The Safe House - Expositions

''One day I was in the 'Felicity' writers' room,'' says J.J. Abrams, creator of the curly-haired-coed drama. ''And I said, sort of as a joke, 'The greatest thing would be if Felicity was recruited by the CIA, because then she could be going on these secret missions, living this life that she couldn't tell [boyfriends] Ben or Noel about, dismantling bombs.' Of course that couldn't happen in 'Felicity,' but it could be another show.''

Which it now is: Abrams' latest creation, ''Alias,'' stars steely-jawed jaw-dropper Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, recruited to be a spy out of college, trained in espionage and smash mouth kickboxing. The show costars crackerjack New York theater actors Victor Garber (''Art'') as Sydney's estranged, mysterious secret agent father, and Ron Rifkin (''Cabaret'') as her enigma of a boss.

Abrams has filled ''Alias'' with tart humor, father-daughter poignancy, and a torture scene in which at least one of Sydney's teeth is pulled by a blank faced inquisitor whom she later dispatches by -- get this -- doing a back flip and crushing his thorax while seated in a chair to which she is shackled. ''That scene took two days to film and it sucked,'' says Garner. ''[The torturer's face] penetrated my dreams in a very negative way.... So it was nice when he got hurt too.''

Lest you think ''Alias'' is going to be ''Walkerette, Texas Ranger,'' though, Abrams is intent on developing the characters to complement the action: ''You start to see how father and daughter, with all this lack of communication, start to make a connection. That's a story I would be compelled to watch if told in any genre. What I'm thrilled about is that we get to tell stories about complicated, funny characters who happen to coexist in a world that is sort of comic book.''

The West Virginia-bred Garner, survivor of two canceled series, ''Significant Others'' and ''Time of Your Life,'' met her husband, Scott Foley, on ''Felicity'' -- he plays Noel -- during a first season guest spot. Things don't work out as nicely in the ''Alias'' pilot (which runs commercial-free for a plus-size 66 minutes). Sydney tells her fiancé (Edward Atterton) she's a spy, a revelation that's against company policy. Suddenly: no fiancé. ''How lonely is that?'' asks Garner. ''To have nobody you can talk to, and the one person you [love] gets killed. She's p---ed off. That kind of anger I think will fuel the whole first season -- she's been disappointed so much, by her father, by her boss, everyone.''

Abrams admits: ''I had a lot of concerns about the tone of the show. For it to work in a world of 'Charlie's Angels' and 'Austin Powers,' if the show was satire it would lower the stakes considerably. I also didn't want the show to be so self-serious that it became like you were laughing at it.''

So: no camp, real emotions. It's a cool idea, but Abrams says, ''I'm scared of our [post-'Wonderful World of Disney'] time period. It's gonna be, 'Hey, it's 'Dr. Dolittle'! Talking animals! And now here's a commercial of a girl shooting people!' Do you think it would play better at 10 PM, if ABC switched us with 'The Practice'? No way that'll happen, right?'' Well, maybe if Abrams sent Jennifer Garner over to Disney chairman Michael Eisner's house and shackled him to a chair...''

© EW 2001

Back To All About Alias 2001