Covert Affairs

The story lines are insultingly stupid - not escapist fantasy, as I suppose is the intent. A trainee - now labeled brilliant for some unexplained and unjustifiable reason - is entrusted with difficult and highly sensitive cases. Right. The characters are cartoon cliches (the strong, powerful but sensual female boss, (wearing the obligatory, inappropriately plunging neckline-office wear) the sensitive disabled guy who's sexy but geekishly wistful. Give us a break USA. And Piper Perabo! She has the talent of a banana slug. Her dramatic range is limited to eyeball shifting, hair tossing and oh-dear god please make it stop: slack- jawed, cosmetically over-inflated, lip opening. Her Annie is unwatchable. If this role is any indication of her acting ability, she should get career counseling and switch while she still has time to earn some credits toward Social Security.

Put this worthless show under deep cover. Six feet under.

Christopher Gorham's character was not quite believable as the blind person. Especially with all thecomputer info and staff he was doing as a blind guy!! This is quite annoying to watch.

This show is so bad. Agent Walker is supposedly multilangue. I speak 4 languages andamongother Swedish and French, she did not say anything correctly in those languages.I never liked Augie he is blind and plays all the "Jean Claude Van Damme"esque scenes!!!!!! Come on.

Not a fan. I wish there was a rate zero.

This show desperately tries to be a mix between Alias and Nikita but fails. Uninteresting episodic story lines and uninteresting characters. The cast and crew are lucky USA is floating this show as this would have been canceled long ago on another network. And wow, I've never seen such bad acting of a guy who's supposed to be blind. He literally looks into the eyes of the other actors when he speaks to them. *facepalm*

Sadly I've grown tired of watching this show. It never was able to go beyond the case of the week scenario and frankly the only overall story is not that interesting (the former head scheming with a journalist? that's it? Arthur risking to lose its job is not exactly a nailbiting story...), not to mention that finally after all the first season and EIGHT episode of the second finally the sister of Annie starts to be suspicious of her work (a total waste of Anne Dudek, her House stint was awesome, this :( ....).

While the show has been funny at times to watch, the incredible adventures of Annies (because it's impossible to label them as anything else, being unrealistic at best) are not engaging, other than somewhat unbelievable (seems to me that the CIA has only her as an operative). Other than that I didn't grow attached to her character, I'm just indifferent to her ( I would have preferred the show being more focused on the other characters).

The last episoded that I watched was the ninth, about her professor, but I just realized I don't care enough to watch it end (She will obviously solve everything while ignoring standard protocol).

It is a bit difficult to believe that this oh-so-young, oh-so-beautiful agent is allowed so much latitude and adventure in a carefully run agency agency with its fingers in so many widespread pies and where consequence of error is so potentially serious. Still, it has been a fun romp and it is interesting to see her potential develop as she attempts to learn her job and work her way around the assorted bureaucratic agendas and games that are part of the typical life in government service. Also interesting and true to life to see how her mentor is helping her steer through uncharted waters. Not so different from what many of us have experienced in a wide array of public service opportunities, although admittedly not so threatening to life and limb. I wish your writers and wardrobe staff could realize that this kind of work in the real world is not a fashion show; but I suppose that is more than the real world of show business can manage.

REVIEW (posted when pilot first aired)

I am not quite sure how I feel about this new show after watching its pilot. Piper Perabo's character certainly reminded me of Jennifer Gardner's Alias (not in the good way). The character asked too much to be likable. Christopher Gorham's character was not quite believable as the blind person. I hadn't noticed that he was playing a disabled person until his character started navigating the computer using braille characters. The whole story-line was weak: An excellent agent in training (who hasn't completed training) gets a mission which she completely messes up. Yes? She's that brilliant. Could an agent really be in a situation like that to forget a primary objective? Hmm... I don't know. And she doesn't have any back up, or a way to contact the back up. Or a weapon to defend herself... I guess I watched too many movies/Tv shows to see these little flaws as not believable on Tv screen. Perhaps the car chase was the only interesting thing about the episode, but even that was sort of predictable.



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UPDATE (on the review written back in the day)



After sticking with the show a few more episodes it grew on me.

Sure everything I've written about the pilot still stands.

I cannot understand why:

* Annie doesn't get her gun certification and goes in the field without a gun to protect herself.

* Auggie always hooks us with girls, starts dating them and then they usually move on dumping him.

Where there was once a fluffy, fun show, filled with hot boys and girls (and men and women, too), doing totally improbable things just for the laugh of the audience, the new season says "Take us Seriously".



Too bad, because Covert Affairs is NEVER going to be a Serious spy show - it's too ridiculous in its premise and casting and episode stories. It's NOT an Alias, or a Spooks (MI-5 to us Americans), or even a Burn Notice, and that was the fun. It was a pretty, fairly mindless show where we could engage in amusement for an hour with lots of Suspension of Disbelief in the wild improbable stories, and ship our favorite couples. It was lightweight comedy with some decent action.



It's unfortunate that the producers and writers seem to have forgotten what made the series popular in the first place, and now somehow want Dark Street Cred instead. Covert Affairs fails at that on *sooooo* many levels.



Season 3 jumps the shark, and, I'm betting, is the last one. If I want gritty action and intrigue, I'll go over and watch Michael and Fiona, who kick the everlasting crap out of Annie and Auggie.

The show has gotten better over time. However, it's time for Annie's character to developed an identity and stop appearing as a CIA operative in training. It would nice if she could reflect a persona like Genea Davis, in the movie "A Long kiss Good Night." Or, Gina Carano, in "Haywire." Those movies were well done and laid a good foundation for women in action movies. It's unfortunate neither movie was followed up. Annie needs to step up and kick some a** next season via the first season of "Alis" with Jennifer Garner another female CIA agent

After watching several seasons of Spooks I decided to watch the first episode of this show that was suggested by Netflix. Is this show a student project or satire? I couldn't finish watching it as it was so bad.

Okay - you just lost 2 loyal viewers. Joan has been replaced as a mentor and boss with a female pimp! After last weeks' 2 bedroom scenes back-to-back, we are done!

I miss the smart, ethical Annie with the new "use your body not your brain" and don't worry about anyone else, including her sister who is moving to California! Another meaningful character gone.

I wonder how James Bond would respond to his boss telling him to use his body to get what he needs to succeed!

Spy series are back. Covert Affairs is exactly what we needed since alias was canceled. Although it is not as good yet, it might get there. The show begins the usual way, girl falls in love with boy, boy leaves girl, hurt girl becomes a spy for the CIA, girl finds out boy is a rogue spy. The usual. The cast is good with heavy hitters like Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett. The plots are good, the characters as well, some twists are being introduced, so all in all, it is going places. Taking into consideration that it is not one of J.J. Abrams creations, this is an excellent show.

Characters have very little depth, story lines have no depth, lead character's flashbacks to the same crap gets old quick, green screen scenes are HORRIBLE... I've seen high school kids make movies that look just as bad - collage kids make them better, directing is nothing special - looks like a beginner, the writing is average at best - again it looks like beginners are doing the writing.





It is really too bad... the actors are good but the show makes them look like amateurs. USA is really desperate if they left this show on the air. No where even close to the quality of White Collar or Burn Notice.

I'm a fan of this show; odd as it may seem, it's a real teeth grinding feel it gives off -- for me at least. At first, I only checked it out because of the fact the girl was from "Coyote Ugly", which happens to be another old movie I watch from time to time. Anywho, back to the show. The show offers some real action, while actually developing a plot, and if you've ever seen TV before, that is all too uncommon. Another thing I found really great, the subplots between different characters; though I may not know their names just yet. For example: Peter Gallagher and his wife's characters are absolutely hilarious; between the normal couples tension and her thinking he's cheating, it's hilarious. Looking forward to what this show will offer in the future.

It might be an Alias wanna be but the Christopher Gorham eye candy makes up for the little girl lost spy. They do need to do something about the crappy green screen scenes though.

I really love this series. It has a great storyline and great casts. Each episode from the first season were so good. But I expected so much more from the episode finale of the first season and I am a little bit disappointed. I can't wait to buy the season one DVD and I also can't wait for the second season to come. I would love to see more from Peter Gallagher and I expect that they will have a great plot from the second season and make it more interesting than the first season and not just 11 episodes like they did in the first season, but with more episodes.

Please tell me they haven't taken this show off! TV has really gone to the DOGS! I loved this show! Why can't you leave the good stuff and take off some of those STUPID reality shows? Covert Affairs has adventure, action, a good role model, a good female role model with some good old fashion moral values, something that is very rare. This show is decent and the writer has a wonderful imagination, and Covert Affairs has excellent actresses and actors. I enjoy living through Annie's character for an hour a week and I really looked forward to seeing it. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to finally have a good entertaining show to watch that don't need the blood, the guts, the filth, and foul language edited out, and THEY TAKE IT OFF!

I am thrilled that Covert Affairs has returned. As far as entertainment goes, the more good points a form of entertainment has, the better it is, the more birds it kills with one stone the better. Covert Affairs has many good things going for it... Sex appeal, Intrigue, Action, an International Setting, Fast cars, Technology etc.


Humans have long had a love affair with the spy game. And most spies have been male, which targets the female viewers. Think about it, there's James Bond, Get Smart, Michael Western etc... all MALE spies. On the other hand, can you name another FEMALE spy?


I would like to see them give Annie more gadgets though. The show seams to want to stay within the realm of the believable, unlike the invisible cars, exploding gum etc that James Bond is famous for. They could however push this envelope a bit more. There are a lot of high-tech gadgets that walk the line of the believable, and that do ACTUALLY EXIST.

I absolutely love this show, I don't know why there are so many negative comments towards it. I can't wait for the third season to start... don't end this show. I like the secrets,suspense, and the chemistry between Annie and Auggie. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact if this show got cancelled i would be very disappointed.

JoelJohn1--I love this show, it completely rocks, but to say that this is the first female show about a spy is ridonculous! Have you ever heard of Charlie's Angels? How about Scarecrow and Mrs. King(who became a spy), and the hugely-popular, and recent - Alias?!?





All of the above were long-running series, and to think that possibly the best of all of them was the most recent - Alias! Jennifer Garner became a household name because of this series. I like a lot of shows like this and Alias, this series is so fantastic that I went out and bought the DVD of is as soon as I could...

I dislike the new direction. Annie seems less smart. More guns and more sex are not the best option for this show. The human factor was the reason for me to watch. Trying to make Annie a female James Bond does not work.

This is great. She is new to CIA without any extensive training yet solves problems very experienced agents could not; Not sure how much she earns but can afford 6-7 pares of Christian Louboutin - nice; and as every good agent when in the field appropriate shoes are always worn, minimum 7inch heel as it makes it more interesting running or climbing steps. How can you dislike show like this???

I thought that the CIA was not supposed to perate on US soi!?

LOVE THAT PIPER! :)

the show is very good and we get a great actress in piper perabo to play the main character annie walker.





the show has great writing,the acting is very good,but the action is lacking.





the problem with this show is that the action in the show is not too good.the character annie walker gets beat up alot.i guess its b/c shes a new field agent.





also just like alias the story is sometimes hard to follow b/c of all the information thats given to you.





so even though the show is good with the writing,sometimes good action,good acting,and good twists in episodes.





the problem is that sometimes the episodes are hard to follow and the action isnt all that good.





overall its a good show and i think with time the action and the information in the episodes can be better.

Hate it when ur left hanging on for next week this much!!!!

I've been watching this show since it started . . .and for all you out there that feel the need to BASH the show and actors. . . .why don;t you take a hike over to somewhere else and quit spoiling it for the rest of us. At least its a change from all the constant shows with cops & law episodes. . .give us a break and take a hike. At least we appreciate great actors and the fact that the producers tried something different AND it was successful!

When i first saw this advertised all i could think was alias made for a wider tv audience, but after watching not only was i proven wrong but am now absolutly hooked. It entertaining, funny occasionally poinent and just a genuinly good show for the whole family to enjoy.





and to everybody who is saying this show is completly unrealistic first i say im sure you know from all your years working for the cia and secondly it's not supposed to be this show is fun light entertainment, made for anyone to watch, and if you have a problem theres pleanty of other things on just don't bother watching.





can't wait for season 2

I found myself thoroughly enjoying this show. Its fresh with some good plots - not too overdone. And I like their choice of characters - no-one too famous who makes the show all about them.





I also like the continuing story thread of Ben - they weave the intrigue nicely. You never know if she is being used as the CIA never let on more than they should. And lets see what happens with Liza Hearn





I also like the title sequence - very cleverly done with a catchy tune. I hope they develop this show and it doesn't get culled.





It keeps me watching every scene.

How many new shows are coming out of Hollywood with a strong, cute female Piper Perabo, in the lead? Here is a young lady who has her faults but her strengths are her ability to speak many languages and to learn on the run. She has a great support staff that helps her in her quest, and again there is another strong woman Kari Matchett. I do have a problem with the character Auggie. I think it is played very well by Christopher Gorham, but why is it that the part of a person with a dissAbility can't be played by a person with the same DissAbility?


I also enjoy the fact that you can see shows I missed on-line, or it may be replayed at a different time. I am still getting used to the fact that there are more prime time shows on TV besides on the leading networks.