"Covert Affiars" is network ready summer fun

"Covert Affairs" is USA's new summer series to join the likes of "Burn Notice," "Royal Pains," "White Collar," Phych," "In Plain Sight," and "White Collar," and it is one of the most enjoyable shows the network has put on the air. USA first got the comedy/drama/action series right with "Monk," putting itself on the map as a network that does more than just reruns of "Law & Order" and "NCIS."

"Covert Affairs" is a fun diversion from the summer, but doesn't seem as formulaic as "Burn Notice" and "Royal Pains." Instead, it dives into the spy genre, and adds a strong female lead in Piper Perabo (of "Coyote Ugly" fame), instead of the customary male lead that we see in most of USA's other shows. But Perabo's character, Annie Walker, is young, reckless, confident, and deeply complex. She's enjoyable to watch, and in one scene during the pilot, where she tries to recover data left behind during an opp turned bad, the clever scriptwriting and her strong acting make the scene laughable and meaningful. We see that she has talent as a CIA operative, and we hope to see her grow and learn as the show continues.

Perabo's biggest help in the show is the blind "Q"-like character, Auggie Anderson, played by Christopher Gorham. Gorham makes Auggie a lovable mentor who seems like the perfect best friend to have. He's one of those character's who may just be along for the ride, but at the same time, after watching the pilot, I have confidence in the writers to make him more complex and important than just a blind assistant.

Speaking of the writers, the show is produced by Doug Liman, who brought Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne to the silver screen. Liman uses his spy-genre experience to make "Covert Affairs" seem more complex in one episode then you'd expect, making me hope and pray that the next episodes will be just as compelling as the pilot.