I Spy 

A pair of intelligence agents posing as a tennis pro and his coach go on secret missions around the world.

Stars:

Robert Culp, Bill Cosby, Kenneth Tobey

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Robert Culp	...	Kelly Robinson / ... 82 episodes, 1965-1968
Bill Cosby	...	Alexander Scott 82 episodes, 1965-1968

Storyline

A pair of American agents handle their assignments with skill, humour and some serious questions about their work. Kelly Robinson's a former Princeton law student who's cover is a Davis Cup tennis player; partner and friend, Alexander Scott's a Rhodes'scholar and is Kelly's trainer, as well as being a language expert.

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Plot Keywords:

espionage | travel | spy | polyglot | buddy | 

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Taglines:

Happy-go-lucky wanderers - or undercover agents for Washington? It's Robert Culp and Bill Cosby in NBC's exciting round-the-world action series. (season 2)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Culp wrote seven episodes. According to Culp, those seven episodes were the only ones that were filmed exactly as written.

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Quotes

[Contemplating a solid gold stove]
Kelly Robinson: I can just imagine the look on their faces when we unload a million dollars worth of stove on them. 875 pounds worth.
Alexander Scott: Yeah.
Kelly Robinson: Suppose by the time it got to Internal Revenue it only weighed 800 pounds?
Alexander Scott: See what you mean. Well the lid's loose, maybe the damper door?
Kelly Robinson: 75 lbs of gold must be worth a lot of money.
Alexander Scott: Seventy-two thousand.
Kelly Robinson: Already figured it out, huh?
Alexander Scott: Yeah. $60 an ounce on the Chinese black market. I think I can get $70 an ounce. I know a guy...
Kelly Robinson: $70 an ounce! Whew...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits sequence of many early episodes, scenes from that episode are shown underneath a closeup of Robert Culp's eyes. If you look closely, Culp's facial expressions (concerned, happy, etc.) almost always match the action happening on the screen. Later in the series, a standard set of action/romance/humor scenes was used.

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Connections

Referenced in Good Eats: I Pie (2004)

User Reviews

An ABSOLUTE classic!

Not only was this show groundbreaking, but it had such quality to it that it really should be as well-known as another series that aired on the same network in those years called "Star Trek." I became such a huge Robert Culp and Bill Cosby fan after this series originally aired, and wish it would be released on DVD or VHS complete. Now that I have them in BOTH forms, I can die happy now. And I SHOULD mention here that I am the same John Peel who worked on the TV site with the late Donna Lemaster, and my e-mail has now been for some time [e-mail] rather than the longer jwpeel@imw/tiac.net that still appears at that site, in case anyone would like me to give them any info on the show. This fabulous show inspired me to become a writer as well as feed my love for acting, but unlike other series of its type like Mission Impossible, it did not merely copy familiar ground in the spy genre like so many James Bond-type clones, but reinvented the form with great straight drama laced with comic highlights. It is just a shame that we don't see more of the dramatic side of Cosby. He was quite good in those shows, and won three Grammys to prove it, and he owed it all (and said so in his acceptance speeches) to his buddy and costar Robert Culp. Just the locations alone make it a memorable show, but the quality of writing makes it all the more memorable. If you have never experienced this show before, you must.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 September 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Danny Doyle

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company Credits

Production Co:

Three F Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

51 min (82 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3