time waiting for his scene. When it was finally his turn, he had to run down a hallway in 13 takes so the director could film the scene from several angles. His desire to appear on television was not in vain.

It wasn’t the acting that prompted McAdoo to be part of a major television production.

“The main reason why I went there was to gain access behind the scenes,” McAdoo said.

As a producer for WNCP-TV and The Pine Needle’s web video editor, it was important for him to experience the production of a major television show.

“It’s amazing how much work goes into each scene,” McAdoo said. “I’ve gained a lot of respect for the crew.”

When it was all finished, McAdoo said that he is “sticking with production” rather than acting because he is not an “in-the front-of -the -camera type.”

“Surface” has been green-lighted to continue through the fall schedule on NBC and airs Mondays at 8 p.m.Tuesday, November 8, 2005