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Standoff
Series Premiere Tuesday, September 5 9/8c

There’s no crisis situation they can’t handle ... unless it involves each other.

MATT FLANNERY (Ron Livingston, “Sex and the City,” “House”) and EMILY LEHMAN (Rosemarie DeWitt, “Cinderella Man”) are the top-ranked negotiators in the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU). They’re trained to talk their way through volatile situations. They’re experts at knowing what makes other people tick. They’re also sleeping together … a secret that they agreed to keep to themselves, until Matt reveals it to the entire world during a tense hostage standoff. The public revelation causes friction between Matt, who relies on gut instinct, and Emily, an academic who analyzes every move.

Their relationship also gets them into major trouble with their boss CHERYL CARRERA (Gina Torres, “Alias,” “Firefly,” “24”), head of the Los Angeles CNU, and raises eyebrows among their CNU colleagues, including intelligence officer LIA MATHERS (Raquel Alessi, “Ghost Rider”). While Matt and Emily really should be split up for being romantically involved, they’re too valuable as a team. Together, they’re among the best in their field; Cheryl knows it, and they know it. Ultimately, they all agree that if the personal relationship ends, the pair can still work together. It’s great in theory … but it proves to be a little tougher in practice.

Week to week, Matt and Emily tackle much more than hostage crises. The CNU is called in to resolve kidnappings, high-risk suicides, bomb threats, stalking cases and gang violence. The duo also must work in concert with their rivals on the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), led by irreverent but deadly FRANK PERRY (Michael Cudlitz, “Prison Break,” “24”). When Matt and Emily’s nonviolent approach doesn’t seem to work or takes too long, Frank is ready to use full force.

Created by Craig Silverstein (“The Dead Zone”) and directed by Tim Story (“Fantastic Four,” “Barbershop”), STANDOFF combines the relationship banter of audience favorites like “Moonlighting” with the adrenaline-paced suspense of hits like “24.” The series advances a fundamental idea: that in life and in love, “Everything is a negotiation.”

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