So is this a good or bad time to start watching Alias?
I think a good time.
JJ Abrams had this to say the other night over at The Fuselage in response to that very question:
(http://www.thefuselage.com/Archive/VIPArchive.htm)
Short answer? You'll TOTALLY be able to just jump in. Trust me.
Longer answer? Okay, here's the Alias deal: the show's INSANE. To understand it DEEPLY AND TRULY requires mad thought and also cracking your brain open. But much of the complication is a result of the wild twists of its backstory. And if you're grooving on Lost, my guess is that you'll be able to pick up all necessary Alias history in a snap.
But to FEEL the backstory? You'll wanna borrow the dvds from a buddy and give 'em a watch. And you should -- we had some incredible actors/writers/directors do some CRAZY GOOD work on the first few seasons.
Alias is about a young woman who is a spy. Truly? THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW. Does it help to know that her father's a spy? Her lover? That her mother was KGB? Sure. Do you need that? No. The problem was, in the beginning, she worked for an agency that was POSING as the CIA. So who was good, who was bad, was TRULY difficult to follow if you weren't IN THE CLUB, as it were. There will always be complicated stories in a spy show. But is what's important hard to follow? NO.
Then again he would, being all creator-like and all.
Edited. Because I am crap at the quotey thing.