Piper Perabo Shines in Covert Affairs

Posted on July 13, 2010

For those of us who have been missing J.J. Abrams' Alias since it went off the air, Covert Affairs is a welcome gift. Producer/creator Doug Liman (The Bourne Trilogy) has cooked up an action-packed, funny and smart spy series that's one of the best pilots we've seen this year.

Piper Perabo plays Annie Walker, a young CIA trainee who is called into active duty before she graduates from her formal training. As Annie notes in the first episode, after 9/11 the agency began recruiting heavily and half the agency's employees are under 30. There is a bit of a mystery as to why Annie's bosses are really so interested in her.

The supporting cast is excellent. Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty, Jake 2.0) plays Auggie Anderson, a CIA military intelligence agent who was blinded in action and now is Annie's guide to the agency. Peter Gallagher (The O.C., American Beauty) is Arthur Campbell, the director of Clandestine Services for the CIA. He is married to Joan (Kari Matchett), the head of the CIA's Domestic Protection Division. Joan is not above using the NSA to listen to her husband's phone conversations when she thinkgs he's having an affair. Sendhil Ramamurthy of Heroes will also be a series regular. He plays Jai Wilcox, an agent.

The show lives or dies on whether the audience likes Piper Perabo --just as Alias depended on audiences loving Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow. Piper pulls off the task nicely. In her first mission, she has a car chase, a giant fight in the subway and impersonates a high class call girl.

Covert Affairs premieres tonight on USA at 10pm Eastern/9 pm Central time. Be sure to tune in -- or catch it tomorrow on Hulu. Here's a preview: