In a swanky Hong Kong hotel room, two secretagents entertain an old colleague with beer and war stories; the colleague, bythe way, delivered them a coded dispatch from headquarters. Kelly (Robert Culp)mutes his reaction when he decodes the message and finds that it orders him tokill the messenger.
“I Spy” was often like that. The popular networkshow (1965-1968) touched on moral quandaries from the twilight world ofespionage—not always with the sophistication of John le Carre, but the questionswere raised. “I Spy” was outstanding for many things, including the world-spanof settings that ranged from blue-collar America (traitors lurked everywhere)to the posh precincts of Rome. Some episodes were actually filmed on location.“I Spy: The Complete Series” is out as a mammoth DVD set.
In its prime-time day, “I Spy” was startlingmost of all for its casting and characters. Culp received top billing, but BillCosby co-starred as Scotty, Kelly’s partner, not sidekick. “I Spy”presented its white and black protagonists as equals. Cosby’s presence mightsuggest he was injected into the series as a comic foil, but that was notthe case. Humor sometimes emerged from the situations, yet Scotty was no clownfor Kelly’s amusement. Sometimes, Cosby seemed sullen, as if modulating ananger that could not be expressed.
As in James Bond, Kelly and Scotty often got thegirls after thwarting threats to the free world. But in “I Spy,” the bad guyswere defeated by a combination of brawn and brains, straight shooting andcareful analysis. Gadgets were left to 007.
