TV REVIEWS : Turmoil Beneath Slick Surface in ‘Place’

Tommy is 10, a bright, sweetheart of a boy. Mom Florence dotes all over him. Dad Charles is a nice fellow and loves Tommy and adores Florence. She’s a great cook. He calls her “Duchess.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

As “The Kissing Place” unfolds on the USA (cable) Network tonight at 9 (and again Sunday and April 21 at 9 p.m.), we suspect something’s amiss. Tommy’s having nightmares. He thinks he’s somebody else.

This is a neat little thriller with Nathaniel Moreau as Tommy, Meredith Baxter Birney as Mom (not to be confused with Mom in “Family Ties”) and David Ogden Stiers as the doltish dad. This was executive produced by Cynthia A. Cherbak, who wrote it with Richard Altabef and Michael Wing, and directed by Tony Wharmby.

Thrillers aren’t thrilling when you have too much information. But suppose Tommy begins to wonder if these are really his real folks. Suppose his dreams throw him back to another time, another place. Like Brooklyn. Suppose Florence is a homicidal maniac and chases Tommy across the country in a frenzy of love . . .

Suppose Tommy gets picked up with a pervert (heading for Hollywood yet!) and then a runaway girl who’s going to New York to be a model (but probably a hooker).

Suppose that Tommy finds his real mother from whom he was snatched when he was 3 1/2. But then just suppose that Florence got there first!

You’d probably say the writers ripped the heart out of plot probability and stomped on it. You’d be right--but it was fun.