The Safe House - Expositions

"I think it's a difficult show. It's not an easy show for people to follow," says Garber, who plays double agent Jack Bristow, the brooding father of lead character Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) on ABC's spy drama.

He's also not sure the show's Nielsen numbers -- it's averaging about 9.3 million viewers a week -- are fully representative of its audience. Based on his own experience, anyway, he thinks there might be some uncounted fans out there.

"Everywhere I go, someone walks up to me and says 'I never miss your show,' every town I'm in," he says. "That, to me, is indicative of something."

Whatever the reasons for "Alias' " viewership not meeting its buzz level, Garber thinks that may change following the show's post-Super Bowl episode Sunday, Jan. 26. The game typically delivers a big audience to whatever airs immediately after it, and Garber says the episode will be accessible to people who haven't followed every episode.

"Because there are some big changes coming up in the next few weeks, the Super Bowl episode is like starting over. It's almost like a pilot episode," he says.

In the episode, Jack and Sydney are taken aback when nefarious spy organization SD-6 brings in a new director (guest star Rutger Hauer) to replace Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), who's gone AWOL to be with his presumed-dead-but-really-alive wife (Amy Irving).

(ABC originally scheduled an episode featuring Ethan Hawke as a guest star but decided to hold that hour for the February sweeps period.)

Garber also says that future episodes will be somewhat more self- contained, as opposed to the cliffhanger-a-week form of the show's first season.

"It was a very conscious choice on the producers' part, and I think it will possibly help" the show's ratings, Garber says. "You can start at the beginning and get to the end without feeling like you've missed anything."

The post-Super Bowl "Alias" will go on the air at roughly 10:15 p.m. ET Sunday, Jan. 26.

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