Almost five years after leaving Grey’s Anatomy to focus on her movie career, Katherine Heigl returns to TV with State of Affairs, a poor man’s version of Homeland starring Heigl in the Claire Danes role. Heigl is no Claire Danes, though, and her self-destructive CIA analyst Charleston Tucker is a pale imitation of Danes’ Carrie Mathison.

Like Carrie, Charleston struggles with mental instability as she carries out her high-pressure duties, which include preparing the daily intelligence briefing for the president (Alfre Woodard, suitably presidential). Heigl isn’t believable for a moment as the steely intelligence operative, whether orchestrating complex covert actions or delivering saucy lines like “Good doesn’t have to come—I do” about her personal life. The requisite shadowy conspiracy introduced at the end of the first episode is both generic and convoluted, and Heigl seems ill-equipped to portray the moral complexities it calls for, neither of which is a good sign for the show’s future.

State of Affairs Mondays, 10 p.m., NBC.