Critic Reviews

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.

Compared to “Homeland,” State of Affairs is hands down the weaker show. Compared to the broadcast networks’ other new dramas, it’s strong enough — just enough — to deserve a chance to find its legs and maybe even make itself comfortable in “The Blacklist’s” old Monday night time slot.

It may be a couple of weeks before we decide whether these lead characters and their ensemble will be able to mix the soap and the political intrigue into a story that makes us care enough to keep coming back.

After this overheated effort to make Charlie interesting, or at least different, she's basically just another Carrie Mathison without the pills.

Heigl's serviceable, and the show's writing is fun enough that, as long as audiences don't expect the next great political thriller, State of Affairs could be a worthwhile way to spend the concluding hours of a Monday night.

Alfre Woodard isn’t given a lot to do as President Constance Payton in the premiere, but, unlike Heigl, she does have the gravitas for the role, and the show would be wise to use her more.

Affairs never manages to overcome this sense of hollowness in its pilot, which plants seeds for an overarching mystery--one that feels exhausting even before it has begun unfolding--but never delves deeper than Charlie’s desire to avenge Aaron’s death.

It is easy to buy [Heigl] in these more casual moments, especially given quiet, excellent support by Sheila Vand, Cliff Chamberlain and Tommy Savas as her fellow (though hierarchically inferior) co-analysts.... [But] The more amped-up the action and the more tangled the weave of its web is revealed to be, the more hilarious State of Affairs becomes.

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

State of Affairs is simply an efficient, if warmed-over, drama that features a lot of scribbling, typing, hushed conversing, hand-wringing, ominous intoning, and watching of special ops footage by Heigl and other CIA analysts.