Best Classic American TV Spy and Secret Agent ShowsBy Raymond Lockley
The classic secret agent plot has been a staple of the entertainment
diet, from books to movies. Leading modern TV series in this genre
include very successful shows like
"24",
"Homeland",
"Alias", and
"Burn Notice",
and extend into even light-hearted takes on the spy biz like
"Chuck"
and (further back)
"Scarecrow and Mrs. King".
Their antecedents on
television go back to the Cold War, when these agents were the first
line of America's defense--or, like
Maxwell Smart,
America's first
line of comedy--and reached their zenith in the mid-60s, when the CIA
was just beginning to become part of America's consciousness (courtesy
of the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, Viet Nam, and the rumors
of involvement in the JFK assassination). Here's my list of the best
classic (i.e. from my younger days) American TV shows about spies and
secret agents:
Honorable mentionThe theme of these lists is American classic TV series. However, there were many excellent shows in the UK which made their way to the US early on. No list of secret agent classics should fail to mention these shows:
And lest we forgetI can't really call this an "honorable" mention, but--ah! What fond memories:
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