NBC has picked up three new dramas and one new comedy:

  • State of Affairs - Katherine Heigl stars as a CIA analyst who has a closer relationship with the president (Alfre Woodard).
  • Allegiance - Scott Cohen and Hope Davis play covert Russian spies re-enlisted by the Kremlin into service to plan a terrorist operation in the United States.
  • Odyssey - Anna Friel, Peter Facinelli, and Jake Robinson star as three strangers' whose lives unexpectedly collide in the Traffic-like action-drama.
  • Marry Me - Casey Wilson and Ken Marino play a couple who, after six years, decide to wait for the perfect proposal moment before they get engaged.

Hit the jump for synopses for each series.

 

State of Affairs

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Each day the president is faced with hundreds of life and death decisions, and to prioritize the biggest international crises facing the country, one top CIA analyst - Charleston Tucker (Katherine Heigl, "Grey's Anatomy") - assembles the president's Daily Briefing (PDB). This list of the most vital security issues facing the nation brings with it moral and political judgment calls for Charleston are her trusted group of brilliant analysts at the agency. Aside from the political minefields she has to walk, Charlie has a close personal relationship with the president (Alfre Woodard, "Desperate Housewives") because she was once engaged to her son before a tragic terrorist attack took his life. Charlie survived that attack and is now determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. Navigating a complex personal life and a pressure-cooker profession is, of course, a challenge, and Charlie sometimes engages in boundary-pushing behavior to avoid facing her grief. But when the clock strikes 2 a.m., she is all about her job - protecting her nation, serving her president, and still trying to get to the bottom of her fiancé's murder that will reveal itself as a shocking mystery. [Futon Critic]

 

Allegiance

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Alex O'Connor, a young idealistic CIA analyst specializing in Russian affairs, learns a shocking secret and his close-knit, affluent family is about to be split apart when its revealed that his parents, Mark (Scott Cohen, "Necessary Roughness") and Katya (Hope Davis, "The Newsroom," "In Treatment") are covert Russian spies deactivated decades ago. But today the Kremlin has re-enlisted them into service as they plan a terrorist operation inside the U.S. border that will bring America to its knees. Years ago, Russian-born Katya was tasked by the KGB to recruit American businessman Mark O'Connor as a spy and the two fell in love. A deal was struck: As long as Katya remained an asset for Russia, and it was agreed that her services could be called on in the future, she would be allowed to marry Mark and move to America. After years in America building a happy life and without word from Moscow, they thought they had escaped. Now it seems that the new Mother Russia has one more mission - turning Alex into a spy. For these anguished parents, the choice is clear: Betray their country or risk their family. [Futon Critic]

 

Odyssey

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In this "Traffic"-like action drama, an international conspiracy explodes when three strangers' lives unexpectedly collide - a female soldier, a corporate lawyer and a political activist. After a team of American soldiers battle Jihadists in North Africa, they're shocked to find that one of the men they killed is Al Qaeda's top man. Sgt. Odelle Ballard (Anna Friel, "Pushing Daisies") - a soldier, mother, wife and the unit's only female member - discovers computer files that suggest a major U.S. corporation is funding the Jihadists. But before she can tell anyone, her team is attacked and left for dead. News is reported that the unit was wiped out, but the truth is that Odelle survived and is the only witness to her unit's assassination by U.S. Special Forces. In New York, former U.S. Attorney Peter Drucker (Peter Facinelli, "Nurse Jackie") is working on a merger deal for the same company that was funneling money to the Jihadists. Meanwhile, Harrison Wolcott, a political activist and trust fund kid, meets a hacker who claims to have unearthed a massive military-industrial conspiracy. And he's right: He's stumbled onto the cover-up that began with Odelle and will soon be out in the open and everyone's lives will be in danger. The only way they'll ever save their country, their families and themselves is by joining forces and exposing the people behind it. From director Peter Horton ("Grey's Anatomy") comes a complex journey through global politics, military secrets and three strangers who only have one thing in common... the truth. [Futon Critic]

 

Marry Me

Six years ago, Annie (Casey Wilson, "Happy Endings") and Jake (Ken Marino, "Eastbound & Down") bonded over their mutual love of nachos and they've been inseparable ever since. Now, after returning from a romantic two-week island vacation, Jake's all set to pop the question. Before he can ask, though, Annie lets loose on Jake for his inability to commit. She was expecting him to "put a ring on it" in paradise and now Jake's perfect proposal is ruined. Not wanting to spend the next 60 years talking about that mess of a proposal, Jake and Annie decide to hold off on the engagement until they can do it right. Yet if history tells us anything, it's when we really want things to go right that they all tend to go wrong. The only thing we know for sure is these two are destined to be together whether they can get it together or not. [Futon Critic]

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