Spies just wanna have fun: Reviewing "Cover Affairs"

"Alias's" super-spy Sydney Bristow was a lot of things -- smart, strong, capable of looking great in a ridiculous red wig. But you know what she wasn't? Happy. Girlfriend smiled, like, 4 times a season. Of course, her misery was understandable. I mean, she did find out her beloved dead mother was not only very much alive, but also an enemy spy. Talk about baggage.
Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), the rookie spy who is the central character of USA's charming new show "Covert Affairs," (debuting tonight at 10)  is like Sydney in many ways. She's tough. She digs disguises. Heck, Perabo even sounds remarkably like "Alias" star Jennifer Garner.
But, unlike Sydney, Annie is fairly cheerful. She smiles. She flirts. She does everything -- breaking into buildings, lying to local police about a mission, jumping out of a plane -- with tremendous glee. It's hard to tell at this early stage if Annie Walker is as good a character as Sydney, but one thing's for sure -- she's a heck of a lot more fun.