Back in the late 1960s, NBC introduced what would become a historical TV program: I, SPY. It featured Robert Culp as a tennis player who was actually a spy. Bill Cosby played his trainer. Together, they battled Bad Guys in exotic locales. When I first watched I, SPY, I was struck by the camaraderie and comic banter between Culp and Cosby. It was natural, not forced. Back in the Sixties, friendships between white men and black men were a novel idea on national television networks. AMAZON wants $15.49 for each set of 5 DVDs (the sets list for $19.99 each). I bought my sets at BJ’s Warehouse for $9.99 each. Another nostalgia purchase, granted, but the price was right.
George, already workingmy way through these.
RJR
I plan to start watching I, SPY next week, Bob. I have a copy of THE BOTTOM OF EVERY BOTTLE to read first.
That is a bargain.
BJ’s Warehouse (and Sam’s Club) don’t carry a lot of DVDs, Jeff. But the sets they get in sell for a song. Of course, they NEVER restock the DVDs so if you don’t buy the sets when you see them, they’re likely to be gone the next day. I’m sure the I, SPY sets in the rack will sell out this weekend.
A bargain for sure. I used to watch the show every week. )Saw one a couple of years ago, and the fight scene was ludicrous.)
We are so used to CGI and enhanced battle scenes that a fist-fight from 1960s TV looks silly, Bill. That’s why I watch these old TV shows with the remote in my hand and my finger on the Fast Forward button.
Loved that show. It seemed super cool then. Recently when I watched an old show I did notice how fake the fights looked. And the music was overly dramatic. And the acting was stagy. Perhaps you can’t go home again.
What was cool in the Sixties will look dated in the 21st Century, Patti. I crank down my expectations when I watch these vintage TV shows. You’re right: you can’t go home again. But you can visit.
I want to like I SPY better than I do…sometimes the writing is quite good, sometimes just awful and the blatant attempts to make the Cold War noble in some episodes, such as Kelly’s suggestion that DAS CAPITAL somehow makes an argument that black is white, wet is dry, blah is blah, is just pathetic. Other times, an effective touch on why the life of a spy can be a devastating one, something that CHUCK is still mining on tv today, is spoiled by hyper-macho posturing of the Mailer-self-pity variety…and the fights were orchestrated a bit better on THE PRISONER, to be sure. But the setting of most of the first season in East Asia to make the Americaness of both Scott and Kelly blatant, while allowing for entirely too much easy anti-Asian sentiment, also employed a lot of Asian-American actors, and allowed a number to be noble and tough or brave or all of those. And golly did France Nuyen look good on the show. A very mixed bag, but the good episodes are mostly pretty good. Just didn’t quite hit the heights of SECRET AGENT/THE PRISONER or THE AVENGERS…but I’m not sure any of the ’60s US spy series did…nor any of the other UK spy series (would lke to look at MAN IN A SUITCASE again, if I ever saw it back when…and GET SMART and THE WILD WILD WEST certainly had their moments, as did the more directly “competitive” MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E….).
I, SPY is what it is, Todd: a 1960s action TV program. Plenty of flaws, but still good enough to give me a nostalgia rush.
HAS anyone else noted how many more East Asian-American actors were on tv, often rather casually, in the ’60s than in the ’70s and ’80s, even with the likes of M*A*S*H and KUNG FU in the latter decades? In the westerns and in spy series, but not Just in those…
Now that you mention it, Todd…
Wonder if tv production grew more…racist? pandering? Just unwilling to hire East Asian-descended actors?
I remember I, SPY as being more uneven in Season Three, Todd. You might be right.