User Reviews

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby make a good team in this landmark 1960s espionage series. They play secret agents Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott, who will sometimes masquerade as a tennis pro and his trainer. Here, they are given the story of an Olympic champion, Elroy Browne (Ivan Dixon, "Nothing but a Man"), who has chosen to defect to China. Their mission is to officially try to convince him to return to the U. S., although that would likely mean a death sentence for the guy.

'I Spy' is an engaging example of spy-themed storytelling, as it includes some of the tropes of the genre: globe hopping (this episode takes place largely in Hong Kong), action, intrigue, and humor. It does go a fair distance on the chemistry between the two stars, with The Cos having some fun as he involves a James Bond-loving Chinese kid (Ricky Der, "Tarzan's Three Challenges") in their schemes.

It may be true that Browne isn't a particularly "likeable" character, but Dixon does an excellent job with the role. In the end, Browne does have a redemptive arc. Cicely Tyson ("Sounder") is wonderful as Brownes' regal companion. Richard Loo ("The Man with the Golden Gun") plays an unsubtle villain; the great character actors James Hong ("Big Trouble in Little China") and Nicholas Colasanto ('Cheers') have small roles.

This series should prove to be solid entertainment if subsequent episodes are anything like this one.

Seven out of 10.

I loved this show in re-runs as a kid and wanted to see if it held up. Episode One does. Forget about the barrier breaking BS surrounding Bill Cosby being cast as the co-star. It's a good show without the agenda pushing crapola.

What interesting in this episode is the two main black characters are written as equals but the Chinese characters are all stereo type chinamen!! One of them even speaks in a mock accent more offensive than Rosie O'Donnell's version!

What's up with that?

Plot: Leroy Browne,defects to China during the 1964 Olympics in Japan. Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott are assigned to approach Browne to see if he wants to come back to the U.S. If Browne is interested, his life may be in danger from Chinese agents who won't want to the star athlete to un-defect. Why they care is that they gave him $250K to defect. Why? Who knows? Plot hole.

The other huge hole in the plot, it seems to me, is that Browne isn't a likable character. He's rude and angry and condescending to everyone, so we simply just don't care about what happens to him.

I want to also say, parenthetically, that the promotional material for this show shows the characters in B&W, but the episode is in color. Wonder why? I know that color TV was not ubiquitous yet when this show went on the air, but if the only versions released today are in color, why do they show the characters in B&W on the collateral material?

And BTW, the color really pops. It looks like it might have been filmed in Technicolor and it's really held up in the transfer.