If so, you'll find yourself watching another kind of contact sport. Here, the uniforms are skintight vinyl dresses and wild wigs worn by Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner).

Sometimes it's hard to follow this game's rules because the players keep breaking them in mind-blowing, double-crossing ways. For the uninitiated, the show is called "Alias," which was one of last season's most critically acclaimed series but is still trying to climb the Nielsen ladder.

"I think it is our last shot to get the ratings up," co-star Victor Garber says of the post-game episode. "My sense is that ABC is happy with the way it's going. The demographic is great. We don't have a huge audience, we have a respectable audience. But everyone thinks it should have a bigger one because it's a really good show."

A veteran of Broadway comedies ("Lend Me a Tenor") and musicals ("Damn Yankees"), Garber appears next month on ABC in "The Music Man," made by the people who also made the TV musicals "Annie" and "Cinderella," which he starred in. Next he'll play Tevye in their small-screen version of "Fiddler on the Roof," shooting this summer.

It's a far cry from his role in "Alias" as Sydney's sober double- agent dad, Jack. "I've always done things I never expected to do, and I'm always sort of shocked and surprised to find where I am," says Garber, 53.

Even in musicals, he's shown a wide range _ playing Jesus in the film of "Godspell" and the devil in "Yankees."

He says, " "Alias' has been one of the most satisfying and fulfilling experiences I've had. It's a fantastic role, so complicated. It's not easy, but it's really challenging."

Though at first glance it might not seem to fit snugly on his resume, Garber says "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams already was interested in him when the role was being cast.

"I don't know where he knew me from or what he'd seen me in," Garber says. "There were many people up for the role, but once I read the script, I thought, 'I want this.' And I rarely want something. I went after it."

Jack Bristow gets to spend much time in a conservative suit, on the sidelines, whereas his screen daughter goes around the globe trying out kung-fu moves and trying on a million dresses with low cleavage and really high hems.

"It's a grueling schedule, harder for Jennifer than anybody," Garber says. "It's been relatively easy for me because my schedule is varied and I have a lovely house" in West Hollywood. "Jennifer is amazing . . . I just sort of stand in awe of her."

But Jack sometimes gets pulled into the action: "I was being tortured by Rutger Hauer (guest-starring as the new director of SD-6, replacing the missing Sloan) for nine hours the other day. That was pretty amazing. And I get to punch people out, which I've never done in my life."

Garber adds, "Jennifer and I laugh more than I can even tell you. It's shocking. You've got to laugh, because it's so intense and we find ourselves doing things we can't believe we're doing."

Steve Murray writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

© Cox News Service 2003

Back To All About Alias 2003