Alias "Lite"

It is a simple fact that I will always and forever compare all spy genre shows to my beloved Alias. It doesn't matter what the premise is, I will immediately say it's an Alias rip-off. When Chuck first came out, I was intrigued by it but at the same time, I was snotty about it and figured they were stealing things from the wonderful world of SD-6. They weren't. Like I said, i was just being an Alias snob. Chuck is actually a really, really fantastic show. It has all the fun spy stuff, it's super funny and they always leave you surprised. The storylines are original and it's this show that introduced me to Mr. Matthew Bomer (Of White Collar, which I will get into in a bit).

So, of course I had mixed feelings about watching the premiere of Covert Affairs on USA (Tuesdays @ 10pm). It stars Piper Perabo (of Coyote Ugly fame) as Annie Walker, a 28yr old CIA agent leading a double life... and she works at a bank! Just kidding, she doesn't work at a bank. I think her "cover" is that she works at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. I won't get too much into the plot in case people want to watch it for themselves, but there were some semi interesting twists and turns. It didn't overly impress me, but I didn't hate it, so that's good. Separately, I really like everyone on the show. Christopher Gorham (most recently from Ugly Betty) is my favorite part about the show. He's the "tech guy" who just happens to be blind. I really enjoyed his part in the episode. It also stars Peter Gallagher ( The O.C. and Center Stage), Kari Matchett (Invasion, where she played a Dr./alien fish) and hold on to your hats Heroes fans because the fan favorite (not really) Sendhil Ramamurthy (Mohinder Suresh) is in it as well. Though he wasn't in the Pilot episode, I am eagerly anticipating his appearance (not really).

Just a few observations (silly, yes, but they all ran through my mind as I watched the show):

• Some parts of the episode were ridiculous, like the extremely long car chase scene. I told Jeff it reminded me of the pod race in The Phantom Menace. It was unnecessarily long and kind of pointless.
• Annie Walker is no Sydney Bristow. At all. Though no one can compare to Sydney, she certainly doesn't kick ass like her. She is a likable character, but there is something off that I can't put my finger on.
  
• Her apartment (which is really her sister's pool house? Guest house?) looks just like Sydney's.
• Jeff kept saying the music was very Alias-like (though not as good, of course).
  
• "Truth is complicated" is the new "Truth takes time"

All in all, I will refer to the show as "Alias-lite" (props to Carrie for that one). I will keep watching and see where it goes, but really, all it does is make me want to watch Alias. If I hadn't had an episode of White Collar to watch, I probably would have watched "Truth Be Told" before I went to bed.

I also watched the 2nd season premiere of White Collar. The basic premise of the show is about a white collar criminal named Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) who cuts a deal with the FBI to help them with crimes using his expertise as an art thief and counterfeiter. His partner is Peter Burke (Tim Dekay), who is married to Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) and the 3 of them have a really fun relationship. They all play off of each other really well. There is always some crime (obviously) that they need to solve, but it is always done in a clever way. And the thing that always surprises me about the show is how funny it is. I love that. It also made me like Tiffani Thiessen again, who I liked on Saved By The Bell but hated on 90210. Willie Garson (Stanford from Sex and The City) plays "Moz" and he is actually one of the best parts about the show. It was a good season premiere and I am looking forward to next week's episode. I know I said it before, but if you are looking for something to watch this summer that isn't reality tv, you should check it out.

J.J. Abrams new spy series Undercovers premieres in the fall and you know I will have things to say about that. Hooray, something for all of you to look forward to!