I watch a lot of TV, and have a lot of shows that I tape when I am not at home, but ALIAS has become one of the better shows on American television in recent years. If you haven’t yet seen it, give it a try even though there are some plot points you may not understand…they fill you in on the last episode(s).
I don’t know if the show is being shown in foreign countries as of yet, but when it does, I strongly suggest you catch it from day one.
Anyone agree or disagree?
Agree.
It is the best show–inventive, clever, and never dull.
Now, when will Michael Vartan take his shirt off? 
Wordy
Agree. Last night was great, and helped reinforce everything I love about it. No “To Be Continued”, just “that’s our episode. If you want more, you know where to find us.”
Normally, I agree with you. I have started a few threads about ALIAS on the SDMB previously.
I found last night’s episode to be not up to standard. The music, with its James Bond swanky horn arrangements, was bad - it emphasized the “isn’t this a bit too fantastic to be credible?” part - too Roger Moore, not nearly enough Sean Connery, if you will. Also, the shot towards the end, with SpyMom, SpyDad and Syd standing together guns a-blazing earned a bit of chuckle.
A great show - but I hope this episode doesn’t mark the beginning JJ Abrams dumbing down the show on a misguided quest to get more ratings over and above the critical accolades…
I have loved this show from its inception.
The good guys aren’t always good, and the bad guys aren’t always bad. There is plenty of tense action, but also some comic relief. The women are beautiful, and their outfits are tight (grin). Add gadgets, unresolved romances, and a mysterious centuries-old inventor sub-plot, and you have a very interesting and entertaining show.
I’m a big fan of this show, too.
Overall, I think the show’s making some improvements over last season. They’re cutting out more of the side stuff like Francie and her boyfriend. Will is starting to fit into the main story with his side work for the CIA.
My main gripe is the horrible music. Not the swanky 60s spy music during the missions; I kind of like that. I mean the “Party of Five/Felicity-esque” crappo that breaks in. Last night’s episode was probably the worst example I’ve seen. Spy Mom, Dad, and Sid are blowing terrorists away with machine guns and the touchy-feely music breaks in as bullets are flying in slo-mo? What the hell was that? At least before, the sappy music was constrained to the sappy scenes. Urgh…
And the whole “This was my father’s watch… He kept it safe up his ass during the CIA purge… He told me it was symbolic of my heart and I want you to know that it stopped the day I met you, Sid (cue sappy music)” bit from Agent Vaughan was too over-the-top.
orr, I may be wrong, but I believe that scene in question (mom, dad, syd blowing away the bad guys) was done with a very large tongue in a very large cheek. Intentional cheese.*
*Dibs on that band name.
You may be right Munch, but I don’t think so. I think the music was there to cue the audience to see that Spy Family are all cut from the same cloth and if they could see that and work together…in other words, it was a “chick flick moment” (NOTE: I am not trying to be un-p.c. hear - if I offend I am sorry; I am using a phrase that I think people will understand - that’s all), which Alias is a bit too quick to use - at least 1 per episode lately…
So I am with Orr on this one…I found this ep too cheesy.
He’s nekkid on an operating table in the season opener which should repeat any week now with the holiday season upon us. Also see “One-Hour Photo.” Two words: pickle shot. Actually three words: DVD-friendly pickle shot.
I liked last night’s episode better than other recent eps. I loved the banter between the spy family as they slipped onto the train and the look in Irina’s eyes when she saw the sexual/emotional power she still holds on Jack. I’m interested to see where the “Project Christmas” research is going and wondering who’s going to be revealed (because someone’s always revealed) as having gotten the perfect score and been recruited.
They still have some ways to go to make up for the absolutely ridiculous mess they made with Senators deciding who lives or dies a couple weeks back but I’m encouraged again.
Very good show, but not the best. I do like it a lot better than 24, however.
I do wish Sydney would shoot(and kill) people more often. She was shooting with her mother and father last night and probably killed people, but I think she doesn’t do it enough. James Bond kills all the time. Does the network think we can’t handle a woman killing people in the line of duty?
They need to develop the arc story more. There are so many tangents, I think they’d need about 6 seasons to finish everything. That’s fine if they don’t throw more spanners in the works, but I know they will. They would do well to learn from Babylon 5’s development.
By the way, the best shows on TV are:
Farscape
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alias
I love Alias. I love to see what crazy outfit they put her in next. I do think that Dixon (the wonderful Carl Lumbly) doen’t get enough to do. Perhaps he is the “Project Christmas” plant. I also love Marshall the gadget guy (played by Kevin Weisman). I wonder if he writes his own dialog?
Guilty pleasure.
Really, objectively I can’t say that Alias has all that many redeeming features - there are way better shows on television. They’ve got better acting, better writing, better directing, better plotting, and the remotest amount of plausibility (which is sorely lacking in Alias, right along with internal consistency).
But still, I like watching - it’s fun and campy.
My bet? Francie is going to be on the list of potential sleeper agents. (Despite the fact that she looks way too old - but then, so do Vaughn, Will, and Syd. The actors look at least 10 years older than their characters are supposed to be.)
BTW, what happened to “Grad school”?
I thought she dropped out near the end of last season, telling her professor that she “didn’t have time anymore”. Maybe I’m remembering things I made up, though.
No, I remember that, too interface2x, but I think the prof ended up convincing her to stay.
It’s probably going to be Syd, but I’m hoping that the writers throw a twist in there. Maybe they’ll use the Project Christmas thing to introduce other Spy Barbies into the show. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Anna(?), Syd’s nemesis working for the Russians?
I was watching Pinocchio on ABC last night, and Alias was on afterwards. I went from good, wholesome entertainment (unless you consider the notion of a lonely old woodworker dreaming for a wooden boy with a nose that incidentally grows to be creepy) to the very tasty Jennifer Garner. It was the first time I had seen the show, although I have known about it ever since they first started showing the commercials. I knew enough from the commercials to know that both her parents have issues, and last night’s episode was a good intro for an Alias newbie like me. I plan on watching it next week.
Anna seems to have fallen by the wayside this season, probably because Gina Torres is busy on “Firefly.” Maybe she’ll come back now that Firefly is “on hiatus,” but the storylines seem to be moving away from conflicts outside the family.
Speaking of family conflicts, what do we think is going on with Sloane and Emily? What I’d like to see is Emily’s return as a muckety-muck either with SD-6 or the Alliance (maybe she’s somehow been an Alliance operative for years to monitor Sloane) but I have this bizarre notion that Jack is running an op on Sloane using Emily’s death as the start-off point. Has anyone else noticed, BTW, that they aren’t even trying any longer to come up with plausible reasons why Jack and Sydney are away from SD-6 for days at a time? Last ep Jack was like “I’ve taken care of it” and that’s all we got.