Though it may sound far-fetched, it's the premise of ABC's sophomore show "Alias." Jennifer Garner stars as Sydney Bristow, a student who moonlights as a CIA double agent.
The show ended up ranking as about the 60th most popular show last season. This modest success followed a spate of critical buzz, one that gave Garner a Golden Globe win and an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a TV Drama.
But ABC is counting on "Alias" to help the struggling network bounce back in the ratings, where it trails behind NBC and CBS. "Alias" has been incessantly promoted over the summer, with Garner appearing on magazine covers from "Allure" to "Entertainment Weekly" and with a trailer advertising the series in movie theaters.
There are also rumors that a special episode of "Alias" will run after the Super Bowl in January, said Charissa Gilmore, a Touchstone Television publicist.
However, the show faces tough competition in its 9 p.m. Sunday time slot, and fresh episodes of HBO's "The Sopranos" running through December promise to siphon potential viewers.
Gilmore said Sunday is traditionally a competitive night on television. Despite the stiff competition, the season premiere of "Alias" did well for ABC last Sunday, Gilmore said, tying for first in the key demographic of adults ages 18-49.
Another second-year show facing similar quandaries is Fox's action drama "24," which employs a novel premise. Each of the season's 24 episodes represented one hour of a day in the life of Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland), a government agent trying to prevent a presidential candidate from being assassinated. The show struggled to find a larger audience.
According to Tra-Mi Callahan, a publicist with Fox, the show's real-time format will stay essentially the same. More than a year after last season's finale, Bauer is called back into service still mourning the death of his wife, who was killed in the May finale.
Despite pressure to maintain the excitement surrounding last season, Callahan said the cast and crew remain confident.
