The William S. Paley Television Festival, a yearly event sponsored by the Museum of Television & Radio at the Director’s Guild in Hollywood, features a series of screenings and panel discussions with the cast and crew of TV’s hottest shows past and present. This year, the festival included discussions with the writers, producers and performers from current hits such as Scrubs, Alias, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Six Feet Under and classics including St. Elsewhere.
They may be used to doing the interrogating themselves, but the actors who play undercover agents on the hit ABC series Alias found their appearance at the 19th Annual W.S. Paley TV Festival to be a reversal of roles as they spent the evening being questioned by fans.
If you’ve never seen Alias, think the USA Network’s show La Femme Nikita meets the motion picture Point of No Return meets–of all things–Felicity. (There’s a reason for that: Alias‘s creator, J.J. Abrams, also created Felicity, on which Alias star Jennifer Garner had a guest role.) In her new series, Garner plays the kung-fu fighting Agent Sydney A. Bristow, a college grad-slash-double agent for the CIA.
As the 12 cast and crewmembers filed in, the applause remained consistent–that is, until the principal stars of the show made their entrances. Whistles blew for hunky Michael Vartan (CIA Agent Michael Vaughn), but the clapping thundered for Garner, who took her place onstage with the comical and goofy Abrams in tow.
The audience was treated to a sneak preview of an as-yet-unaired episode, which was met with much positive reaction, before the cast and crew began fielding questions.
“I thought if Felicity were to be recruited to the CIA, that would be cool,” said Abrams in jest when asked how he created the idea for Alias. Once he got the green light to create the show, he continued, “My first choice was Jennifer Garner.”
Abrams–who was recently tapped to write the screenplay for a new Superman film and hinted that an Alias feature film may happen down the line–went on to dominate the conversation. He hardly let a word get in edgewise–perhaps a good thing, when the questioning turned to co-executive producer Ken Olin (remember him on Thirtysomething?), who had directed the episode just shown.
“I have no more shots left in my brain,” he said, fumbling over his words. It was an apparent sign that he did not come prepared for the night of a thousand questions, which didn’t please this audience hungry for any sort of Alias minutiae. Maybe he was just distracted by the mysterious muffled heartbeat sound the microphones were picking up. “It’s not my microphone,” each panelist insisted in turn.
Ears did perk up, though, when it was Garner’s turn to speak. “The thing that drew me to the show was this one,” she said, pointing to Abrams on her left. “I was thrilled that this chick would fight because I loved Charlie’s Angels,” she added exuberantly, prompting cheers from the audience.
As with the Charlie’s Angels stars years ago, fame seems to have fallen in Garner’s lap, and one audience member asked her how she deals with it. “I don’t think that fame happens overnight, but perception does,” she responded. “I’m just going to work every day. But I’ve been able to avoid [fame] just hitting me…if it’s out there.”
Garner also described her audition for the show. “I walked out of the room and saw Michael Vartan in the office and said, ‘Wow!'” she said, chuckling and wiping her forehead as if overheated. Even Victor Garber, who plays her CIA agent father onscreen, chimed in: “We all did!” The audience, clearly in line with that sentiment, roared as Vartan blushed and said nothing.
Perhaps the best part of the evening was the revelation that everyone on the stage seemed to appreciate the show’s escapist appeal, and each described working together as “being a part of a family.”
Alias was honored by The Museum of Television and Radio during the festival for its “excellence and diversity in television.”
