I love my "Alias" and it's still one of maybe three shows out there I take time out to watch anymore on television, yet after two brilliant years even ardent fans have been left a little reeling this past third season as the already convoluted stories became even more elaborate with so many betrayals and secrets revealed that it makes the likes of "X-Files", "24" and "Buffy" mythology seem "CSI" simple in comparison. As a result, much like above said "24" which also had a problematic season, viewership is down slightly forcing some changes to be made to the series.
Now, in an interview with <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/insider/" target="_blank">TV Guide</a>, ABC President Stephen McPherson revealed that next season's episodes (starting Jan '05) will once again return to Sydney juggling her dual roles as an international spy and normal twentysomething girl, conceding the complex plot heavy episodes may have turned off some of the more casual viewers of the show - "We got so deep in the Rimbaldi and Covenant [mysteries] that we lost sight of some of the stuff we fell in love with [in the beginning]. J.J. is talking about getting back to some of the joy that she used to have in her personal life early on... while still living in this crazy world".
Abrams himself, whose been working on the pilot for his upcoming ABC thriller, "Lost", said the step back from the show during the break has allowed him a whole new perspective - "Going away to do Lost allowed me to look at Alias in a way that I could not have done otherwise — from the outside, and it was like an incredibly enlightening thing. I suddenly knew in my heart what I wanted and what I didn't want — and I saw what was happening. Not that I wasn't proud of what was there, but I saw some mistakes that I made and I thought, 'Oh my God'".
The delay to January which will allow the shows to be aired weekly without interruption was something Abrams was keen on - "I was begging them to do it". McPherson adds "We're going to be launching a lot of new dramas in the fall and we wouldn't have been able to put any money [into promoting Alias]. So we felt the best thing to do was bring it on in January when we've got all [20 episodes] and a huge promotion platform with the Academy Awards".
In good news for fans, McPherson also confirmed that there's "not a chance" Season 4 could be Alias' last - "It will be an asset for years".
Thanks to 'Bristow's Other Child'
