I Spy

[trekgeezer]

First there was RTN (Retro Tv Network), then Ch. 49 became This channel (that's the name This, as is this is my movie channel) that or this didn't last long.  Now it's something called Tuff TV. Like RTN they show old TV shows and movies, plus Universal Wrestling from the 70's and stock car racing from the 70's.

I occasionally watch The Rifleman and Cisco Kid. But I most enjoy that jewel of show from the 60's  I Spy, which features Robert Culp and Bill Cosby as secret agents working for the Pentagon.  They travel the world as tennis pro Kelly Robinson and his trainer Alexander Scott.

This made Bill Cosby the first African American in a lead role in a network TV series. His race is never mentioned in any of the episodes and in fact he is brains of the duo. Culp's character is the typical spy stereotype of the 60's, he drinks smokes, and is a womanizer.  Cosby's character on the other hand is Rhodes Scholar and shares none of his partner's vices.

The episodes were typically serious, except for the banter between the two leads.  The show was actually shot in various locations around the world (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona, etc.)  We watched it regularly when I was a kid and I'm glad to have found it again.  I might even consider getting it on DVD, so I can see it with a decent picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdvSD_lezvM

[The Burgomaster]

I watched this when I was a kid, too.  Then, in the 1980s, when I was in my 20s, I got chicken pox.  One night when I was home waiting for the pox to clear up I had insomnia.  I remember watching reruns of I SPY and HAWAII FIVE-0 on late-night network TV.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Has anybody seen the second season episode with Boris Karloff called "Mainly on the Plains?" That was the first episode of "I Spy" I ever saw and it made me a fan of the show for life. Karloff plays a character named Don Ernesto Silvando, but he thinks he's really Don Quixote. After over forty years, I still remember how funny that episode was.

[AndyC]

I watched it in late-night reruns in the 90s. I'd been aware of the show for a while, and had to check it out. I've been a fan of Cosby's comedy since I was a kid, and I've also gained a lot of respect for him as an adult, so it was a must-see.

I liked it. I didn't see many episodes, but it was entertaining, and it seemed like a pretty intelligent show for the time. Very progressive, for sure, with the casting of Cosby in a very positive role, and the fact that it was never considered worth mentioning. But that's usually the way Cosby does things. On any show he's done, people are people, and it never becomes about race.

[peter johnson]

I used to love Bill and everything he ever did.
Once Upon a Time, I brought him his Sunday paper.  1975.  Ron Rawon Productions.
peter who?/denny eh

[the ghoul]

I watched several episodes on cable several years ago.  I didn't care for most of them.  The show seemed more like a travelogue than an actual story.  It would actually make a good show for the Travel Channel.  There were a couple of really good episodes though.  There's one that stars Barbara Steele.  I actually bought the DVD of that one.
There's another entertaining one with a good story that has a Russian spy played by the guy who played Harry Mudd from Star Trek.

If you want to see a really good spy show, check out Danger Man aka Secret Agent.  It's way better than I Spy, in my opinion.  Danger Man also has an episode with Barbara Steele.