Covert Affairs

Covert Affairs is fun and clever and Ms. Perabo has panache in the role.

It's perfect summer television--just turn off the excess brain cells and let Agent Walker do the seduction, and the shooting, for you.

Covert Affairs may not have the revenge factor of "Burn Notice" or the bromantic banter of "White Collar," but it's fast-paced, fun and every bit as charming.

But it's Perabo, as an endearing overachiever who thinks on her well-shod feet, who makes Covert Affairs such an entertaining ride.

With Covert Affairs, USA has added another slick and likable drama to its summer lineup.

Covert Affairs is a zippy character study, and it puts Perabo's features to playful use in the earliest moments of the pilot, filling the screen with them in a context where they're begging to be studied.

It promised, in short, steadily absorbing plots and skilled writing, and these the series has delivered ever since.

Still, in keeping with USA's sunnier outlook, this is a far lighter show than Alias: less complicated, less morally complex, less deep and, while fun, just simply "less."

The mood is bright and whimsical--easy to take and just as easy to forget.

Pretty much every character and character trait will be old-hat to regular TV viewers but director Tim Matheson makes the pilot episode hang together pretty well.

Covert Affairs (could there be any title that sounds more like being stuck at the airport with nothing to read?) at least does us the favor of introducing storylines that transcend the usual case files.

If the show can strike a balance between chuckles and capers, Covert Affairs won't be a secret. It will be USA Network's biggest hit.

The series is fun, slick and fast, but cheesier than it needs to be.

Unfortunately, whoever developed this show couldn't trust the audience to accept Piper Perabo's character as strong enough to get out of a pickle or two without male intervention. I won't reveal how, because the first episode is otherwise very enjoyable, thanks to a solid supporting cast including "O.C." dad Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and former WB/UPN heartthrob Christopher Gorham.

USA promises "characters," and Annie Walker is all of that. She just once in a while maybe needs to go with decaf.

Perabo shows herself capable of playing Walker tough or sweet, clueless or competent. Unfortunately, in the span of a single episode, she's asked to do all of the above.

I'm punchy after an hour-and-change of lame chases, inane dialogue, ludicrous plot twists and absurdist acting techniques. But by the end of this, I pretty much had a crush on Piper Perabo and Anne Dudek (who plays her sister), so I guess it was worthwhile after all.

Right from the start, Perabo's Annie Walker is after a foreign agent, ''one of the most danger- ous men in the world.'' Yes, the dialogue spells things out like that.

For the most part, Covert Affairs is harmless fluff, with some nice action scenes. But it seems somehow more fitted for 1970--maybe 1950--than 2010.

Annie calls for some sort of inner steel, but Perabo looks less like an untested agent than an overwhelmed intern.

Like so many other new shows this summer, the uninspired Covert Affairs is assembled from spare parts and elements that have been used better elsewhere.