The Safe House - Expositions

The Stars: Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Bradley Cooper, Victor Garber
The Competition: The X-Files, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Number of Bad Guys Sydney Beats Up: 7
Sound Bite: "Write this down. E. M. E. T. I. B. Got it? Now, read it backwards."--Sydney, while being tortured for not revealing who she works for

Holy déjà vu.

Imagine for a moment that Felicity Porter had a secret life that Ben and Noel knew nothing about, and that studying at the University of New York and brewing lattes at Dean & Deluca was all just a front for her role as a secret agent.

That, in a nutshell, is the essence of Alias, a student-by-day, spy-by-night series on ABC this fall. Think of it as La Femme Felicity.

While Felicity breezed through her first year without so much as gaining the Freshman 15, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) was recruited by a shadowy government agency, SD-6, a division of the CIA, to thwart the world-domination plans of international evildoers. Now in grad school, Sydney divides her time between her studies, friends and kicking bad-guy butt.

But when Syd tips off her boyfriend to her secret life, she finds out just how seriously SD-6 takes the "If I told you I'd have to kill you" edict. Sydney avenges her beau's misfortune by vowing to bring down the smug powers at SD-6, whom she discovers are actually enemies of the CIA.

Confused? You're not alone. The pilot episode is full of more twists than a pretzel factory. But ABC has so much faith in Alias, it's giving the show a 90-minute, commercial-free premiere to flush out the complex storyline. Not even Survivor gets that kind of fanfare.

Why It Works: It's no coincidence that Alias has a Felicity-like feel; both were created by J.J. Abrams. By giving Sydney a secret life, Abrams spares us from having another Ben-or-Noel dating dilemma. Instead of haircut angst, we get hair-raising action sequences. And when storylines go south, Abrams can just kill off any inconvenient boyfriends who get too close to the truth.

Sure, Sydney still has to deal with the typical pressures of attending grad school, a guy friend who can't let go (shades of Noel) and an emotionally distant father. But she also gets to leave her mundane problems behind and go undercover in a black catsuit and bright red hair, break into foreign embassies and beat the bejesus out of bad guys who want to play dentist. It's the ultimate alter-ego experience.

Why You'll Love It: Abrams couldn't have picked a better lead than Jennifer Garner, whom you might remember as Hannah, Noel's interfering ex on Felicity (she also happens to be the real-life wife of Scott Foley, aka Noel). Garner nails her character's multiple personalities like a pro, and her love interests, Michael Vartan and Bradley Cooper, are sure to have Felicity fans saying, "Scott who?"

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