I Spy
I Spy ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The show broke ground by protraying a black and white partnership on equal ground – indeed, the fact that a black man would be showcased on equal footing with a white man caused several NBC affiliates in the South to refuse to air the show. Forty-five years after its debut, I Spy remains an important milestone in television history and is as enjoyable and entertaining to watch today as ever.
Robert Culp and Bill Cosby played spies under the cover of globe trotting playboy tennis bum Kelly Robinson (Culp) and his trainer, Alexander Scott (Cosby). The show had an excellent mix of comedy and drama and showed a spy business that despite the exotic locales and seemingly glamourous look, was constantly a gritty and merciless pursuit.
Culp wrote seven episodes for the show, directing one of them.
Season One
So Long, Patrick Henry (written by Robert Culp)
A Cup of Kindness
Carry Me Back to Old Tsing-Tao
Chrysanthemum
Dragon’s Teeth
The Loser (written by Robert Culp)
Danny Was a Million Laughs
The Time of the Knife
No Exchange on Damaged Merchandise
Tatia
Weight of the World
Three Hours on a Sunday Night
Tigers of Heaven
Affair in T’Sien Cha
The Tiger (written by Robert Culp)
The Barter
Always Say Goodbye
Court of the Lion (written and directed by Robert Culp)
Turkish Delight
Bet Me a Dollar
Return to Glory
The Conquest of Maude Murdock
A Day Called 4 Jaguar
Crusade to Limbo
My Mother, the Spy
There Was a Little Girl
It’s All Done with Mirrors
One Thousand Fine
Season Two
So Coldly Sweet
Lori
Sophia
Vendetta
A Gift from Alexander
Trial by Treehouse
Sparrowhawk
Will the Real Good Guys Please Stand Up?
Bridge of Spies
One of Our Bombs Is Missing
To Florence, with Love (1)
To Florence, with Love (2)
Lisa
Little Boy Lost
Father Abraham
Rome … Take Away Three
Tonia
Child Out of Time
The Trouble with Temple
The War Lord (written by Robert Culp)
A Room with a Rack
Mainly on the Plains
Get Thee to a Nunnery
Blackout
Magic Mirror (written by Robert Culp)
Night Train to Madrid
Casanova from Canarsie
Cops and Robbers
Season Three
Let’s Kill Karlovassi
The Beautiful Children
Laya
The Medarra Block
Philotimo
The Honorable Assassins
Now You See Her, Now You Don’t
Red Sash of Courage
The Seventh Captain
Apollo
Oedipus at Colonus
The Lotos Eater
An American Empress
Home to Judgement (written by Robert Culp)
Anyplace I Hang Myself Is Home
Tag, You’re It
A Few Miles West of Nowhere
This Guy Smith
Turnabout for Traitors
Happy Birthday… Everybody
Shana
The Name of the Game
Suitable for Framing
The Spy Business
Carmelita Is One of Us
Pinwheel
I love Robert Culp and his death was a great loss to me and the whole movie industry. I particularly loved his characters in I Spy, Trackdown, Out Limits “Demon Seed” and all the other movies he ever appeared in.
Robert Culp was probably one of a few people that had a positive impact on me and my law enforcement career. In some aspects, I even copied some of his techniques.
I Spy was one of the leading and most accurate TV series that was true to life!
I will never forget Robert Culp! God bless him and his Family.
Thanks for the comment, John, I love hearing of the positive influence he had (on many folks). Indeed, he will not be forgotten as long as us fans have something to say about it.
Greetings from Ottawa,Canada’s Capitol. I LOVED I SPY! The rapport between Culp and Cosby was sheer magic. Our whole family gathered in our TV room and everything stopped and everyone was quiet until the show was over. My dad and mom,two older sisters and my younger brother were totally captivated for the hour. I bought the Three seasons of I Spy,the minute they were available here in Canada. I have watched them many times,and love Culps,voice over commentary episodes. I have the comics and pocketbooks etc. and warmly remember being 12 and waiting for the excellent theme music to start the show. The overseas and Mexico location shoots added so much! It’s so hard,isn’t it when our heroes pass away. It really hurts. I’ll miss him. I love his work. Thank YOU for this great site! I will endeavour to find some episodes of Trackdown,if possible. – Best Wishes from Ron L.
Thanks so much for the comment, Ron and for sharing what is a wonderful memory of watching the show with your family. I Spy certainly had something for everyone. How many shows, especially now, can say that not only could Mom & Dad watch, but so could the kids – all together?
“No Return on Damaged Merchandise,” written by “dick van Dyke Show” veterans Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, has always been my favorite episode. The spy story is serious and exciting; the comic frame story, as Kelly writes up the adventure in an attempt to get the Pentagon to pay for his damaged watch, makes the characters of Kelly and Scott come to life. (“You think that’ll get you your three dollars?” “Did the Magna Carta free the peasants or not, Jack?”)
“No Return…” is a great episode. And the scene with the puppet was spoofed in the episode of “Cosby” when Cosby’s character falls asleep on his couch during an I Spy marathon and dreams he’s Scotty teamed up with Kelly again.
What great info. At home with a broken leg since last November, I am thrilled that I Spy is available on the Cozi and RTV networks. I had forgotten that I had such a crush on Bob Culp but it didn’t take long to remember. I am saddened to know that he passed away so long ago. I also regret not sending him a letter telling him how much I admired him. I actually ordered the first two seasons of that series and cannot wait till I can watch him over & over. Thank you for this site.
I got to watch them film the episodes that they did in San Francisco. Culp and Cosby were cooler than Napoleon and Ilya and I never thought of Cosby or Scotty as being black, just Scotty.
I never missed an episode and even though I have them on dvd, I still watch them on Cozi.
watch out for those snakes on the floor at all times.
‘……….Now…Here’s the plan………’