Few television shows have a fan base as faithfully and dedicatedly obsessed with their every detail as ABC's "Alias." The spy drama's aficionados have put up with and embraced thousands of unconnected details about some dude named Rambaldi, doppelgangers galore, several total reinventions of the show's plot, scores of distant and rediscovered relatives and enough confusing twists to leave even the most patient of heads scratched raw.

For all of that nearly unconditional adoration, most "Alias" fans will admit that between Sydney's missing years and Evil Lauren and the arrival of The Passenger and Sloane's seemingly never-ending shuttle to-and-from prison and in-and-out of death, the show lost its way last season. Fortunately, the man who held the rudder steady for the first two seasons of "Alias" thinks he's found a way to fix the problems.

The show's creator J.J. Abrams was working on the pilot for ABC's desert island drama "Lost" when he looked at some of last season's episodes and was stunned.

"It was a physical pain to see where the show was and where I felt it needed to be and I was so hopeful that we would get picked up so we could do the corrections that so desperately needed to be made," Abrams says.

Abrams was able to take advantage of the fact that ABC ended the season mired in fourth place. On NBC or CBS, a show drawing only 8.2 million viewers per week wouldn't stand a chance, but for ABC, any kind of buzz-worthy drama was worth keeping around. The network decided, however, to postpone the new season of "Alias" until January, using its Sunday slot to launch the quirky black comedy "Desperate Housewives."

Looking forward, Abrams is relishing the opportunity to right the "Alias" ship, even though much of the show's daily operation will be handled by a team that includes writer-producer Jeff Melvoin, director-producer Ken Olin and a writing staff populated with many fresh faces including "Angel" alums Jeff Bell and Drew Goddard. The crew will have extra time to get the early scripts in order and the postproduction time will be expanded, all in the name of achieving Abrams' mission.

"I can tell you my mission statement: Go back to what works about the show," Abrams announces. "Go back to character first. Go back to Sydney and Vaughn as a relationship that you rooted for. Go back to Sydney and Jack as a conflict of parent and child. I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to give away where it's going, but go back the dynamics that made the show absolutely function. The irony is that I felt the show was at its best.. when SD-6 existed and that's sortta the biggest hint that I will give in that storyline."

With all of these internal narrative changes, Abrams reveals that there will be some cast alterations as well. David Anders, whose Sark never properly gelled as a full-time cast member last season, will return to recurring status, a move that Abrams hopes will free the writers from stretching to insert the character into story arcs. After a full season away, it has also become increasingly less likely that Lena Olin's Irina Derevko will make a return. While recasting the part has been generally considered, Abrams isn't leaning in that direction.

"In the myopic universe of 'Alias,' it would be sacrilege to recast that part," he acknowledges. "I can't imagine doing that. I would love Lena to come back. I don't think it's something she wants to do."

Also in character limbo is Greg Grunberg's Eric Weiss. Grunberg is starring in "The Catch," a bounty hunter drama that Abrams has been writing and developing for some time. In fact, Abrams was nearly ready to go forward on "The Catch" last spring when an ABC executive called him in to work with Damon Lindelof on the "Lost" script.

"I finished the script and worked on the outline with Damon and then on that Saturday they picked up both 'Lost' and 'The Catch,'" he recalls. "That was exciting and great, but the fact was that I knew I couldn't do both at the same time. One had to come first and they wanted 'Lost' for the fall. So I decided to put 'The Catch' on hold."

In its current incarnation, "The Catch" will shoot its pilot in October with Abrams directing and Grunberg, Orlando Jones, Don Rickles and Kym Whitley starring. Abrams wants the show to be ready for a midseason slot on ABC and if that were to happen, Grunberg's character would be written off of "Alias."

For now, though, Abrams is concentrating on "Lost" and his rediscovered love for "Alias."

"I feel like I found the show again," he says. "It's a weird feeling. It's almost like dating someone and breaking up because it's just not the right time and finding them again and you get married."