I Spy, You Spy, We All Spy For... Oh, just Pretend it's Witty, Okay?

I Spy, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, is one of those series that I've wanted to watch for a while. You see, when I was growing up, I kind of had this massive love for spies. As I showed in the last post, I had an unhealthy adoration for James Bond. But it was so much more than that. I grew up watching old Get Smart reruns on TV Land. There was this series of books called the Alex Rider series starring a tweenage spy. The Mission: Impossible movie series taught me to respect Tom Cruise, despite his Scientology and what not. The Mission: Impossible TV series taught me that not all spies were cool. (ZING!)

But really, I've always kind of had this love of spies, but there really weren't all that many spies for me to read/watch being created in the 90's. I guess it was the whole, "end of the Cold War, no one cares about National Security" period of the country that I actually kind of love, but for whatever reason, spies weren't really all that popular.

Thankfully, the spy genre made a resurgence in the 00's (I feel like I should insert a James Bond joke here, but I can't think of a good one. Oh well.) People actually like this stuff now! That means I got some cool new stuff--like I loved Alias when that was around--but it also means that some of the older stuff is more easily available.

One example being I Spy! (My god I take a long time to get to a point, don't I?) Having found this on Hulu/Youtube (bastards on Hulu took it down), I've realized how kickass Bill Cosby. Yeah, it took me a while to figure out how awesome Bill Cosby is.

The basic premise of the show is that Robert Culp is this tennis star who's agreed to spy for the US government and Bill Cosby, another spy, pretends to be Culp's tennis trainer. It's a really fun show, and there tend to be a couple of really cool twists and turns, which is nice, but you can find that on other shows, as well. What really sets this show apart from others is the interactions between Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. Apparently, they quite frequently abandoned their script in favor of doing a little bit of improv, which added a good deal of color and characterization to the show. At least I think it did. I can't say I know for certain I know where they improvised and where they were following the script, but sometimes you can just tell when an actor just made something up on the spot. More than once I think I've seen Bill Cosby smirk slightly after he said a throwaway comedy line that sounds more like him than the writers of the scripts.

Going back to the basics of the show, Culp was in charge of the action-spy stuff, whereas Bill Cosby's main role was supposed to be comedy. However, having watched the first three episodes, I've got to say, Cosby's character seems a lot more competent than Culp, which is somewhat surprising, given the era. (My grandparents apparently didn't like the show because Cosby was black. Lol.)

Cosby was always the one doing his job by using his smarts, whereas Culp seemed to use large theatrics and playing the idiot to get himself out of a lot of situations. Just looking at one example, in the second episode, Culp walks into the office of some import-export business. This particular office has an important device that Cosby and Culp need to recover. So Culp, trying to "case" the place, walks in with a box of firecrackers "for his nephew." Talking to the girl at the desk, he's looking around, figuring out what's going on, when he "accidentally" sets off the firecrackers by lighting them with his cigarette. He then watches as the boss rushes to a safe, making sure his prized gadget hasn't been stolen. It's a trick that works, and it's a trick that's a lot of fun to watch, but it involves Culp acting like a stupid tourist. Y'see, Cosby never would have done that. In that very same episode, we learn that he was a linguist and we learn that he's really good at making bombs. He doesn't play the spy game stupid. He plays it smart.

Also, the spy action is surprisingly gritty, given the era. Cosby and Culp frequently get beaten up, showing cuts and scars and such, which is a lot of fun. But there's also a darker air to the whole show. It's got this slight noir tinge, with people constantly double-crossing and tricking each other. This was on at the same time as The Prisoner, so I suppose the attitude shouldn't surprise me too much. But keep in mind, I was raised on re-runs of Gilligan's Island, which was originally broadcast during the same period as I Spy (1967-ish), so the idea that not every character was happy and honest by the end of the episode came kind of as a surprise to me. It leads to some interesting ideas about what the other ship-wrecked islanders would have done to Gilligan if they weren't so darn bright and cheerful.

But back to I Spy, it really had a special quality to it. As opposed to The Prisoner, which relied on a single premise, or Get Smart, which relied on large helpings of comedy, Cosby and Culp managed to create a spy show which worked week-in-week-out without becoming too cheesy or limited.

It's more difficult to find a show like that than you'd suspect. (Here's looking at you, Mission: Impossible.)