Alias 

Sydney Bristow is an international spy recruited out of college, trained for espionage and self-defense.

Creator:

J.J. Abrams

Stars:

Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 31 wins & 145 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jennifer Garner	...	Sydney Bristow / ... 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Ron Rifkin	...	Arvin Sloane 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Carl Lumbly	...	Marcus Dixon 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Kevin Weisman	...	Marshall Flinkman 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Victor Garber	...	Jack Bristow 105 episodes, 2001-2006
Michael Vartan	...	Michael Vaughn 96 episodes, 2001-2006
Greg Grunberg	...	Eric Weiss 68 episodes, 2001-2006
David Anders	...	Julian Sark 56 episodes, 2002-2006
Merrin Dungey	...	Francie Calfo / ... 48 episodes, 2001-2006
Bradley Cooper	...	Will Tippin 47 episodes, 2001-2006

Storyline

Sydney Bristow is a young, athletic, college graduate who was recruited her freshman year as a Secret Agent for SD-6, a top-secret branch of the C.I.A. After a few years, after Sydney confides her lifestyle to her boyfriend, the evil head of SD-6, Arvin Sloan, has him killed. Sydney learns that SD-6 is part of a rogue international agency called the Alliance of 12, out to rule the world. She becomes a double agent, working with the real C.I.A. to bring down SD-6 with the assistance of her handler, Michael Vaughn, and her estranged father Jack Bristow, also a double agent. Along the way, Sydney fights various rival agents, rival terrorist groups, and traitors all the while keeping her cloak-and-dagger lifestyle a secret from her friends. (Season 1)

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Plot Keywords:

cia | double agent | terrorist | college | terrorist group | 

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Taglines:

Not just a secret agent. She's a concealed weapon.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Bulgarian Arabic Cantonese French German Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Thai Ukrainian Uzbek Dutch

Release Date:

30 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alias

Filming Locations:

U.S. Bank Tower - 633 W. Fifth Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Television, Bad Robot

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min (105 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Greg Grunberg's character was named Eric Weiss. Erich Weiss was the birth name of Harry Houdini. Will Tippin (Bradley Cooper) mentioned this fact when he and Weiss met in season two, episode twenty-two, "The Telling".

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Goofs

Many episodes feature a sequence in which a long-distance sniper uses a laser sight to hone in on a target, but a real sniper would never even consider using one. First of all, the laser gives away the presence of the sniper which, although used successfully in the show, completely defeats the purpose of a hidden sniper. Second, and more importantly, a laser sight is completely worthless to a sniper because there are so many factors that affect the trajectory of the bullet on long-distance shots - wind, altitude drop, and the Coriolis effect on very long shots to name a few - and have no affect whatsoever on the laser that the bullet would wind up being at least several feet, if not several yards, away from target the laser pinpoints!

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Quotes

[Jack is doing Nadia's psych evaluation and giving her hypothetical situations]
Agent Jack Bristow: While tapping the phone line of a target in New Delhi, you're spotted by the enemy. Your partner tells you to continue with the mission objective while he neutralizes the target. Do you obey him, or fight back?
Nadia Santos: Is the phone system PBX matrix?
Agent Jack Bristow: Just answer the question, please.
Nadia Santos: Why is my partner a man?
Agent Jack Bristow: The sex of your partner is irrelevant.
Nadia Santos: Oh. No, I would not obey. I'd help her fight him off, then she and I could ...

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Crazy Credits

All episodes end with the word "ALIAS" appearing on the screen, except for the final episode of the final season in which the message "Thank you for five wonderful years" appears on screen instead.

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Alternate Versions

There are two versions of the pilot episode. One which lasts for sixty-nine minutes, aired on ABC commercially uniterrupted when premiered, while another only lasts for forty five minutes and was designed for commerical interruption.

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Connections

Referenced in Geeks Who Drink: Harold Perrineau vs. Zachary Knighton (2015)

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Soundtracks

Alias Theme
(uncredited)
Written by J.J. Abrams
Performed by Michael Giacchino

User Reviews

It gets worse and worse...

I am shocked that this show is still on the air! The writing is terrible. Always ripped-off, never anything new. The acting is mediocre, no great performances. The actors don't have much to work with but I'd think they could do better. The action scenes are poorly put together like a 70's kung-fu flick, no realistic sequencing and too much motion altering! After a few episodes I got sick of the outfits for Garner. In scenes were she needed to stay hidden, she wore neon colors and reflective studded clothes! It's less believable than James Bond folks. At least Bond was funny at times, Alias is a stinker!