Covert Affairs on USA

[DragonPup]

Did you ever get the feeling the police procedural is becoming passe and spies are taking over?

Either way, I watched the first episode of USA's new show 'Covert Affairs' and I liked it. It feel much more grounded in reality than Burn Notice or Chuck. It has real potenial, and was time slotted right after White Collar on Tuesdays.

First episode is up on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/164108/covert-affairs-pilot?c=Drama#s-p1-so-i0

[Alan Au]

Police procedurals becoming passe? Maybe it has something to do with "CSI: Duluth" or whatever spinoff they're up to now. Still, not like there's any shortage of crime dramas these days. After all, police dramas are a staple of television, along with the spy dramas, sitcoms, and medical dramas. In fact, I'm sort of expecting another medical drama to show up. Worst case, a "supernatural" medical drama. Ugh, I'm sorry I even brought it up.

Right, so back on topic! Saw the pilot; more plausible than Alias, less goofy than Chuck. Seems like a good fit with USA's lineup.

- Alan

[jason]

Enjoyed it quite a bit. I'll be back for more, for sure. USA, TNT, FX, and other cable networks are beating the pants off the old networks as far as quality, in my opinion.

[Athryn]

I liked it, too, possibly even more than Burn Notice. It also seemed to have been shot on location in DC, I recognized the streets near the Zoo and of course the Smithsonian metro station. The party at "the Castle" seemed to be filmed at the National Gallery.

[Slainte Mhath]

It was decent, though in my opinion Burn Notice has more style and better writing. I'm a sucker for Piper Peribo after Coyote Ugly though (beautiful girl, terrible movie) so I'd have been content just to watch her run around the screen in various attractive outfits. On that point the show certainly did not disappoint.

[Woolen Horde]

Way too airy and lightweight for me. Moving on.

[russellmz00]

liked it. and it has cutthroat bitch as a soccer mom.

[Aleck]

I liked it, too, possibly even more than Burn Notice. It also seemed to have been shot on location in DC, I recognized the streets near the Zoo and of course the Smithsonian metro station. The party at "the Castle" seemed to be filmed at the National Gallery.

It was neat to see some DC scenes -- and then jarring when they clearly went to non-DC areas for some parts (e.g. the platform on the Metro was rather clearly not the Metro). Overall, though, I liked it.

I didn't recognize the National Gallery in the party scene, but I wasn't looking for it.

[Spoit]

Eh, it was ok. kinda gave a similar blandish vibe to that witness protection one they have, and I'm not sure if the supporting cast can really carry it, though the lead wasn't that bad

[dwinn]

I'm not sure I've ever seen as much product placement as in that pilot.

[Warning]

I liked it and had never heard of it until this thread. Thanks!

[ElGuapo]

Grounded in reality? I saw an ad for it where the main character, who presumably works for the CIA, jumps out of an airplane and parachutes down to insert somewhere. Methinks the writers have been playing too much Just Cause 2.

[Athryn]

That was during her training in the pilot.

[ElGuapo]

Ah ha. Maybe I should actually watch the show!

[RyanMichael]

Yeah. On a scale of "Spy Game" to "Alias," this one's just a hair more absurd than Burn Notice and almost as entertaining.

[Quaro]

It's too cute. I want to like it, but Burn Notice is so much better.

[RyanMichael]

The problem is it's flashing between taking itself too seriously and then being silly.

But then I said the same thing about Burn Notice in the beginning but either I grew to accept it or it found the right balance, because that show is simply perfect now.

[Greatatlantic]

Eh, I watched the first two episodes and decided I didn't like the main character. Her super spunkiness and can do attitude combined with Harry Potter-esque plot centrality makes me strongly dislike her. On the otherhand, I loved the married CIA bosses.

Burn Notices works on a very different level, since the main character is a very experienced spy from the get go thrust into his current condition because of his talent. And he is constantly showing off to the audience by the recurring explanative narratives that typically start "if you wanna..."

[Athryn]

I liked it a lot at first (see my earlier post) but I am kinda meh about it now. I am also kinda meh about Burn Notice too, actually. I think these shows are getting too formulaic or something.

[ElGuapo]

I just watched the Caracas episode which was pretty good but I'm not sure I'll continue. Are there just too many forms of entertainment now? Too much noise? Too formulaic as Athryn said? I loved Burn Notice for a while too but I feel myself trying to slug through episodes of the DVR now and getting about halfway through before I want to do something else.

It's like a show has to be well proven (Futurama) or really, really good in order to hook me now.

[Senjak]

That 2-Hour Season Finale seemed suspiciously like two regular episodes aired consecutively.

The back-story for Anna Chlumsky's (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001043/) character must have been written before she was cast, and then never updated, because this girl... http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzU2NzkzNDAzNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzUzMTUxMw@@._ V1._SX640_SY425_.jpg
...saying "boys never look at me because I'm too plain and frumpy," is ridiculous. They should have changed it to something like, "I'm too shy to talk to guys, but the evil spy who recruited me was just so charming and easy to talk to, because he's an evil spy with extensive Being-Charming-Yet-Evil training," or something like that.

Also, Ben seemed like the Racer X of this series right from the beginning, so I predict he will periodically show up and save Annie/complicate a situation, but he will never permanently die or be proven to be actually evil, no matter how many times it seems like he's been killed or caught red-handed.

[Gus_Smedstad]

I'm with Athryn. I'm kind of sick of Burn Notice now, mainly because of the A-team vibe with lots of guns and explosions but no one getting killed. Well, except for the season finale. People did get killed there, but that was an exception.

I didn't see any connection at all between the two episodes of the "2 hour finale."

I was flabbergasted by how retarded the polygraph session was. "Do you hate America?" Really?

- Gus

[corsair]

The series returns Tuesday - considering the "reality" show wasteland of network TV during summer, lightweight or not meeting some standard of perfection, I'm looking forward to it anyway. Okay, maybe just because of Piper.

[lordkosc]

Ah I forgot this was on its way back, last season was really good, I have high hopes :)

[DennyA]

Just started watching the first episode of Season 3 and the British agent seemed weirdly familiar... Then I realized it was Jeff from Coupling. The role/demeanor was so different it didn't click at all initially.