Best Classic American TV Spy and Secret Agent Shows

By 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:

  1. Mission: Impossible, 1966-73
  2. Get Smart, 1965-70
  3. I Spy, 1965-68
  4. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 1964-68
  5. It Takes A Thief, 1968-70
  6. The Wild Wild West, 1965-69
  7. Danger Man, 1960-62
    Danger Man [revival], 1964-66
  8. Passport to Danger, 1954-56
  9. I Led Three Lives, 1953-56
By the way, I've done a list for most iconic theme music, and (obviously) the theme for "Mission: Impossible" will always be on it. Fans of the show know that this striking music was composed by the prolific Lalo Schifrin; but they may not know that Lalo also composed the theme for "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.". [The very memorable theme for "Get Smart" had a different composer, though. Sorry about that, Chief.]

Honorable mention

The 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 forget

I can't really call this an "honorable" mention, but--ah! What fond memories: This list will self-destruct in five seconds...

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