I SPY

As was very common in the television industry, and still exists today, if a show looks like it might be a hit, the urge to capitalize on the merchandising takes hold. This is especially true with I Spy and the book market because of the success of the Bond books and the Man From U.N.C.L.E. franchise. While many of the published works were novelizations or fluff pieces, the owners of the I Spy property went one better.

Walter Wager was a seasoned writer who had worked both in the radio and television business as a writer and had published his own paperback detective novels. He had considerable experience and was a great choice to go to to draft novels based on the show. He used a pen-name of John Tiger for the books he wrote for the series.

The books were, as all books based on intellectual property of another media, hamstrung by not being able to go directions that might affect or conflict with the television show and since the show was still being produced and thus directions were potentially changing there, Wager/Tiger had severe limitations as to what he could and could not do.

Nevertheless, the books are very well crafted and worth the time to read, especially if you are a fan of the TV show.

Western Publishing made a good business during the 50s-70s capitalizing on the merchandizing of television shows. One of its imprints was Whitman which brought out many hardcovered books, often illustrated, aimed at the young adult market, ages 10-15. They usually put out one or two only as that was what they perceived was the most they would find an audience for.

The sole Young Adult book about I Spy was not very good as it would seem the author likely had never viewed an episode or had any blueprint to go on. The characters are not at all like the show.

Two I Spy movies were made after the celebrated television series left the air and they could not have been more different.

The first was a made-for-tv movie which was also released in parts of the world as a big screen event. It depicted the lives of the two operatives a quarter century later. Alexander Scott (Cosby) had left the business to make his mark in academia while Kelly Robinson (Culp) had become the head of the Department for which they had both worked.

The reunion came about when their children, now fully grown, had become agents themselves and were heading out on their first mission together. Worried about their safety, the two old-timers brush off their cloaks and sharpen their daggers to make sure the kids survive what turns out to be a pretty hair-raising assignment. Scotty and Kelly may have gotten a lot older but the affection and the banter and the ease of companionship were still there in full force.

The other movie was a re-invention of the I Spy brand made for the big screen and starring two big names in the movie business. The roles were reversed in this version. Alexander Scott (Owen Wilson) is the white guy. He is a highly trained experienced agent. Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) is the black guy and is the athlete this go around, although he is a boxer instead of a tennis pro.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, it was hip to take shows from the 50s-70s and revive them for movie fodder. Almost always that meant poking fun at the original shows as if to say "I am cool. You were not."

That was the style that made up the one movie from the series. It was totally unlike the series and it could easily have been. The television series was cool and hip and just needed brushing off. Instead, the producers went for a comedy. It was not I Spy.

It was fun, though.

In 1965, television producer Sheldon Leonard combined an established star and an up-and-comer in a unique spy drama and had a hit. While the show lasted only three seasons, which in the business is better than most series but not as good as hoped, it became a cult hit and the characters became part of Americana.

He had been working on the idea of a television spy series, working with Desilu Productions and the creative team from Three F Productions, Morton Fine, David Friedkin and Fouad Said. While Leonard would be given creative credit and executive producer position, Fine and Friedkin would become co-producers and head writers. They also contributed 16 of the 82 scripts.

Leonard had been an accomplished actor for many years, often taking the role of gangster or heavy, but his true talents shown best behind the camera. He had been a producer on such giants as The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others. He wanted something to enjoy the success of other spy series on both the big and small screens and he found it in I Spy.

One reference I read said that even as Leonard was working on the premise of his show, Robert Culp approached him with his own idea. Leonard stuck with his idea but liked the idea of Culp being one of the agents. Robert Culp was already a veteran of many television shows, both as an actor and as screenwriter. He had become best known to millions on the western Trackdown as well as guest starring on a wide variety of other dramas. He was also getting into the creative end with scriptwriting.

Bill Cosby was making a name for himself as a stand-up comic, taking breaks from the comedy circuit to appear on the Tonight Show as well as making several highly successful comedy albums. While Leonard had at first planned that the other member of the duo would be an older agent playing the part of a mentor, when he saw one night Cosby do his standup routine, he had an inspiration and changed his mind totally.

While there was some controversy in certain areas of the country over an equal partnership between a white man and a black man, to the credit of the actors and the creative staff, the racial differences played no part in the show. Scott and Kelly were equal partners just as Cosby and Culp were.

Together they would create a pair of agents who would defend the nation through 82 different missions from September of 1965 to April of 1968. They would also reunited in February of 1994 for a reunion.

Gold Key, a subsidiary of Western Publishing, had the largest piece of the television-comic tie-in business during the 50s-60s. Their paper was usually not as good as the other two major comic players, DC and Marvel, but they did have good artists who were able to, when legally allowed, captured the likeness of the actor playing the character on the small screen.

Not many issues were published about the Domino team of Scotty and Kelly. That is a shame because they were not bad.