by Susan L. Minnick

When I was previewing the new fall lineup on the web this summer, a few show premises got me psyched, because they reminded me of the shows that I loved as a kid. Growing up watching Scarecrow & Mrs. King and Remington Steele, the only thing that kept me from applying to the FBI or getting my diploma in private detection was the fact that writing the mystery was more appealing than running the risk of who I'd be partnered up with on a case-by-case basis. The time had come for a new wave of television spies, and at the beginning of this season I looked towards shows like Crossing Jordan, Alias, The Agency, and Thieves to give me a few good mysteries to sink my teeth into. It's a good thing I'm on a diet.

First up, NBC's Crossing Jordan. Jill Hennessy, of Law & Order fame returns to television to play Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh, a Medical Examiner who doesn't always play by the rules. She returns to Boston, the city of her youth and early career after losing several other ME Jobs around the country for blurring the line between medical examination and police work. With every character comes a set of issues reaching as far back as childhood: for Jordan, it's the unresolved murder of her mother that happened when she was ten years old. Jordan works best alone, and isn't afraid to die, according to her therapists. Tough and take-charge, "she will take on anybody because she's used to living on the edge and not censoring herself," according to actress Hennessy. For me, Jordan lived up to most of the hype with an entertaining first episode that guided the audience through the mystery, allowing them to work with Jordan to solve the crime. While I wouldn't call her a role model yet, the ballsy Dr. Cavanaugh is a cool chick and a plotline I'm willing to follow.

On the other hand, Sydney Bristow, the grad-student by day, CIA operative by night of ABC's Alias proved to be everything you don't want to imitate in television OR real life. Of course, the show is by J.J. Abrams, creator of the classic, rip-your-hair-out Felicity of WB fame, and the similarities are more than apparent. Sydney is a Felicity who knows karate, too emotionally vulnerable and twenty-something kitschy to ever be taken as a literal spy. The show is narrated by a musical soundtrack straight out of the My Feelings Are Special Library, but at least they, along with fancy montage shots every thirty seconds, help pad the fact that the script has fewer pages than a Dr. Seuss story. Personally, the only thing I'd like to adapt into my life from Sydney's is her marker-red "undercover" hair, which I could've easily taken from the German film Run, Lola, Run. It's too bad ABC didn't just screen that; they'd probably retain their viewers.

Then came The Agency, CBS's take on the inside life of the CIA . Recalling episodes of Scarecrow & Mrs. King which took place in another government agency (which was never really identified) I was looking forward to another television attempt at the American intelligence community. An ensemble drama, The Agency stars such big names as Gil Bellows, of Ally McBeal fame and Gloria Reuben, formerly of ER. Big name, big stars, has to be good, right? I thought so too until the first scene in act one- a conference room full of white men (and the token African American who had all of two lines) deciding our nation's actions against an assassination plot involving Fidel Castro. While J. Edgar Hoover would have been thrilled, I was a little less than pleased to note that Scarecrow had more women in the ranks in the 80s than the CIA does today. According to CBS, the women of the CIA either do field work or computer hacking, both interesting jobs that should be seen for more than five or ten minutes an episode. This show needs a greater female presence, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the President of Women in Communications. If television in the 80s recognized the female population of the federal government, why shouldn't it now?

Earlier today I was in the mood for some Remington Steele, so I popped in the pilot episode of ABC's Thieves that I taped on Friday night. Starring John "Uncle Jesse" Stamos and Melissa George, this show about two professional criminals was probably the most entertaining show of the week. Johnny, the classy thief who admires precision timing and perfect planning pairs up with Rita, the uptight, shoot-first, Australian sex-kitten to heist some diamonds. After being caught by the FBI, they're recruited to recover government treasures, thereby legalizing their thievery for future episodes (I'm sure Michael Eisner is thrilled). The sexual tension between the two is reminiscent of Moonlighting, and the line drawn between business and pleasure is a direct quote from many an episode of Steele. If you thought Uncle Jesse couldn't do any better than the Beach Boys, this is definitely a show to check out; as long as the romance sticks to the B-plot, on Friday night ABC will steal the show.

All in all, the spy shows of today hardly live up to those of my youth. Maybe it's because we don't have the red menace to fight anymore, or maybe it's because the glow of being ten has been replaced by the sarcasm that comes with turning 20. I plan on giving NBC's Crossing Jordan and ABC's Thieves a fighting chance, though. The days of the Lee Stetsons, Amanda Kings, Laura Holts and Remington Steeles may be dead, but that doesn't mean they're gone forever. The fashion industry repeats itself every twenty years with a tweak here and there, and with the latest experiments in pilot episodes, it looks like TV is doing much the same thing; let's just hope they tweak these shows in the right direction.