Sunken Treasures Of Lake Tahoe

Freighted with more hyperbole than the subject can comfortably bear, this overlong examination of the history and "sunken treasures" of Nevada's Lake Tahoe plays a bit like a scale model of a Cousteau expedition. Nicely photographed, the program opens with an extended look at the volcanic and glacial activity that formed Lake Tahoe and discusses the geological changes it has undergone over the years. On board the Echo V, the crew drops an ROV (basically a roving camera unit) over the side and the narrator comments on what the camera sees: rocks, some weeds, Mackinaw trout and crayfish (that's it for the marine wildlife), some ancient forest tree stumps, a rowboat, and the centerpiece--a sunken steamer. The occasionally overblown narration raises expectations that it can't possibly deliver on (it's a lake, for pete's sake), and the assertion that these "haunting spectacles...have been sealed under water from man's view for thousands of years" crumbles a bit when a pair of divers languorously swim in front of the camera Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)