A most fascinating and insightful read

books:


	• I Spy: A History and Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series Marc Cushman, Linda J. LaRosa McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2007 - 452 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Superb Piece of Research

This is a seriously excellent piece of work, and McFarland have done a superb job in translating Marc and Linda's text into an extremely attractive - and very hefty! - book.

I was surprised at the large dimensions of the book (I was already aware there was a generous page count). This is larger than HAWAII FIVE O (hardback version) and EXPLORING SPACE:1999 (paperback)...my two other 'main' McFarland's devoted to specific tv series. The general impression on opening the package is one of QUALITY.

The balance between the synopsis for each episode, and then script excerpts and behind the scenes stories is spot on, and I congratulate the authors. Episode Guides are everywhere these days, as are DVDs. So I'm glad that only the basics of the each story are covered because that allows much more space to be given over to what I'd regard as the meat of the book - the behind the scenes stories, the interviews and the background.

And photos - most of which I haven't seen before. Photo illustration is an aspect of McFarland's tv books which is often a bit of a let-down. Not in this case it isn't.

Anyone who thinks this is a cut and paste job is very wide of the mark. The research that has gone into the book is self evident and sets a very high bar for subsequent books of the kind to match.

I came very late to I SPY. I seem to remember that it was shown here in England, but in the sixties my age wasn't even into double figures. I bought the three DVD box sets from Image Entertainment a few years back, after hearing the Film Score Monthly CD of some of Earle Hagen's scores. Other than what I've gleaned off the Internet and occasional references in cultural media (and the Culp commentaries on the DVDs), I have been ignorant of the behind the scenes stories and background to the show and its genesis.

Time, I think, to work again through the series, episode by episode, with the book as a companion!

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A most fascinating and insightful read

I can't add much more to what others have already said; except to read in-depth insights into the production of this marvelous series, what the censors had to say, the problems Mr Cosby and Mr Culp had to deal with... and Sheldon Leonard...

And to give another "5 star" rating too. :)

The book is fairly uncensored regarding vernacular used in the time as well. Which is terrific; anything that's reflecting or investigating the past should remain as uncensored as possible. The 1960s, on TV, is a whole different ball game compared to what happened behind the scenes.

Not just for the 60s, "I Spy", Culp, Cosby, and related aficionados, historians would find bits and pieces very interesting too.

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I Spy

What more than girl need, it was a great storylines and a chance to see the world without leaving your home . It what got me to travel and to see the places where the show been and the sightseeing.

Enormously rewarding

Most TV series histories/episode guides are either short on thorough research, perceptive criticism, or engaging prose -- or (typically) all three. This one, however, nails them, and it's got some cool, little-seen photos and fun, informative interviews to boot.

Cushman and LaRosa have done outstanding work here, and kudos to McFarland for packaging their work so attractively. This book is up there with David J. Schow's The Outer Limits Companion, which set a standard over 20 years ago that's rarely been met since.

Like the series it so exhaustively and passionately covers, the "I Spy" guide is a pleasure from start to finish. Impressive work all around.

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reviews: page 1, 2

One of the most popular and award-winning television series of the sixties, I Spy was the first weekly broadcast to star both a white and a black actor. In 1964, though, producer Sheldon Leonard had, with heavy risk, financed the show himself, and his idea for a racially incorporated cast had earned his show the moniker "Sheldon's Folley." Pairing established white actor Robert Culp with Bill Cosby, a black comedian with barely an acting credit to his name, certainly turned some heads at NBC, and many wondered whether affiliates in the South would ever air the show. Only two years later, Cosby accepted the Emmy for leading actor-and I Spy cemented its role in history. This is a complete history of I Spy and the profound change it evoked in broadcasting, social ideals and racial equality. Rich with interviews and photographs, it discusses I Spy's unique approach to race, co-starring interracial actors as equals. It also describes how the show became the template for popular "buddy genre" shows and films that followed, covers the show's significance as the first series to shoot episodes around the world, and puts I Spy in context with other works within the spy genre at a time when spy books, shows and films exploded in popularity. A complete episode guide includes writers, directors, cast, crew, plot synopsis and commentary.

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