| I Spy | |
|---|---|
| Format | Espionage |
| Developed by | David Friedkin & Morton Fine |
| Starring | Robert Culp Bill Cosby |
| Theme music composer | Earle Hagen |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. Robert Martin Culp (born August 16 1930) is an American actor and scriptwriter perhaps best known for his work in Television. William Henry Cosby Jr (born July 12 1937 is an American Comedian, Actor, Author, Television producer and Activist. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 82 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Sheldon Leonard |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 15, 1965 – April 15, 1968 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
I Spy is an American television secret agent adventure series. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and teamed Robert Culp as international tennis player Kelly Robinson, and Bill Cosby as his trainer Alexander Scott. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Robert Martin Culp (born August 16 1930) is an American actor and scriptwriter perhaps best known for his work in Television. Tennis is a sport played between two players ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles) William Henry Cosby Jr (born July 12 1937 is an American Comedian, Actor, Author, Television producer and Activist. In reality, they were both top agents for the Pentagon and, while ostensibly traveling as "tennis bums" (a talented amateur who plays tennis with rich people in return for food and lodging), they were usually busy chasing villains, spies, and beautiful women. The Pentagon is the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia.
The creative force behind the show were writers David Friedkin, Morton Fine, and cinematographer Fouad Said. Together they formed Three F Productions under the aegis of Desilu Studios where the show was produced. Desilu Productions was a Los Angeles California based company jointly owned by American actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Friedkin and Fine were co-producers and head writers. Together they wrote the scripts for 16 episodes, one of which Friedkin directed. Friedkin also dabbled in acting and appeared in two episodes in the first season. Actor-producer Sheldon Leonard, best known for playing gangster roles in the 1940s, was the executive producer. Sheldon Leonard ( February 22 1907 – January 10, 1997) was a pioneering American Film and Television producer He also acted in several cameo roles for the series, directed one episode, and served as occasional second unit director.
Contents |
Background
I Spy broke new ground in that it was the first American television drama to feature an African-American actor (Cosby) in a lead role. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Originally an older actor was slated to play a fatherly mentor to Culp's "Kelly Robinson. " But after seeing Cosby performing stand-up comedy on a talk-show, Sheldon Leonard decided to take a chance on hiring him to play opposite Culp. The concept was changed from a mentor-protege relationship to same-age partners who were equals. It was also notable that Cosby's race was never an issue in any of the stories. [1] Nor was his character in any way subservient to Culp's, with the exception that Culp's "Kelly Robinson" was a more experienced agent. As a strait-laced Rhodes scholar fluent in many languages, Cosby's "Scotty" was really the brains of the team. His partner (Culp) was the athlete and playboy who lived by his wits. Another way in which I Spy was a trailblazer was in its use of exotic international locations in an attempt to emulate the James Bond film series. James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story This was unique for a television show, especially since the series actually filmed its lead actors at locations ranging from Spain to Japan, rather than relying on photography and stock footage. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Stock footage, and similarly archive footage, library pictures and file footage are Film or Video (Compare with the recent series, Alias, which also utilized worldwide settings but rarely filmed outside the Los Angeles region. Alias is an American " Spy-fi " television series created by J Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West )
The success of the show is attributed to the chemistry between Culp and Cosby. Fans tuned in more for their hip banter than for the espionage stories, making I Spy a leader in the buddy genre. The show also coined unique phrases that, briefly, became catch phrases, such as "wonderfulness"; Wonderfulness was used as the title of one of Cosby's albums of stand up comedy released concurrently with the series. A catch phrase (or catchphrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where the performer speaks directly to the audience with the absence of the theatrical " Fourth wall " Many details of Cosby's life were also written into his character. There are frequent references to Scott's childhood in Philadelphia, attending Temple University, and one episode has him returning home to re-visit his old neighborhood.
I Spy was a main fixture in the wildly popular secret-agent genre—a trend that followed hot on the heels of the hugely successful James Bond films. After the blockbuster earnings of Goldfinger in 1964 and Thunderball (which confirmed the spy craze was more than a passing fad) in 1965, the "gold rush" was on at every studio to produce their own brand of secret agent TV shows, films, and spin-off merchandise. Goldfinger (1964 is the third James Bond film, as well as the third to star Sean Connery as MI6 agent James Bond. Thunderball (1965 is the fourth Spy film of the British James Bond series, and the fourth to star Sean Connery as the What set I Spy apart from its fellow programs such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, and The Wild Wild West was its emphasis on realism. The Man from UNCLE is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January The Avengers was a British Television series featuring Secret agents in 1960s Britain. The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons (104 episodes from September 17, 1965 to No fanciful 007-style gadgets, outlandish villains or campy, tongue-in-cheek humor here! Although Culp and Cosby frequently exchanged breezy, lighthearted dialog, the stories invariably focused on the gritty, ugly side of the espionage business.
Occasionally the series produced charming comedic episodes such as "Chrysanthemum," inspired by The Pink Panther, and "Mainly on the Plains" with Boris Karloff as an eccentric scientist who thinks he's Don Quixote. The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of Boris Karloff ( 23 November, &ndash 2 February,) was an English actor who emigrated to Canada in the 1910s es '''''Don Quixote''''' (, see spelling and pronunciation below fully titled es '''''El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha''''' ("The Ingenious Hidalgo Don However, most episodes dealt with more serious subjects (e. g. , heroin addiction in "The Loser") and didn't shy away from ending on a sombre note. This is perhaps the only television drama in the Sixties to set an episode in the then-taboo region of Vietnam ("The Tiger," written by Robert Culp). While filming this episode in 1966, a romance ensued between Culp and Vietnamese guest star France Nuyen. France Nuyen (born 31 July 1939) is a French actress. Biography Nguyen was born in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône The two were married the following year, and Nuyen went on to appear in several more episodes. Another unique feature of the series was a running gag involving a locked-room scenario. Time and again the two spies would be captured and left in a locked room, cellar, or warehouse. After much humorous banter they would improvise an ingenious escape using whatever materials were at hand. In one episode they create an explosive out of chemical fertilizer and dry ice.
The series was additionally notable in that co-star Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes (one of which he also directed), including the show's first broadcast episode, "So Long, Patrick Henry. " In the Sixties it was exceedingly rare for an actor in a dramatic series to write scripts, much less direct, for his/her own show. In the four-episode Robert Culp Collection DVD, Culp reveals in the audio commentary that his seven episodes were the only ones filmed exactly as written. He wrote them to establish a specific tone and level of quality for the other writers to follow. Nevertheless, Culp and Cosby were dissatisfied with the scripts they received and rewrote most of their dialog and improvised a great deal during filming.
According to commentary recorded by Robert Culp for the 2002 DVD release of the series, Culp -- a professional scriptwriter as well as an actor who had written acclaimed episodes of The Rifleman among other series -- also reveals that prior to joining I Spy he wrote a pilot script for a proposed series in which he'd play an American James Bond-like character. Robert Martin Culp (born August 16 1930) is an American actor and scriptwriter perhaps best known for his work in Television. The Rifleman was a Western Television program that ran from 1958–1963 on ABC, a production of Four Star A television pilot is a test episode of an intended Television series. He took the script to his friend Carl Reiner, who recommended he meet with Sheldon Leonard, who was in the midst of creating I Spy. Carl Reiner (born March 20, 1922) is an American Actor, Film director, producer, Writer and Comedian Culp also says that dissatisfaction over the script for the pilot episode led him to write several I Spy teleplays prior to the official start of production, without Leonard's knowledge or commission. [2]
After the series ended its run in 1968, Culp asked Cosby to co-star with him in the film Hickey & Boggs (1972), a downbeat and violent detective story written by Walter Hill. Hickey & Boggs is a 1972 Film noir written by Walter Hill and directed by Robert Culp. Despite the fact that Culp was also the director, the film failed to show any of the warmth and camaraderie characteristic of I Spy. In 1994, Cosby and Culp reunited once more for the nostalgic television movie I Spy Returns, in which the aging spies have to leap into action once again to rescue their children, who are now spies for the same agency. The term nostalgia describes a longing for the past often in idealized form I Spy is an American television Secret agent adventure series
Robert Culp also reprised the role of Kelly Robinson during a dream sequence in a 1999 episode of Bill Cosby's series, Cosby, entitled "My Spy. Cosby is an Emmy - and PCA -winning Situation comedy Television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, " Prior to this, Culp made a guest appearance on The Cosby Show on April 9, 1987 in an episode titled "Bald and Beautiful" in which he plays an old friend of Dr. The Cosby Show is an American television Situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, first airing on September 20, 1984 Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans) Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Huxtable's named "Scott Kelly. "
The duo also reunited once more for an appearance at a TV special marking the 75th anniversary of the NBC television network in 2002. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Cosby was actually on stage with his Cosby Show co-stars at the time in reference to that sitcom. The Cosby Show is an American television Situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, first airing on September 20, 1984 However, he called on Culp (who was in the audience) to join him as well and both men received a round of applause and cheers when they donned their sunglasses and tossed off a few wisecracks in a nod to their secret agent characters.
A movie remake I Spy followed in 2002 with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. I Spy is a 2002 American spy Comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3 1961 is an Academy Award -nominated Golden Globe - Screen Actors Guild Award -winning American Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actor and Writer. Like most remakes, it diverged from its source material. This included reversing the character names so that Alexander Scott (Wilson) was now the experienced agent and Kelly Robinson (Murphy) the amateur, possibly in reference to Murphy's popular Mr. Robinson character on Saturday Night Live. Saturday Night Live ( SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American Sketch comedy / Variety show based in New York City The film was a commercial and critical flop.
The original television series and the 1994 reunion movie are both available on DVD. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is Episodes 1-25 of the first season of the television series are also available on Joost and Hulu, from the DMGI Classics channel. Joost ( like "juiced" is a system for distributing recorded TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer TV technology, created by Niklas Hulu is a website that offers free ad-supported Streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, FOX, and many other networks and studios
Merchandising
Popular culture
A sure sign of a film or TV show's popularity is a Mad magazine parody. Mad is a monthly American Humor Magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952 In the Mad version published in 1967, the show was called "Why Spy?" featuring characters called "Killy" and "Scoot". It received predictably mixed reviews: [1]
In 1968 the series was also parodied in an episode ("Die Spy") of the spy-spoof television series Get Smart, in which agent Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) pretends to be an international table-tennis champion. Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirized the secret agent genre Don Adams (born Donald James Yarmy; April 13 1923 &ndash September 25 2005 was an American Actor, Comedian, Game show The episode successfully duplicates the theme music and humorous banter between Robinson and Scott (with actor/comedian Stu Gilliam imitating Cosby). Robert Culp makes an uncredited cameo appearance as an inebriated Turkish waiter.
Original novels and comic books
A number of original novels based upon the series were published, most written in the mid-to-late 1960s by Walter Wager under the pseudonymous by-line John Tiger. Walter Herman Wager ( September 4, 1924 &mdash July 11, 2004) was an American Novelist. Walter Herman Wager ( September 4, 1924 &mdash July 11, 2004) was an American Novelist. Wager, under his own name, authored numerous thrillers, three of which were adapted into films: Telefon, Viper Three (Twilight's Last Gleaming) and 58 Minutes (Die Hard 2). The I Spy novels were published by Popular Library:
- I Spy (1965, no book series number on cover)
- I SPY #2: Masterstroke (1966)
- I SPY #3: Superkill (1967)
- I SPY #4: Wipeout (1967)
- I SPY #5: Countertrap (1967)
- I SPY #6: Doomdate (1967)
- I SPY #7: Death-Twist (1968)
The following tie-ins, not by Wager, were also published. Popular Library was a Paperback book company established by Ned Pines in 1942 who at the time was a major Pulp magazine publisher
- Message From Moscow (1966) by Brandon Keith. Brandon Latrel Keith (born 1986-11-21 in) is an American football Offensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League This was a hardcover novel published for young readers by Whitman. Western Publishing, also known as "Western Printing and Lithographing Co
- I Spy (2002) by Max Allan Collins - novelization of the motion picture remake
Gold Key Comics also published six issues of an I Spy comic book between 1966 and 1968. I Spy is a 2002 American spy Comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. Max Allan Collins (born March 3, 1948) is a prolific American mystery writer who has been called "mystery's Renaissance man " Gold Key Comics was an Imprint of Western Publishing created for Comic books distributed to Newsstands History Gold Key
I Spy: A History And Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series, published by McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC, in January 2007, examines I Spy's contribution to American television and society by being the first series to star a black and a white actor together, and also being the first weekly production to film around the world, developing the technology to make this possible. This "biography of a television series" was written by Marc Cushman and Linda J. LaRosa, with a foreword by Robert Culp. I SPY: A History to the Groundreaking Television Series
Internet
In 1999, the I Spy Forum and the I Spy - The Definitive Site were created by Dave Cole and Bob Mitsch, which carried forward the friendship theme of I Spy to the Internet. [3] At these sites, fans continue to discuss I Spy just about every day. [3]
Home video
Selected episodes of the series were made available on VHS in North America in the early 1990s.
Image Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1, initially in a series of single-disc volumes, which were later compiled into three box sets. Image Entertainment Inc. is a leading independent licensee producer and distributor of home entertainment programming in North America with approximately 3000 exclusive DVD The episodes were not presented in any particular order. In addition, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the 1994 reunion made-for-TV film on DVD in Region 1 on October 8, 2002. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the Home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. In April 2008, Image reissued the series, this time organized in order of original broadcast, in three season box sets. The 2008 release also includes the commentary recorded by Robert Culp for the 2002 release. Robert Martin Culp (born August 16 1930) is an American actor and scriptwriter perhaps best known for his work in Television.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| I Spy- Box Set#1 | 28 | October 8, 2002 |
| I Spy- Box Set#2 | 28 | October 8, 2002 |
| I Spy- Box Set#3 | 26 | October 8, 2002 |
| I Spy Returns | 1 | October 8, 2002 |
| I Spy Season 1 | 28 | April 29, 2008 |
| I Spy Season 2 | 28 | April 29, 2008 |
| I Spy Season 3 | 26 | April 29, 2008 |
See also
References
- ^ The November 9th, 2007 Episode of The O'Reilly Factor featured an interview with Culp. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The Avengers was a British Television series featuring Secret agents in 1960s Britain. Honey West is an American crime drama television series produced by the ABC network James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story The Man from UNCLE is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January The Saint was a long-running ITC Mystery Spy thriller, airing in Britain on ITV between 1962 and 1969 It also showed a clip of one early episode titled "Danny was a Million Laughs" in which Cosby's character was the brunt of a Shoeshine racial remark. Culp said he and Cosby went to the producers after that episode and insisted it never happen again
- ^ Source: Robert Culp's DVD commentary, currently available on the release I Spy Season 1 (Image Entertainment, 2008).
- ^ a b Britton, Wesley. (2004) Spy Television. Published by Praeger Publishers; Afterlife of I Spy'; Page 91. ISBN 0-27598-163-0
External links
- I Spy at the Internet Movie Database
- I Spy: The Series
- Museum of Broadcast Communications
- I, Spy Fanfiction Archive
- I SPY: A History to the Groundreaking Television Series, info on 2007 book
- An interview with Marc Cushman, author of the first book on the series
- An extract from the book by Marc Cushman and Linda La Rosa
- Official Bill Cosby Site
Other uses
I Spy was also the title of a short-lived thriller series starring Raymond Massey that aired in 1956. Raymond Hart Massey ( August 30 1896 &ndash July 29 1983) was a Canadian -born American actor
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