'State of Affairs' Wins Timeslot, Meet Nick Vera

Nick (Chris L. McKenna) and Charleston (Katherine Heigl).

NBC drama State of Affairs, which stars Katherine Heigl as a CIA analyst who assembles the President's daily press briefing on urgent security issues, opened to respectable ratings on Monday, averaging a 2.2 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 8.6 million viewers overall in the 10 o'clock hour. In the demo, the show beat ABC's Castle (2.0/6 in 18-49, 9.9 million viewers overall) and CBS' NCIS: Los Angeles (1.7/5 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall). The Pilot will repeat on Saturday, November 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

In next week's episode, titled "Secrets & Lies," Charleston (Katherine Heigl) and the team are in a race against the Russians over a stranded Russian submarine holding six months of stolen U.S. secrets -- their one advantage is that they have a CIA asset on board. At the same time, the texter persists, sending Charlie a damning picture, while Nick (guest star Chris L. McKenna, The Young and the Restless) forces her to question if Fatah was ever really her asset. Meanwhile, President Payton (Alfre Woodard) appoints a new CIA director, the formidable Ray Navarro (guest star Nestor Carbonell). Adam Kaufman, Sheila Vand, Cliff Chamberlain, Tommy Savas and David Harbour also star. Courtney B. Vance, James Remar and Alon Moni Aboutboul guest star.

Meet Nick Vera in the episode highlight clip below: