Alias was an American "Spy-fi" television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006, spanning five seasons. It starred Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent, who was usually seen wearing a colorful new disguise while undercover in some part of the world.

A major plotline of the series was the search for and recovery of artifacts created by Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Leonardo da Vinci-like inventor and Nostradamus-like prophet from the Renaissance period. This plot and some technologies used in the series pushed Alias into the genre of Sci-Fi. A theme through the series was the concept of Sydney not only having an alias during her varied missions, but also having to live under an alias when with her friends or family. These themes are most prevalent in the first two seasons of the show.

Sydney Bristow is a young, athletic, college graduate who was recruited her freshman year as a secret agent for SD-6, a top-secret branch of the CIA. After a few years -- after Sydney confides her lifestyle to her boyfriend, the evil head of SD-6 -- Arvin Sloan, has him killed. Sydney learns that SD-6 is part of a rogue international agency called the Alliance of 12, out to rule the world. She becomes a double agent, working with the real CIA to bring down SD-6 with the assistance of her handler, Michael Vaughn, and her estranged father Jack Bristow -- also a double agent. Along the way, Sydney fights various rival agents, rival terrorist groups, and traitors all the while keeping her cloak-and-dagger lifestyle a secret from her friends. (Season 1) Written by Matt Patay

For seven years, Sydney Bristow believed she was working for a covert branch of the CIA, named SD-6. However, when she tells her fiance of her job, Arvin Sloane, head of SD-6 and an old family friend, has him murdered. With this life-shattering event, Sydney learns not only that SD-6 is a mercenary group of terrorists, but that her father, too, works for SD-6. Sydney then works with the CIA as a double agent, trying to bring down SD-6 with her father, a second double. This is only the beginning of a path of betrayal, murder, lies, and disbelief. Sydney Bristow pushes through trials of love, learns the truth about her mother, loses a friend in an utter form of incredulity, pitfalls herself into months of torture and puzzlement, and is tormented with countless revelations to come. Written by Michelle P.