"Alias" - Cancelled.

[Brikar99]

All I can say is.... finally.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20051123/113280048000.html

"Alias" is going undercover for good. The spy drama starring Jennifer Garner will end its five-season run in May, ABC announced Wednesday, promising a big finish.

"'Alias' is not going to wind down as it comes to an end, it's going to rev up, and we're going to make it the event it deserves to be," ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson said in a statement.

The series co-stars Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly and Kevin Weisman. It was created by executive producer J.J. Abrams, who is also part of ABC's popular "Lost."

Airing at 8 p.m. EST Thursday this season, "Alias" has struggled to hold its audience against the competition, especially CBS' "Survivor: Guatemala." Last week, the ABC show drew about 7 million viewers compared to about 19 million for "Survivor."

Garner and her husband, actor Ben Affleck, are expecting their first child around Christmas. Her pregnancy was written into "Alias" for her character, a globe-trotting spy.

[Reaver]

Agreed. Alias jumped the shark in season three, and it's been downhill ever since. And that's too bad, as the first two seasons were magnificent.

[dugpa]

For me it jumped the shark after they rebooted things during the superbowl in season two. But I haven't seen season four or five yet so I'll reserve my judgement completely. What's more a shame is that Alias dies while Survivor continues. I'll take Alias at it's weakest before reality crap any day.

[MooglePorn]

I haven't even gotten around to watching my Season One set yet...

[Titleist]

It's odd, almost all the fan reaction has been "thank god" or "finally", yep gotta agree with this, they refused to kill off characters, put those characters in any kind of real jeopardy, constant shadow agencies season after season, the constant flip flopping of Sloane, gimme a break.

And last week they had Jack assembling Sydney's crib, which takes Alias' only true bad ass character and makes him a fucking pansy.

Over this show, season 1 was neat, season 2 was friggin bad ass to the max, season 3 you were sitting there hoping each week it MIGHT be as cool as season 2. Then by 4 you were just hoping Mia Maestro was gonna be in it more than horse face.

I like Alias, but that show milked it's comfort zone too long.

[Brikar99]

Yeah. It just never broke out of that pattern it established in the first two seasons. Every year they would pull out the same tired tricks they'd done in previous episodes and expect the audience to think it's dramatic and fresh. There's only so many times I can sit through the "is Sloane bad or good" scenario before I start to fade out.

[mtcarmel00]

Originally Posted by MooglePorn

I haven't even gotten around to watching my Season One set yet...

Make sure you have the entire weekend clear of any other obligations.

[Derb]

All I can say is, that sucks!

Season 4 was great. Watched it in 2 days. Stupid Survivor reality tv BS getting more ratings. Go figure.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Bumping this thread to discuss the remainder of Season 5 of Alias. I watched the two new episodes as the show returns for its final 7 episodes. It'd been so long since I saw an episode that I forgot how great and fun this show is. It's just one of those shows where I enjoy every actor, even in the supporting roles. It'll be a sad day to see it go when the final episode airs.

As for last night's episodes, it was nice to finally see the baby born, as the show did feel a bit odd with a pregnant Sydney going out on missions. But it was such a great joy to see Lena Olin back as bad-ass mama Irina. I really love the chemistry between Syd, Irina, and Jack whenever they get together. It's always fun to see Victor Garber play Jack Bristow almost as bad-ass as Kiefer Sutherland does with Jack Bauer on 24.

And how about Angel alum Amy Acker becoming a regular cast member for these final few shows? To see her go from mousy Winifred Burkle on the Angel TV show to spy hottie Kelly Peyton on Alias is a revelation, and it's a shame that she wasn't able to join the cast much earlier, as she plays a quite believable cold-blooded top agent for Prophet Five.

I could go on and on about the reappearance of Vaughn, and upcoming weeks' sneaks showing previous cast members coming back to reprise their roles, but I'll wait until those episodes air. For us hardcore Alias fans, it looks like the series will go out with the same type of bang when it premiered 5 years ago. Glad to see one of my favorite shows back on the air again.

[Titleist]

I believe Amy Acker was supposed to be a regular on The Unit, but she was recast from the Pilot episode.

I saw the 2 eps last night, pretty good, my issue has really been how Alias has lost it's continuity episode to episode in favor of drawing in more audience members. Plus I always felt that Alias was too in love with its characters, and thus there was never any jeparody because you knew none of them were ever going to die.

eh, oh well.

[MooglePorn]

Originally Posted by Titleist

Plus I always felt that Alias was too in love with its characters, and thus there was never any jeparody because you knew none of them were ever going to die.

Strange, since Will and Francie, huge characters from seasons one and two, were written off without a thought. I really liked Will, too...

I've watched through season three on DVD, and I liked them ok, but the show is not amazing or anything. Like Smallville, it's fun in small doses and not good for intense thinking. Fun to have on while you eat your Cheerios, in other words.

[Titleist]

Eh Will comes back. I've yet to see many characters, main ones, actually kick the bucket without being "resurrected"

[limacharliewhiskey]

It was another fun episode of Alias this week, and it's getting good again just as the series is about to end. It was fun to see Bradley Cooper back as Will Tippin, and Gina Torres reprising her Anna Espinosa role.

All the team missions do seem to be more fun and interesting with the multiple members of the team, Phoenix, Outrigger, Sidewinder, Oracle, and Merlin, as opposed to just Phoenix going solo while being assisted by Merlin. Love the mission callsigns each member has, too.

I'm glad to see the Alias show ending on a highnote, although I'm just wondering how it'll be with Anna having the DNA switch into Sydney. Good Syd versus evil Syd. Could be bad. Could be freakishly great. Can't wait to see.

[mighty mint]

My wife and I both believe that we missed an episode somewhere inbetween where Vaugn was told he had a baby girl and this past episode where Sidney knows he is alive...what the heck? OOH that was witty and imagination inspiring script writing! Ummmm, lame, yes...am I still intrigued? Of course, I just feel that they could have brought the ship back on course with a little more fluidity and grace - one can tell that they are rushing just to tie up the loose ends before the series ends...a good number of episodes short I might add.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by mighty mint

My wife and I both believe that we missed an episode somewhere inbetween where Vaugn was told he had a baby girl and this past episode where Sidney knows he is alive...what the heck? OOH that was witty and imagination inspiring script writing! Ummmm, lame, yes...am I still intrigued? Of course, I just feel that they could have brought the ship back on course with a little more fluidity and grace - one can tell that they are rushing just to tie up the loose ends before the series ends...a good number of episodes short I might add.

It happened at the end of the 2 hours of new episodes two weeks ago. Last 30 seconds of the show. After the birth of Syd's child, there is a fade out, then the name of a remote country in Asian (I think Bhutan or Tibet, I'm not sure), little Asian kid running in a rural area surrounded by mountains, enters a hut, and then the camera pans to Vaughn's face. I missed the point myself that they knew he was alive and that they were sending the message to him.

[ganthc]

Yeah, there is a gap there. I didn't notice where Sidney ever thought that Vaughn was alive. She even told Will that he was dead. I think there have been some big characters to be written off. Like Francie, and Lauren. One thing I have wondered is whether Rimbaldi was predicting Anna as the person in the drawing due to the Helix protocol versus Sidney. The whole Helix protocol thing has been overdone. They supposedly destroyed it after ethan hawke's character and Evil Francie were cloned, but then it comes up again when Irina was cloned, and then again when Sidney is cloned.

The show is getting better (I had tuned out for most of season 5), but I still think it jumped the shark in season 4 when irina was still alive. And now that vaughn is too, i'm watching but just to see how they end it. I own all 4 seasons on dvd, but really on the first 3, and the second part of season 4 are any good. Those scenes with Arvin Clone were very creepy. Sadly, we did have some slow starts in the last two seasons. Hopefully it has an exciting ending.

[mighty mint]

Originally Posted by limacharliewhiskey

It happened at the end of the 2 hours of new episodes two weeks ago. Last 30 seconds of the show. After the birth of Syd's child, there is a fade out, then the name of a remote country in Asian (I think Bhutan or Tibet, I'm not sure), little Asian kid running in a rural area surrounded by mountains, enters a hut, and then the camera pans to Vaughn's face. I missed the point myself that they knew he was alive and that they were sending the message to him.

I saw that part - what I didn't see EVER was if Syd knew Vaughn was alive - then it was just like "oh, I know V is alive." That is cheesy and cheap!

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by mighty mint

I saw that part - what I didn't see EVER was if Syd knew Vaughn was alive - then it was just like "oh, I know V is alive." That is cheesy and cheap!

Yeah, that's what I didn't get either. I was thinking Vaughn was a double agent again, and one of his connections found out for him. I didn't think Syd and Jack were the ones sending the message either.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Another solid episode last night. Feels like the Alias of old. I was glad to see good Syd take out evil Sydpinosa now rather than have it carry through to the finale. Otherwise, it might feel too much like Season 2 with evil Francie. I think it's a great twist to now have Syd pretend to be Sydpinosa and infiltrate Prophet Five.

It's great to see Vaughn back, but it still does make me wonder: how the hell did he survive multiple gunshot wounds from a machinegun? No scars from any of that, but he has his childhood scar? Seems like a bit of an oops to me.

While I was sad to see Nadia die in the last episode, it is kind of fun to still see Mia Maestro around haunting Sloane as a ghost.

And it's a shame that Amy Acker has latched onto the show so late. She's been great as bad girl Kelly Peyton, and she looks fabulous.

[Titleist]

See the thing that pissed me off is that as far as I remember Sydney never knew about Vaughn being alive. WTF?! I mean she's in mourning for him for half the season, but then it's like, "I'll get in touch with Vaughn!"

Am I missing something here, because I thought his reveal when he found out he had a daughter meant his death was a cover up that Sydney didn't know about. Hence tonight felt like a total writer brain fart.

[ganthc]

Yes, Peyton is the hottest girl on the show.

It appears now that after the attack, syd and jack framed vaughn's death to protect him from prophet 5. the ruse of torment was necessary to convince p5 that he was dead. seems a bit of a stretch, but apparently, that's how they are writing it.

so anna has a rifle on her back, but does she shoot sydney to make sure she's dead? nope, gotta do the fire to blow up the car, as she watches sydney struggling against the seatbelt. reminds me of dr. evil saying, "activate the unnecessarily slow lowering mechanism."

i am curious as to who tom is working for. is it for prophet 5? i don't know, but he may be doing his own thing. seeing sark come back into the game is interesting.

[limacharliewhiskey]

Originally Posted by Titleist

See the thing that pissed me off is that as far as I remember Sydney never knew about Vaughn being alive. WTF?! I mean she's in mourning for him for half the season, but then it's like, "I'll get in touch with Vaughn!"

Am I missing something here, because I thought his reveal when he found out he had a daughter meant his death was a cover up that Sydney didn't know about. Hence tonight felt like a total writer brain fart.

The reveal of Vaughn was indeed very confusing to many of us. I guess the writers didn't make it as obvious as it should have been. What most of us missed is that after Isabelle was born, there was a message sent to Vaughn that Syd gave birth. The message was from Syd and Jack, but it wasn't obvious to most of us, until we heard their dialogue in the next episode.

Vaughn's reappearance hasn't felt that smooth a transition back into the storyline. My guess is that Vaughn was initially killed off for good by the writers, but when ABC announced that this would be the last season of Alias, I think the writers changed their minds to bring his character back.

I'm not sure there's enough time to get deep into the background of the Tom Grace character is and who the Cardinal was that he referred to a few episodes back. Rachel and Dixon have already had their screen time reduced, and with the finale coming, I see most screen time focusing on Syd, Jack, Sloane, and Prophet Five.

[Titleist]

Exactly, this was one of those, "uh okay, I guess I'll just roll with it moments" but yeah it was shoehorned in there, which makes me want to HULK SMASH.

[ganthc]

Yeah, I don't remember when Dixon started wearing braids. Not easy to be a spy when you stand out so much. Rachel now is just around to act insecure and maybe discover Tom's secret activities. The Cardinal is mysterious, but I think it's unrelated to prophet 5 potentially. but who knows?

[limacharliewhiskey]

Bumping to remind everyone of tonight's 2-hour season finale of Alias, to be from 9PM-11PM against 24, Everwood and Medium (my VCRs will be cranking tonight).

[Brikar99]

That was pretty alright. I liked the ultimate fates of everyone involved.

The fight between Syd and Irina wasn't the knock-down, drag-out brawl I was hoping for, though. Syd vs Evil-Francie from Season Two still stands as the best fight "Alias" had in 5 years.

[Titleist]

Wow, talk about a show going out on a whimper instead of a bang. That was better than most episodes this season, but that's not saying much.

I dare anyone to tell me that this was anywhere NEAR as good as season 1 or 2. Yikes, how this show has slipped into mediocrity.

Seasons 1 and 2 of this show still rank as my favorite TV-ON-DVD viewing experiences ever, the rest are meh inducing.