Originally titled Emma Brody, the weekly 60-minute drama series American Embassy was intended to be the "diplomatic" version of Fox's Ally McBeal, but the events of September 11, 2001 changed all that. Arija Bareikis starred as Emma Brody, a young Toledo woman who had entered diplomatic service to get over an unhappy romance. Assigned to be vice-counsel at the U.S. Embassy in London, the inexperienced Emma fell prey to the autocratic whims of her boss, Elque Polk (Jonathan Adams), who demonstrated his lack of confidence in the girl by assigning her cases that apparently no one else wanted. The heroine could take some solace in her friendships with mercurial CIA operative Doug Roach (David Cubitt) and her cross-dressing neighbor Gary Furbush (Michael Cerveris). The first episode, which aired over Fox on March 11, 2002, ended with a terrorist attack, indicating that the rest of American Embassy would be anything but a lighthearted lark.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
