'State of Affairs' premiere gets lukewarm reception, spoilers promise better episodes ahead

 Wikipedia

Katherine Heigl's TV comeback got mixed reviews as "State of Affairs" aired its premiere episode on Monday. 

NBC's latest American spy drama stars the "Grey's Anatomy" alum as troubled CIA analyst Charleston "Charlie" Tucker who is assigned to take care of the President's Daily Briefing.  President Constance Payton (Afre Woodard) is the first black female president of the U.S. and the mother of Charlie's deceased boyfriend Aaron (Mark Tallman). 

According to reviews, the plot for the premiere episode of "State of Affairs" appeared to be a mash up of storylines from different hit TV dramas, including "Scandal," "Homeland," "The West Wing," and "24."  The reviews mentioned that weaving all the elements from these successful series can be the show's recipe for destruction. 

However, the ratings appear to be pretty decent for the show's pilot episode. The LA Times reported that the series premiere managed to get a rating of 2.2 from its target demographic, which means that an average of 8.6 million viewers chose to watch Heigl back in the small screen. 

Meanwhile, CarterMatt shared several spoilers for the upcoming episodes of the new NBC series, including the looming standoff between Charlie and a big, dangerous person from another country. The article also said that former Lost star Nestor Carbonell will also appear on the show as the new CIA director Ray Navarro. 

The spoiler of the second episode of "State of Affairs" has also been announced. It reads: 

"Charleston (Katherine Heigl) and the team are in a race against the Russians over a stranded Russian submarine holding six months of stolen U.S. secrets — their one advantage is that they have a CIA asset on board. At the same time, the texter persists, sending Charlie a damning picture, while Nick (guest star Chris L. McKenna) forces her to question if Fatah was ever really her asset. Meanwhile, President Payton (Alfre Woodard) appoints a new CIA director, the formidable Ray Navarro (guest star Nestor Carbonell)."

Will the new series get a better reception from critics and viewers in the coming episodes?

"State of Affairs" airs Mondays on NBC.

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