I Spy

I jumped headlong into Alias this weekend. We had recently been lamenting the extremely sad state of television and I was mourning my loss of quality TV programs - no more Buffy, no more Farscape, no more X-Files; Six Feet Under and The Sopranos are on hiatus until early next year. What's a girl to do? I really like MI-5, but one decent show is not enough. So, I decided to give Alias a try.

If Alias was on any other night and time besides Sunday at 9:00 P.M., I would have likely watched it from its beginning. As it was, though, I was already juggling 3 shows in that particular time slot and there just wasn't room for a fourth. Now, however, there is room. So, I went out and rented all the Alias season 1 DVDs this weekend and I am hooked. I have one disc left, which I'll watch tonight.

I think the show works because its infrastructure is so solid: once you accept the fairly ridiculous premise, everything works because the acting and, especially, the writing is so good. The show has a breathless pace (the cliffhangers are actually cliffhangers - I mean, Sydney is usually hanging from something while being shot at when the show suddenly ends and leaves you scrambling for the skip button on the remote so you can get to the next episode sooner. Too bad that doesn't work in real time), but occasionally slows down long enough for the characters to relate to one another. Or to not relate to one another, as the case may be; Sydeny's relationship with her father is the heart of the show for me, or at least that's where it lies for me in the first 16 episodes. Where the show went in the second season, I'm hoping to find that out soon.

Anyway, so that's where I've been for the past few days.