On the heels of series high ratings on Tuesday night, USA has renewed frehsman hit Covert Affairs for a second season. No surprise, Covert Affairs has been not just USA's third-best performer (behind Royal Pains and Burn Notice) with adults 18-49, it's been the third best performing drama with the advertising coveted 18-49 year olds on all of cable this summer.
Via USA:
USA NETWORK GIVES ORDERS FOR OFFICIAL SEASON TWO
PICK-UP OF CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED HIT ORIGINAL
Series stars Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Sendhil Ramamurthy,
Peter Gallagher, Kari Matchett and Anne Dudek
A Universal Cable Production
LOS ANGELES, CA – August 19, 2010 – Approaching its fifth consecutive summer win, while pacing to take the third quarter, USA Network today announced that it has picked up season two of the original series Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo (“Coyote Ugly,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”), Christopher Gorham (“Ugly Betty,” “Jake 2.0”), Sendhil Ramamurthy (“Heroes,” “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife”), Peter Gallagher (“The O.C.,” “American Beauty”), Kari Matchett (“Invasion”) and Anne Dudek (“House,” “Mad Men”). Covert Affairs currently airs as the #1 cable show on Tuesdays at 10/9c and is shot on location in Toronto. The announcement was made today by Jeff Wachtel, president, original programming, USA Network, and co-head, original content, Universal Cable Productions.
Covert Affairs is the #1 new series of the year (to date) among P18-49 (2.52 million), and garnered the largest P18-49 audience of any series launch this year (to date) (2.76 million). The show hit series highs (Live+Same basis) this week with 2.34 million in P18-49, 2.4 million in P25-54 and 5.4 million total viewers. When USA aired Covert Affairs Tuesdays at 10P this summer, the network was second only to NBC in delivering P18-49, P25-54 and total viewers while outperforming ABC and CBS among P18-34.
In Covert Affairs, Annie Walker (Perabo) is a young CIA trainee who is suddenly thrust into the inner sanctum of the agency after being promoted to field operative. While it appears that she has been hand-picked for her exceptional linguistic skills, it may be something from her past that her CIA bosses are really after. Gorham plays Auggie Anderson, a CIA military intelligence agent, blinded while on assignment and Annie's guide in this world of bureaucracy, excitement and intrigue; Gallagher plays Arthur, the formidable Director of Clandestine Services for the CIA; Dudek plays a married mother of two and is and Annie’s older sister; Matchett plays Joan, head of the CIA’s Domestic Protection Division who happens to be married to Arthur; and Ramamurthy plays Jai Wilcox, an agent with a rich family history within the walls of the CIA.
From Universal Cable Productions, Covert Affairs is executive produced by Doug Liman (the “Bourne” trilogy, “Heist”) and Dave Bartis (“The O.C.”) through Dutch Oven and written and co-executive produced by Matt Corman (“Deck the Halls”) and Chris Ord (“Deck the Halls”). James Parriott serves as executive producer with Jonathan Glassner as co-executive producer.
USA Network is the #1 network in all of basic cable and is seen in over 98.5 million U.S. homes. A division of NBC Universal, USA is the cable television leader in original series and home to the best in blockbuster theatrical films, acquired television series and entertainment events. The award-winning USA website is located at www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.
USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.
Is Covert Affairs also USA’s best performing freshman series ever? Or am I forgetting something? Was Royal Pains doing better last year?
Was Royal Pains doing better last year?
Yep.
Was Royal Pains doing better last year?
Yep.
Love the show, Piper Perabo..yummy.
USA can’t miss. They just keep making hits.
Freshman is spelled wrong.
Compare USA line up to NBC’s..
All we need is to add CHUCK to USA and we have perfection.
I very much so like this.
I’m really enjoying this silly little spy show. I really did miss good spy tv.
I enjoy Covert Affairs, but it still has some kinks to work out. I think the writing can improve some more and they should hire Peter Gallagher as a fulltime series regular. What else has he done since The OC got canned. A guest stint on Californication and Rescue Me. Also, if your going to keep Anne Dudek on the show as a series regular, give her something to do! Not just saying bye to Annie in the morning over coffee and then some short sisterly chat with 5 minutes left in the episode. She’s too good of an actress to have thankless material like that.
No surprise, but still very good to know. I’m hooked on this show…
excellent! this is my favorite new show so far this year!
Loves it!
I can’t wait to see how much better Covert Affairs is than Undercovers! Should be hilarious. … Unless J. J. manages to pull another winner out of his *ss.
I don’t think Covert Affairs is that cheap. Undercovers will have a higher budget,but I don’t think so much higher, maybe 1/3 more.
Covert Affairs is probably the biggest surprise hit of the year on all television. I never expected the show to be as big as it is.
I KNEW “Covert Affairs” could do it. I mostly tune in for the chemistry between Piper Perabo and Chris Gorham.
USA Network NEEDS to cancel “LAW & ORDER: CI” and permanently SAVE the Tuesday night timeslot.
IF USA wants a “Law & Order” running originally they need to create another version, about another unit, in another city. Like Miami (where Burn Notice is).
I hope “White Collar” gets renewed too!