Early Look: 'Covert Affairs' Needs to Find Its Voice

USA Network's slogan is "Characters Welcome." In order to follow that credo, every original series they put on the air has to have a central character or characters who are quirky, troubled, or have a checkered back story. Most of the time, the character has all three. The formula has been mostly a success, as a fair amount of the shows they put on the air attract sizable cable audiences and usually go on multiple-year runs.

'Covert Affairs,' which debuts tonight, July 13 at 10PM ET, could be one of them. The show's lead, Piper Perabo, is appealing and brings more to her femme fatale role than most. But the pilot was crammed so much quirkiness into Perabo's character of newbie CIA agent Annie Walker that viewers don't have a good feel for what the show is going to be about by the time the 75-minute pilot is over.

We've seen this formula before: Walker is a master of language who has traveled the world trying to find herself. After a whirlwind Bora Bora Sri Lanka romance ends in heartbreak, she joins the CIA so she can use her skills for good. Walker gets pulled from training to work in a high-profile (for the CIA, of course) domestic protection task force. While she thinks she's there for merit, her bosses might have other motivations.

Sounds kind of like a CIA version of 'La Femme Nikita,' doesn't it? Well, think of it as 'Nikita' crossed with a Cathy comic, and you start to get the idea. You see, Annie's personal life is a mess. Her sister (Anne Dudek, who played Amber on 'House') sets her up with "nice guys" she knows from work. She's fielding questions from everyone on why she hasn't met the right one yet. She's still recovering from her overseas heartbreak. And, oh by the way, she's encouraged to date within the agency to keep the "circle of trust" intact. So what's a single girl who's got a dangerous job ever to do?

That's what trips up 'Covert Affairs.' We're supposed to believe that as a rookie agent, Annie is unusually proficient at her job, but she can't get it together to meet someone, even within the agency. Her guide to the ins and outs of inter-agency politics and romance is Augie Anderson (Christopher Gorham); he's blind but uses his other senses as well as his spy skills to meet women. Her example of how loving a fellow spy can go wrong? Her bosses, Arthur and Joan Campbell (Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett); Joan so mistrusts Arthur that he sends minions to spy on him.

I'm not buying that Annie can be so self-confident one second and a complete mess the next. I know action and humor can be combined on a TV show -- 'Chuck' is the current high-water mark for combining the two. But we can identify with Chuck because he started as a nerd and eventually developed into a spy. We can't really identify with Annie right now because she seems to have supreme spy kills right off the bat, so it makes us tougher to believe that she can't handle herself otherwise.

It does seem like spy shows are a trend this season, with this show, 'Rubicon,' and 'Undercovers' coming out at around the same time. But I'd place this show more towards the light and campy vein of 'Undercovers' rather than the more serious 'Rubicon.' At least that's the direction it feels like it's going in the pilot. If that's the case, then all it needs to do is look to the pilot of J.J. Abrams' newest to see how you merge the relationship and spy genres effectively.

Again, Perabo is charming enough to pull this off, and the addition of the likable Gorham is a plus. The action sequences are reasonably well done, though they could be tightened up a bit. But producers Doug Liman and Dave Bartis and their writers have to give their main character a few more nuances for the show to really succeed.

(Follow @joelkeller on Twitter.)