“Alias” Season 1 (2001-02, ABC), episodes 1-5 — A close runner-up to “Smallville” for Most Unoriginal Show is ABC’s “Alias,” which took over “La Femme Nikita’s” 8 p.m. Sunday timeslot in addition to stealing all its ideas. Because “Nikita” ended last year, one could argue that “Alias” is filling a void rather than trying to steal an audience. However, the first five episodes suggest that “Alias” merely wants to re-hash old ideas, just at a much faster pace.
The idea of a female superhero with dual commitments has been done before, and its been done with more conviction. There’s nothing to emotionally link Sydney’s (Jennifer Garner) undercover missions with the “hanging out with friends” scenes. The latter are cut-and-pasted from “Felicity,” which is fine, since J.J. Abrams created both shows. However, the idea of a good person working within an evil organization, the high tech gadgetry and the generally nonsensical plot machinations are pure “Nikita.” Maybe that’s why it’s paced so fast: they don’t want us to realize we’ve seen this all before.
— John Hansen, “Is this the season of the rip-off?,” NDSU Spectrum, Nov. 2, 2001