State of Affairs

The Claire Danes/Carrie Mathison comparisons are inevitable (especially when Heigl’s character numbs her grief with casual sex with strangers), but State of Affairs feels like an honest NBC upgrade.

The show is modestly exciting, at the very least watchable, and has network-quality production values, though no discernible filmmaking personality to speak of.

While it is completely watchable, it is also, unlike Scandal, not distinctive in any way.

A total of nine executive producers, including Heigl and her mother, Nancy. That’s too many cooks for what turns out to be a half-baked hour of ridiculosity.

Far from any inspiration, this show feels not just like it was created by a committee, but a Senate subcommittee at that. And in TV terms, that’s a pretty sorry state of affairs.

Cluttered and implausible, the series premiere of NBC’s State of Affairs, hints at the show that could be engaging underneath the poor filmmaking and even more frustrating writing and performances.

This incredibly trite and preposterous series are serious about all the hackneyed twaddle lumbering and stumbling into view Monday night. Just when you think it can't get more laughably bad, it does.