The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the first season of "Threshold."

With several new genre shows premiering this fall, Brannon Braga, the co-creator and executive producer of "Threshold" on CBS, can easily point out one of the ways his show differs from the others, according to SciFi Wire.

"A lot of shows deal with government conspiracy, and there are the people in the shadows who you don't quite know what they're up to," Braga said, discussing NBC's "Surface" and ABC's "Invasion." "We ARE the conspiracy. We're leading the conspiracy. And they are going to do some shady things. The Threshold protocols are going to occasionally call for some gray areas to be explored."

So, what are the aliens up to in "Threshold?" "It's bioforming," Braga said. "They're sending out this bizarre technological signal that mutates our DNA, turning us into them. There are no aliens. They're turning us into them."

The show focuses on the character of Dr. Molly Caffrey, played by Carla Gugino. She wrote Operation: Threshold, a contingency plan that specifically lays out how to respond to an alien threat. Things get interesting when an alien ship is found by a cargo ship and the protocols must be put into motion, with Caffrey assembling her "red team" to investigate.

Braga felt it was time for a female lead to take the reigns of a show. "I liked the concept that she wrote this contingency plan about what if an alien intelligence came to Earth and it was hostile," he said. "This plan was purely theoretical, and one day the government calls her and says it's really happening. So that her 'What if?' scenario becomes a 'What now?' scenario. And she really has to start planning this because it's really happening."

In related news, the two-hour premiere of "Threshold" attracted a 2.9 rating among adults aged 18 to 49 on Friday, September 16. Among adults 25 to 54 years of age, the show was competitive, with a 3.8 average rating. What CBS may find most encouraging was that the numbers inched up slowly as the two hours progressed.

"Threshold" airs Friday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.