ABC | Release Date: September 30, 2001
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
3
Negative:
3
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100
Los Angeles TimesHoward RosenbergMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Sunday's premiere delivers spectacular fun with great style edged in melancholy, its balance of breathless action and tenderness providing still more evidence of this fall's crop of new shows being the best in years. [29 Sept 2001, p.16]
100
Baltimore SunDavid ZurawikMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Alias is one of the most non-linear and illogical pilots I have ever seen. It's also one of the most exciting television rides I've had in years. I love its energy. The breathless, roller-coaster montage of movement, color, action and emotion never quits. [29 Sept 2001, p.1D]
100
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesCharlie McCollumMar 14, 2013
Season 1 Review: One of the best pilots from a new show this season -- a wild, stylish ride through Sydney Bristow's unraveling life. You have to suspend disbelief, but this series promises to be one nifty piece of entertainment. [28 Sept 2001, p.5E]
90
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan StormMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: One of the best new series of the season. [30 Sept 2001, p.H01]
90
Boston HeraldAmy AmatangeloMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Alias is one of those rare action dramas where all the elements - plot, characters, production design, costumes, soundtrack and performances - come together to form one perfect hour of television. [30 Sept 2001, p.56]
90
Cleveland Plain DealerStaff [Not Credited]Mar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Great fun. Leave your brain in neutral and enjoy the zany ride. When the twisting and turning are over, the briskly paced and visually intriguing Alias glides home as solid escapist fare. Don't ask questions. If logic gets in the way, this material will start unraveling like the proverbial cheap suit. Yet, while comic-bookish and derivative, Alias emerges as a winner because it shrewdly assembles bits and pieces of "La Femme Nikita" and other espionage thrillers. There's even a little "X-Files" trust-no-one paranoia thrown in for good measure. [29 Sept 2001, p.6]
90
Detroit Free PressMike DuffyMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: The stylish, fast-moving series premiere is filled with surprising twists, witty repartee and some revved-up, well-choreographed action sequences. But the real star of Alias is, well, the star: athletic Jennifer Garner, who portrays Sydney with intelligence and graceful, hard-bodied charisma. [29 Sept 2001]
90
Deseret NewsScott D. PierceMar 14, 2013
Season 1 Review: Sunday's Alias premiere plays out as a high-energy adventure wrapped in a mystery -- and it's better than a lot of theatrical films of the genre. Whether the series holds up is open to question. But the premiere is a gas. And the show could well turn out to be a good one. [28 Sept 2001, p.C08]
80
Orlando SentinelHal BoedekerMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Abrams directs stunning action scenes, and he develops a shadowy world of long-term potential. Garner manages to keep the show involving in the sillier moments, such as when Sydney dyes her hair loud red and goes off to settle scores single-handedly...Garner plays this conflicted heroine with poignancy and grit. [30 Sept 2001, p.4]
80
Kansas City StarAaron BarnhartMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Somehow it works, thanks in part to a tangled intrigue that pulls this lowly matriculator into a conspiracy of the highest order. [29 Sept 2001, p.E1]
80
Houston ChronicleAnn HodgesMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: It's a taut, action-filled opener, and Garner's charisma and agility in this demanding role give it a special glow. If America's in the mood at all for spies and terrorists, this show's the semi-Superwoman version. [29 Sept 2001, p.9]
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: Yes, it's a ridiculous notion, but it's also a lot of stylish fun. [29 Sept 2001, p.1E]
80
New York Daily NewsDavid BianculliMar 14, 2013
Season 1 Review: Alias is so captivating because the actors and the writers make you believe in the characters, the situations and the jeopardy. There's a lot of humor, too, in both the romantic relationship and the James Bond-style spy gadgetry. And there are plenty of surprising turns. [28 Sept 2001, p.149]
75
Chicago Sun-TimesPhil RosenthalMar 14, 2013
Season 1 Review: As realistic a series as you're bound to see in which a beautiful, smart, athletic and resourceful young woman moonlights for an ultrasecret wing of the Central Intelligence Agency in between her grad school studies. [28 Sept 2001, p.48]
67
Dallas Morning NewsManuel MendozaMar 15, 2013
Season 1 Review: The intermittent blare of pop songs, telegraphing how the audience should feel, also breaks the fourth wall, undermining the power of the action sequences and the few poignant scenes between Sydney and her in-the-dark boyfriend (Edward Atterton). [30 Sept 2001, p.9C]