A_Different_Drummer Review of I Spy

I Spy (1965–1968)

You have to see the Hollywood remake to appreciate the original

[9/10 · 13 November 2013]

The year was 1965, two years after we lost JFK. We had colour TV but it is not in a lot of homes. Yet. We also had gentlemen of African extraction, but they were not on a lot of TV shows either. In other words, this show was not only outstanding entertainment on its own, but it was as radical behind the camera as it was in front of it. The producer, Sheldon Leonard, had a vision, a revelation, as to how this kind of series should be done; and to his credit he successfully sold it to the suits. Travel, locations, savoir faire. This kind of formula had been successfully used in England (Danger Man) but in the US, I SPY was following shows like the MAN FROM UNCLE, filmed more or less on the same sets and stages each week. Culp was great. He had a leanness and a restlessness which fit the part perfectly (played cop in an earlier series, so he was easy to cast). Not as easy to cast was Cosby, a black entertainer who had made history in Vegas and other venues with his easy comedy and addictive tales of growing up. Later, comics like Richard Pryor (to name only one) would credit Cosby as their inspiration. Even more astonishing, he had crossed over into the mainstream media, and was popular on both sides of the racial divide. You might be inclined to assume that casting him as the co-star in a spy series was a no-brainer. You'd be wrong. There was opposition, but it was overcome. As it happened, Cosby was superb, somehow blending his easy delivery from his comic act into an action figure. He was portrayed as the more educated of the two, and when they were ordering a meal in a Chinese restaurant, he was Cosby that would break spontaneously into Mandarin. It was a fun and extremely well produced series. Would it hold up well today? I believe it would, to the discerning viewer. It most certainly will hold up better than Hollywood's horrific feature remake of the some name, which I suspect will be lost to history.