So when Undercovers was getting ready to premiere, and he kept talking about how it wasn’t going to have an ongoing mythology, I just winked back. Okay, JJ. Whatever you say. But now that three episodes have aired, I’m starting to realize that, holy crap, he was telling the truth.

Undercovers is fun, sexy, and it finishes the story by the closing credits. And while I’m sure this is exactly what they were going for, it’s hard not to feel like it’s missing something. It doesn’t need the complicated mythology of Lost or Alias or even Fringe, but what it does need is a recurring villain, an overall mission, an ongoing conspiracy. It needs an Arvin Sloane, a Cigarette-Smoking Man–hell, I’d take a Gormogon. This show needs an anchor and it needs higher stakes. At the end of every episode, the Blooms could quit spying and Major Dad could just find some other folks to go on these missions. They need a long-term assignment.

It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Alias, but this scene, from the first post-pilot episode, is great. When Vaughn rips out a map of SD-6 to show Sydney just how far it reaches, she realizes (as do we) that this isn’t going to take two months–this is going to take until May sweeps at least. “This isn’t about cutting off an arm of the monster–this is about killing the monster,” he says. And right now, Undercovers is just lobbing the arms off of a bunch of different monsters.

(Side note: How much does Sydney Bristow randomly remind you of Rachel Berry in that scene?)

I think this show has a lot of potential, and the episodes are entertaining, but for me to commit to this as an ongoing series, I need a promise that this is going to be more than just CIA-style fancy COPS.

they will MESS YOU UP. and then make out. // nbc promotional photo

Six years ago today, Lost premiered.

Tonight marks the premiere of the first pilot J.J. Abrams has directed since that project, and I am super-stoked. Undercovers has been on this blog’s radar for over a year, and I could not be more excited to see the finished product. It looks smart, it looks sexy, and it looks funny. And how serendipitous that it’s premiering on Lost‘s birthday?

Undercovers premieres tonight at 8:00 on NBC.

Speaking of birthdays, this little nugget (my dog, Freckles) is two today. She’s requested a marathon of Evangeline Lilly’s best episodes and a trip to the park.

There’s a slew of new sneak peeks for next week’s premiere of Undercovers, and, so far, I like what I see.

In the clip above, you’ll see Ben Schwartz as Bill Hoyt, who I’m fully anticipating will be my favorite character, if these clips are anything to go by. (Also, totally wouldn’t surprise me to see him eventually strike up a will-they-or-won’t-they with Samantha’s sister, Lizzy.)

Obviously, it’s hard to know if these snippets will come together to make a strong pilot–one which has been getting mixed reviews–but I’m definitely excited for this pilot and prepared to make a commitment to the show.

Also notable is Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s strong American accent, which makes her former Doctor Who co-star David Tennant’s try at Yankspeak even more ridiculous.

British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been tapped to star in JJ Abrams’s upcoming Undercovers alongside Boris Kodjoe as married CIA operatives Samantha and Steven Bloom.  Perhaps best known (especially by me) as Martha Jones’s sister, Tish, in a smattering of Doctor Who episodes, Mbatha-Raw has more recently starred in other unknown-to-Americans film and TV projects, as well as portrayed the Ophelia to Jude Law’s Hamlet.

Of course, this pairing is notable because both lead actors are people of color.  (Kodjoe is Austrian, the son of a German mother and a Ghanaian father; Mbatha-Raw is English, the daughter of a British mother and a South African father.)  While it is now commonplace to see racial and ethnic minorities on television, these characters are usually supporting.  Think about Grey’s Anatomy, a show which prides itself on its diversity; while the cast is populated by actors of different backgrounds, the central romance of the show is Derek and Meredith, who are both very, very white.

We still know very little about the show’s premise, other than that the series focuses on this decommissioned spy couple who run a catering company until their services are requested by the CIA.  Jabrams suggested that becoming spies again might help reignite the spark in their relationship–and, damn, if those two don’t look like they could be sparkalicious together onscreen.

I’m going to resist making any “TARDIS Landing at NBC” comments for the time being, but rest assured that if another Doctor Who cast member (regular or otherwise) pilots up at the peacock (in addition to Ten himself, David Tennant), we’ll consider it a quorum and I will have been practicing my material.  Speaking of NBC pilots, this is obviously going to be an interesting development season.  With five extra hours to fill during the week, and having squandered fit-for-10:00 shows like Southland, NBC’s going to be picking up a LOT of pilots.  (They’re working on a lot now, so there will still be disappointing cuts.)  Undercovers still seems like a safe bet for a spot on the 2010-2011 schedule, but it’s by no means a done deal.  (More after the jump.)

Rounding out the cast is Gerald McRaney, who you probably know as, “Oh, that guy,” as the CIA boss man, Carlton Shaw, an operative who recruited the lead characters to the agency and now serve’s as their liaison.  Scroll through his IMDb profile and you’ll likely recognize a couple of his credits–a West Wing episode here and there, and he was on Jericho.

But what I most recognize him for is his starring role in Major Dad, the turn-of-the-nineties sitcom about a Marine Corps Major who marries a liberal journalist and adopts her three CRAZY daughters.  (No, I didn’t remember all of these details; I Wikipediaed.)  It’s one of the earliest shows I actually remember watching, along with Coach and Hanging With Mr. Cooper.

Here are the opening credits.  They make me feel sad that this is what television used to be, sad that television ISN’T like this anymore, and also very, very old.

Five casting notices for Undercovers, J.J. Abrams’s married-spy series, are out on the internets, and here they are:

[STEVEN] Early to mid 30s. Handsome, charismatic leading man. Athletic and in great physical shape. Witty with a great sense of humor…SERIES REGULAR

[SAMANTHA] Early to mid-30s. Gorgeous, fit and in great shape, vibrant and highly intelligent. Strong, confident and quick-witted….SERIES REGULAR

[LIZZY] Early – mid 20s, adorable, well-meaning, but a handful. A bit scattered…SERIES REGULAR

[CARLTON SHAW] Late 40s – early 60s. A STRONG presence. Once rugged, now a bit cynical. Dry sense of humor. Highly perceptive…SERIES REGULAR

[BILL HOYT] 24, eager, fresh-faced, and always trying to please. A team player, but can be sycophantic…SERIES REGULAR

There’s really not much to go on here; one wonders if these are the only five regular cast members, or if there’s a larger ensemble with characters they’ve already cast.  Obviously, Steven and Samantha (is it wrong that I kind of hope those aren’t their real names?) are the lead characters and these descriptions sound exactly how you’d expect them to sound.  Nothing shocking there.

What really does intrigue me are the Lizzy and Bill characters, who definitely look like they might have some second-string ship potential (see: Hodgins/Angela on Bones, Monica/Chandler on Friends, Dwight/Angela on The Office…).  And Carlton Shaw (I really hope that is his real name) sounds pretty Agency-Boss-like to me.

Anything jumping out at you?

yes, but will they be as awesome as these guys? // abc promotional photo

So the most anticipated series of next fall (at least by me) is undoubtedly Undercovers, the pilot being produced and (likely) directed by JJ Abrams.  He told TV Guide Magazine yesterday:

We’re just casting now and it’s obviously really hard. We’re hoping to do a show that is a lighter and sort of more wish-fulfillment show. That’s not to say it’s fantasy or anything, but it’s got an energy that feels, again, like something that I would want to watch – but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that anyone else will. But it’s something that for me feels like a fun look at a genre, the spy genre, that I’ve worked in before but in a way that while familiar in some ways feels very, very different.

Oh, Jabrams and your cryptic words.  How I’ve missed you so.  I have no idea what a “more wish-fulfillment show” means.  But I promise you I want to watch it.  That’s really all there is to say or analyze about what he’s saying, other than PLEASE CAST IT NOW PLEASE.

But anyway. I’ve been thinking about who could potentially be cast who we do already know.  In that respect, the female half of the couple is easier.  My suggestions for both roles are after the jump.

My first choice would be, well, Keri Russell.  Since Felicity, she’s discovered not only millennium-era hair product, but also roles with a lot of comedic heart.  (Waitress, in which she stars as a pregnant southern gal trying to bake her way out of a bad marriage, is easily in my top-five.)  She also made a very memorable appearance in Jabrams’s Mission: Impossible 3, and even though she (spoiler alert!) dies in the first twenty minutes of the movie, she kicks some major ass before that happens.  Some folks on Twitter told me they don’t think she has enough of an edge for this part, but I disagree.  She could totally make “I’m trying to be a good wife, but I can also beat the living crap out of a terrorist” happen.

There’s also Alicia Silverstone, and, for the life of me, I can’t understand why she hasn’t had a more illustrious career.  After a couple of not-promising-enough sitcoms, including the almost-good Miss Match and the not-at-all-good The Singles Table, she would really benefit from getting attached to a project like this–one she doesn’t have to carry all by herself, but that would benefit from her unique blend of endearing, genuinely funny, and fierce when necessary. (Unless she wants to go and be the mother on How I Met Your Mother. That’d be okay with me, too.)

Then there’s my girl Mae’s girl Jennifer Morrison, from House. Rumored to be unemployed (but then again, maybe not, who knows), Jennifer has the Jabrams connection from that little movie called Star Trek.  (She gave birth to the future Captain Kirk in the first twenty minutes of the movie.)  It’s too bad that everything about House is, in my opinion, completely unwatchable–they’re all just so hateful!–because most of them are good actors.  And Jennifer Morrison is one of them.  I don’t understand why she’d even want to stay on House, because she’s so underused and what they do give her is whoa contrived and unnecessarily ridden with angst.  So let Jabrams steal you if he comes knocking. You might even get to be on the cover of EW.  (A cursory examination of covers shows me that Hugh Laurie, but never the entire cast, has appeared on the EW cover. And, yeah, I’m using that as THE measure of your importance in the pop culture zeitgeist. Because it is.)

Okay, so moving on to the boys …

Another interesting pull from the past would be Scott Speedman, who played Ben on Felicity.  (Don’t worry, I’m not gunning for a Felicity/Ben reunion–that would just be stupid and way too gimmicky and unnecessary.)  Speedman could easily follow the Matthew Fox/Joshua Jackson path of being saved from post-teen-drama irrelevance by Jabrams.  (The last thing I remember him doing was that movie The Strangers, which I totally would have seen if I thought I’d be able to without immediately finding a roommate bigger than Freckles.) Plus, look at him! I would so want to be married to and also go on secret missions with him.

He’s probably too famous, but James Marsden would be a good fit.  (Of course, all of this is based on the three sentences of background we have on this series. I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out who should take these parts, but it really doesn’t matter, because no one has seen a script or anything, so it’s not like we know what these characters are actually like.  I think I’m basing these suggestions solely on who I would like to see torture people and then make out together.) And, just saying … The Box has been doing really bad at the box office, and EW gave it a C minus. (Yep, still using EW as the guide to entertainment. Sue me.) You never know.  Also, I don’t know how much of a pull Jabrams is for actors. I’d have to imagine they want to work with him.  And if this show works, they’ll he heralded as the actors who saved NBC.  Anyway, just throwing that out there.

And, finally, there’s John Stamos. Thanks to ER and Twitter, he’s moved up from the C-list to the decidedly B-list.  Currently starring in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway, he might be looking for a new project.  He’s certainly charming and handsome (not sure I could take him seriously as an agent, though), and thanks to his role as an avid Tweeter, we’d be sure to get lots of backstage insight and Twitpics.  That said, did you know he’s 46 years old?? Though he definitely doesn’t look 46, he still might be a little old for the part. 46, after all, is 124 in TV years.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I hope whoever gets these parts warrant flailing, no matter who they are. Also, notice that I’ve created an official “Undercovers” tag–very exciting!

no, seriously, who's the hottest person in this picture?

This week, we heard the news that J.J. Abrams, the man behind perennially awesome Alias, Lost, and Fringe, has a new pilot in development, based on the concept of a married couple who spies together.

Described as lighter fare than his most famous projects offer, this series sounds a little like a brighter version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Couple of thoughts–

Jabrams’s most enduring series have been those with heavy plots and a side of romance. People forget that he was also behind the short-lived Six Degrees and What About Brian, both of which were practically intolerable. This series is being billed as an “action-adventure-romance.” And with the main characters already coupled up, I’m skeptical about the potential one-true-pairing-ness of the whole thing.

That said, with the right leads with the right kind of chemistry and really strong writing, this sounds like an interesting concept. And of course I’ll give anything from Bad Robot the benefit of the doubt.

A bidding war ensued amongst the major networks; NBC came out as the victor.  Let’s take a moment to discuss this beleaguered network.  In 2006, Conan O’Brien summed up the sad fate of the peacock in his opening number as host of the Emmys.  ”Well, a few years ago, we were sitting on top, with Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends. But then those shows bailed, and the new ones failed, and it started a nasty trend. And the guy who passed on Lost? Was promoted instead of tossed–and now the peacock’s getting it from both ends.”

It’s three years and two NBC presidents later, and the network is still trying to dig itself out of the hole left by the near-simultaneous departure of Frasier, Will & Grace, and Friends.  What’s worse is that The Office is aging and Steve Carell’s contract is up at the end of next season (2011).  The network had to cancel shows to make room for the truly terrible Jay Leno Show at 10:00, which one hopes will not outlast the one season that NBC promised Jay.  Pretty soon, the network will not only have to fill a whole lot of time with new programming, but it will also have to do this without the help of strong anchor shows.

So it sounds like a good idea to me for NBC to bid big on a show from Jabrams, especially one that seems to take a lighter spin on his spy-fi body of work.  (I love it to pieces, but the world only needs one Fringe right now.)  Remember that in the 2003-2004 season, ABC was looking pretty sad: Monday Night Football was keeping the lights on, and that doesn’t exactly bring in the demographics executives clamor for.  The 2004-2005 season, however, introduced Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy to the ABC schedule.  And all it took was one strong season to turn the Alphabet Network around.

Could the same be true for NBC?  It’s way too early to tell if Bad Robot’s latest production has the power to create an NBC renaissance, but it’s definitely promising to see them investing in quality brains so early in the process.