What did you think of Covert Affairs?

You wouldn’t know it from this blog, but I watch a lot of TV. And I take it really seriously.

I was really excited when I saw USA’s early promo spots for their new show Covert Affairs. I’m already a die-hard fan of White Collar and Burn Notice. The show had some of my favorite actors. And the premise looked really promising. AND the promos kept teasing me with shots of Oded Fehr in just about every single one.

Last night my mom and I watched the pilot and . . . it wasn’t as awesome as I had hoped. My mom flat out detested every single thing about the show, but she was in a mood. My feelings were, I think, more balanced. But I still don’t see myself becoming a regular viewer.

First of all, Oded Fehr was not in the first episode which was very sad. Aside from that the fundamental basis of the show bothers me. I’m not sure how I feel about the implications of Annie being a really good agent but essentially (at least I think?) being kept at the agency and not having to go back to The Farm because she’s bait for her rogue ex-boyfriend. Would this be happening if the show were about a newbie MALE agent with a rogue ex-girlfriend?

I also was deeply troubled by Christopher Gorham’s character and the fact that he is blind. (Gorham is not, you might remember him from his own short-lived series called Jake 2.0). My mom and I thought about this and we don’t really think a blind person could do well in the actual role since TV production presumably involves so much moving of set gear and so many visual cues. We might be wrong, but I think our reasoning is sound.

Given that, it seems very . . . gimmicky to have a blind character when (probably) it was obvious that a blind person would never be playing the role. It’s another weird implication thing but it also just  seems so strange. Why bother? What was the purpose of making this character blind? I could almost let it slide more easily in a book where there would be no actor involved. But it just . . . it didn’t work for me.

Those are my two big problems with the show and, for me, they’re big enough that despite my great hopes I have to conclude that the show just won’t work for me.

This was literally mainly for me to unpack my own thoughts on the show. If you also have thoughts, I’d welcome them in the comments.