The downside of a rare night out for me is that the following day leaves me even more sleep-deprived than usual. Sunday was one of those rare occasions, so yesterday was one of those days where I needed several naps to try and catch up to the energy level I normally aspire to. None of them are typical overly long or satisfying. But fortunately yesterday also was an opportunity for me to test-drive a brand spanking new CBS procedural drama. I’ll all caught up and then some, thank you very much.
I don’t fault CBS one bit for using the crutch of familiar and formulaic to determine what its still substantial non-news audience should be interested in. They’re still “America’s Most Watched Network” at least by the traditional standard of what constitutes one. And when it comes to the Monday night 10 PM time slot, they’ve been serving up such comfort food TV pretty much as far as even I can remember–and that’s a pretty damn long time. Occasionally something a tad more captivating like LOU GRANT or BULL will turn up and capture my fancy and my attention–and yes, that’s one huge time gap between even those efforts. CIA is definitely not going to reverse my pattern of rejection.
The mere fact that CIA got greenlit at all was more of a reflection of sales and politics than creative gambit. The network appeared to be doing fine with their answer to the twin Dick Wolf juggernauts of LAW AND ORDER and ONE CHICAGO that have commandeered NBC’s prime time landscape for a combined total of more than 80 seasons. Those franchises have also supplied thousands of eminently rewatchable stand-alones to the numerous cable networks, diginets, streaming services and FAST channels that license them. In the case of FBI, as we noted in detail nearly a year ago, CBS’ front line success was considerable, but they didn’t fully own the downstream revenue opportunities that make it all worth it. So they killed off not one but two weaker links, leaving only the mothership intact, but since it’s Dick freaking Wolf, they apologetically threw him a bone for yet another spin-off, ultimately choosing not to publicly label CIA with the FBI brand. Perhaps they somehow thought that in doiug so potential new viewers’ expectations wouldn’t be prejudiced. Five minutes of actually watching CIA demonstrates that was a pious hope. 
It’s definitely rooted in the Wolf-verse approach to franchise extensions, as ROGER EBERT.com’s Cristina Escobar observed in her review from yesterday:
The premise is this: CIA operative Colin Glass (Tom Ellis) needs an FBI buddy to operate on U.S. soil. The powers that be–aka CIA leader Nikki Reynard (Necar Zaedgan) and FBI corner-desk haver Jubal Valentine (Jeremy Sisto)–draft Bill Goodman (Nick Gehlfuss) for the job. In case you’re wondering who’s who, CIA Colin is the bad-boy rule breaker, and FBI Bill is called a “boy scout” more than once in the pilot. Together, they stop terrorist plots. In the first episode, which includes working with a Venezuelan asset in New York, who Colin “saved” from his own country.
Sisto, a veteran of both FBI and L&O, is the most familiar face, although Gehlfuss had built up a following from his role in the Chicagos. They’re adequate, but lack even the sort of chemistry that we saw them achieve on their prior series, typically with female colleagues as protagonists for both collaboration and occasional 
tension. Zaedgan, who was supposed to provide that, provides virtually nothing to the mix. Maybe that’s because she and the shot-callers were both hail mary moves, as VARIETY’s
(G)etting “CIA” to air has not been easy. According to a Variety report from the fall, there was drama behind the scenes: Production for “CIA” was initially pushed back, and then briefly paused, after actress Michael Michele left the show (she was supposed to portray the character that Zadegan now plays). After Michele parted ways with “CIA,” longtime “Law & Order: SVU” showrunner Warren Leight stepped down as showrunner – Leight had taken over the role from David Hudgins. “FBI” showrunner Mike Weiss finally stepped in once Leight exited.
With those sorts of chefs in the kitchen, it’s small wonder why someone like Escobar has already checked out, and she pulled no punches in recounting the myriad ways as to why:
“CIA” isn’t reaching for “Homeland” or “The Americans” territory. Its ambition is more “CSI: Miami…. It’s decidedly too milquetoast for that. No, this is a series for an imagined audience who still has bunny ears, chasing a network signal. It’s not for our cut-cord reality where we have countless choices of what to watch. (T)he thing is, not every show needs to be genre-pushing, thought-provoking art. But if you’re not going to make something new, you do at least need to make something quality. And an important part of quality is understanding the audience, moment, and subject matter. “CIA” does none of that…Might the fans of “NCIS: Sydney” tune in because it’s on after “FBI”? Yes, but I’d hardly call that a success.
I’m in lockstep with her. I get why Universal and Wolf would simply want to run it back–they know what both their viewers and clients desire. But for CBS to throw out the babies with this bath water and drop this moribund work into it just seems plain lazy to me. And as I snarked last spring, my bar for an entertaining CIA agent is even lower than Escobar’s.
Until next time…