Covert Affairs

As a fan of espionage shows (such as my favorite show Chuck), I am surprised that the show Covert Affairs has eluted me for over a season. I finally sat town to watch this USA Network show and almost instantly fell in love with it's amazing combination of wit, action, romance, and surprising realism for a show based on the CIA. Piper Perabo was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of lead character Annie Walk, who is a rookie at the CIA's Domestic Protection Division. One of the main attract to the show for me is the interstaction of Annie and her tech opts specialist Auggie Anderson (played by Christopher Gorham), who despite the fact that he became blind several years ago is still one of the best operatives on the show. It is very fun to see how the blind guy is basically her eyes and ears when she is on missions and is her guide at the CIA....and he occasionally makes blind jokes about himself which is always good for a cheap laugh. Other interesting story-lines include Annies mysterious ex-boyfriend and how he keep cropping up after she get recruited and the fairly realistic battle with the CIA and some local D.C. journalist who are digging for me transparency with the government.

The show's creators Matt Corman, Chris Ord, and Dough Liman (who was also the producer for The Bourne Trilogy) have gone to a lot of effort to make the show as realistic as possible. Before the show started they took a trip to Langley, Virginia where the real CIA headquarters. At Langley they observed, interviewed, and took notes on stuff they could recreate for the show from a replica of the marble in the entrance to the classic CIA seal to the burn bags in the offices they have strived to make the show look at real as possible. Since it is a summer show and does not air as many episodes as a regular show they have had the time (and thankfully the recourses) to even do some shoots on location across the world, following their travel-crazy spy characters.

Though the show has only aired one and a half season, it is off to a great start. True to the network's slogan "Character Welcome", Covert Affairs has compiled a group of intriguing, funny, and relatable characters that pull you into a life that not many can understand. It is a fun, adventures, and thrilling show that I am hoping will have a great future a head....not that the CIA are aloud to look to far into the future.