NBC have enjoyed incredible success in the last year with their formidable Monday night lineup, featuring The Voice, followed by the network's flagship drama The Blacklist, headlined by James Spader. With The Blacklist firmly grounded among its audience, the peacock network is shifting the thriller to what will be a competitive Thursday night timeslot when it returns in the new year, opening its 10|9c Mondays timeslot up to the network's latest drama, State of Affairs, with Grey's Anatomy alum Katherine Heigl at the helm.
Premiering on November 17, fans of The Blacklist shouldn't find they're down a show among their Monday lineup. Change one three letter agency to another, stir in some politics, a drop of good banter, a dash of intensity, switch the lead characters' gender and you've got a workable recipe to sum up the new drama.
The series centers around the life of CIA analyst Charleston Tucker, played by Heigl. She leads a group of analysts who compile the President's Daily Briefing (PDB), a document containing the biggest issues of the day which is presented to the President.
The hectic work schedule aside, Charlie's personal life also plays out, in the wake of her fiancé's death in a suspicious terrorist attack overseas. Charlie witnessed Aaron Payton's death in the firefight and narrowly escaped with her own life. This makes Charlie's relationship with the President much more personal, because Aaron was President Constance Payton's son.
My first impressions of the pilot were very good. A high standard in all major areas has been set early on.
Having watched and enjoyed Katherine Heigl's performances in Grey's Anatomy, her performance as a series lead was something I observed pretty closely. She did a very good job in a role which has variety in abundance, and her presence on screen was good too.
It's not all about Heigl, though. The vastly experienced Alfre Woodard stars as the US's first black female President. Sheila Vand, Adam Kaufman, Cliff Chamberlain and Tommy Savas pick up supporting roles, with most of them playing fellow CIA analysts under Heigl's character, Tucker. While I'll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about the supporting cast, the general vibe among them came off really nicely, which is a good sign. Clearly the characters have a close bond, and the colorful banter between them reflects that.Joe Carnahan is in the director's chair for the pilot, and does a really nice job. Plenty of the techniques he uses in The Blacklist cross over into State of Affairs. The series is leveraging flashbacks to tell the story of Charleston and her fiancé, and the flashback firefight scenes in the pilot are the best I've seen on television. When you see them, you'll understand why.
The pilot doesn't reveal a great deal about the direction of the storyline but it does set the scene quite nicely. It gives the viewer a good look at the characters, and demonstrates reasonably clearly what the viewer is in for each week. What will make or break the storyline is how much of the episodes each week build on the serialized story.
Aside from that, the level of intensity in the pilot is well controlled, and the tempo is really well done. There's a good score and good choice of backing tracks to boot. While it would take the next best thing to a miracle for this series to gain a following akin to The Blacklist, this series should appeal to a reasonably wide viewer pool, considering it features a strong female lead, and has a serialized element. The series does have to set itself apart early on from other dramas that share the genre, as intelligence agencies and political themes are pretty frequent on the television landscape. NBC's promotional material for State of Affairs has been excellent, so how viewers receive the series will be interesting to keep tabs on. My only real criticism at this point is the bizarre character names, which are a bit of a tongue-twister.
Thanks for reading my State of Affairs preview! You can view an extended promo here, and keep tabs on its ratings on my TV ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com/stateofaffairs. If you have any questions, thoughts or theories, share them in the comments below!
State of Affairs premieres November 17, 10|9c, on NBC
Jimmy.
I really cannot wait for state of affairs. I really hope it premieres very strong and that everyone who likes homeland, Scandal and revenge tune in!
ReplyDeleteThere are similarities with the first 2 shows you mention but I haven't seen Revenge so couldn't comment. Hopefully a few Grey's Anatomy fans will tune in as well
ReplyDeleteSeems like too many cookie cutter shows on today. I do not plan to watch or DVR. I cannot be torn away from Castle.
ReplyDeleteYuck. Sounds exactly like the "Paint by Numbers" Drama you'd expect from NBC.
ReplyDeleteGood preview Jimmy. I have seen the pilot and enjoyed it but did find it a bit confusing. The series definitely has potential though, so I will keep watching.
ReplyDeletehow is Matthew Del Negro's character
ReplyDeleteThey need to hire better writers because the pilot had a lot of corny dialogues.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the Pilot?!
ReplyDeleteYeah, like 5 months ago.
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking! Del Negro's character is a friend of Aaron Payton, and reaches out to Charleston Tucker toward the end of the episode. He has answers to some of the questions Tucker has about that firefight.
ReplyDeleteWhy would it take a miracle for the show to gain a following? TB isn't TWD--not yet, anyway--and SOA will have TV as support, even though its past the point in the season where it's at its high. And from what I can tell, NBC has done a good job of making sure people are aware it's premiering. I don't watch as much live TV as I would like, but I see plenty of ads for it.
ReplyDeletePlus, Heigl may or may not be difficult to work with, but she's talented, as is Woodard. I don't see the show being bad, even if it's not perfect right away.
I just hope it premieres above a 2.0 for NBC. If it does, I think it can last.
As far as character names, I'm always amazed how they range from the bland--something like Nick Miller on New Girl--to the odd--like Temperance Brennan on Bones. And maybe it's because I am from New York and am skewed, but I don't see as many Italian names. There's so much variety there. Maybe instead of, say, Sarah Williams...how about Sarah Pretrera?
ReplyDeleteI was interested at first, but I'm no longer interested anymore.
ReplyDeleteShonda Rimes shows tend to interesting names.
ReplyDeleteI remember critics hated this pilot or maybe they didn't care for Higle?
ReplyDeleteso he's Angel from the beginning of buffy? lol
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with Babar's comment at all. I've seen pilots with a far lower standard of writing. The writers have made an effort to ensure there's a good casual/work bond between the characters, which is something you don't see much these days
ReplyDeleteCouldn't tell you, didn't watch Buffy
ReplyDeleteBut they reshooted a lot of the scenes.
ReplyDeleteYou're not allowed to like the show because if you don't irrationally hate Heigl, you're not cool.
ReplyDeleteIn a serious note, I'm actually intrigued by the show. The trailer pretty much tells what happens in the pilot, including the final twist, but I've seen interviews and promos and it seems good. Hopefully it won't dissapoint.
The Blacklist isn't TWD yet? Not yet nor never.
ReplyDeleteWhich doesn't seem realistic.
ReplyDeleteWas just reading reviews on RT and I whole heartedly agree with this one: By far the most aggravating thing about State of Affairs is its insistence on acronyming everything to sound more authentic.
ReplyDeleteThey say POTUS like 20 times during that episode and it got tired really quickly.
I think the problem is Heigl portrayal of the character + some other stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy not liking the show had nothing to do with hating Heigl.
ReplyDeleteGood, I guess.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the revised pilot, totally different ending (not the one with her in the bar, but before that).
ReplyDeleteDifferent good or bad?
ReplyDelete