CBS should pick up some wind in its ratings sail this week with "Adrift," a middleweight thriller pitting two couples in a death fight aboard a disabled ship. Vidpic is weighed down by similarities to the '89 film "Dead Calm" and by being forced to milk the plot for two hours. However, this horror cruise is a fresh breath to TV: It's a telefilm not based on N.Y. Post headlines.

CBS should pick up some wind in its ratings sail this week with “Adrift,” a middleweight thriller pitting two couples in a death fight aboard a disabled ship. Vidpic is weighed down by similarities to the ’89 film “Dead Calm” and by being forced to milk the plot for two hours. However, this horror cruise is a fresh breath to TV: It’s a telefilm not based on N.Y. Post headlines.

Kate Jackson and Kenneth Welsh are the Nasts, a couple who discover their marriage is on the rocks as they sail the South Pacific on a dream vacation. Just when the trip hits rock bottom, they come across an apparently abandoned yacht.

Upon inspection, they make an unfortunate discovery: Nick and Eliza Terrio, supposed victims of pirates. On the journey back to Hawaii to report this crime, the Nasts begin to smell something fishy. The Terrios soon hijack their rescuers and toy with their lives in ways only psychotics can.

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Patrick Lussier’s sharp editing and Rob McLachian’s crisp camerawork add punch from beginning to end, drawing in viewers to a thriller where there are no extras, scene changes or variance of any kind.

Director Christian Duguay works with a script by Graham Flashner, Ed Gernon and Terry Gerristen.

There never seems to be real desperateness to the proceedings. Jackson never acts too frightened, playing up survival attempts instead. Playing equally human and evil, Kelly Rowan and Bruce Greenwood as the Terrios eventually steal the show.

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Adrift

( Tues. (13), 9-11 p.m., CBS)

• Production: Filmed off the coast of New Zealand by Atlantis Films Ltd. in association with WIC through Superchannel, the CTV Television Network and Blue Andre Prods. Executive producers, Blue Andre, Ed Gernon, Peter Sussman; producer, Jonathan Goodwill; director, Christian Duguay; writers, Graham Flashner, Ed Gernon, Terry Gerristen.
• Crew: Camera, Rob McLachian; editor, Patrick Lussier; production designer, Dan Hennah; music, Lou Natale.
• Cast: Cast: Kate Jackson, Kenneth Welsh, Bruce Greenwood, Kelly Rowan, Bruce Allpress, Blue Andre, Jeff Boyd, Jonathan Goodwill, Elizabeth Hawthorne.

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