I Spy: A History and Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series »

One of the most popular and award-winning television series of the sixties, I Spy was the first weekly broadcast to star both a white and a black actor. In 1964, though, producer Sheldon Leonard had, with heavy risk, financed the show himself, and his idea for a racially incorporated cast had earned his show the moniker "Sheldon's Folley." Pairing established white actor Robert Culp with Bill Cosby, a black comedian with barely an acting credit to his name, certainly turned some heads at NBC, and many wondered whether affiliates in the South would ever air the show. Only two years later, Cosby accepted the Emmy for leading actor-and I Spy cemented its role in history.

This is a complete history of I Spy and the profound change it evoked in broadcasting, social ideals and racial equality. Rich with interviews and photographs, it discusses I Spy's unique approach to race, co-starring interracial actors as equals. It also describes how the show became the template for popular "buddy genre" shows and films that followed, covers the show's significance as the first series to shoot episodes around the world, and puts I Spy in context with other works within the spy genre at a time when spy books, shows and films exploded in popularity. A complete episode guide includes writers, directors, cast, crew, plot synopsis and commentary.

Acknowledgments     vii
Foreword   Robert Culp     1
Prologue     3
The History of a Genre     7
The Road to Hong Kong     29
The First Block of Episodes     48
On to Japan     73
The Second Block of Episodes     86
South of the Border     110
The Third Block of Episodes     118
Wrapping Season One     143
Basking in the Sun     151
The Fourth Block of Episodes     160
Growth, Genre, Gratitude, and Gondolas     182
The Fifth Block of Episodes     192
Exposure     224
The Sixth Block of Episodes     228
Wrapping Season Two     262
Tie-Ins     269
Morocco to Greece     278
The Seventh Block of Episodes     284
A Change in Plans     310
The Eighth Block of Episodes     315
The Grind Continues     334
The Ninth Block of Episodes     338
Wrapping Season Three     356
The Fourth Season     362
I Spy Stripped     373
The First Reunion     379
The Second Reunion     388
The Third Reunion     402
The Fourth Reunion     415
Chapter Notes     419
Bibliography     425
Index     429