TMP Television Edition: Spies

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Pssst...it's Thursday. That means it's time for Thursday Movie Picks hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Don't tell anyone because I'm working undercover for the...wait...if I tell you that I'll have to kill you. So I won't. All I'll say is that since it's the last Thursday of the month, we're talking television and the topic is spies.

Get Smart

(1965-1970)

Just typing the title of this show makes me giddy and starts the theme song playing in my head. And I haven't seen it in 20 years. It follows the (mis)adventures of secret agent Maxwell Smart (Don Adams), Agent 86. Truth told, he was a bumbling fool known for using a shoe-phone. The real hero was his female partner, only known as Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon). I laughed often and heartily watching this show and the 80s cartoon it clearly inspired, Inspector Gadget. The main character of that show was also played by Don Adams. Let's not talk about the big-screen adaptations of either, though. Just pretend they didn't happen.

The Six Million Dollar Man

(1973-78)

Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Well, at least he was until they rebuilt him. They gave him what every kid growing up in the 70s wanted. Bionics. And then they made him a secret agent. He was only the bestest secret agent of all-time. I mean, I love James Bond, but did Bond ever fight Bigfoot? Steve Austin did. Therefore, no matter what other secret agent you like, Steve Austin's better. Better. Stronger. Faster.

Alias

(2001-06)

This is the show that introduced me to Jennifer Garner and forever confirmed that she is a badass. She's not quite The Six Million Dollar Man because she doesn't fight Bigfoot, but a badass nonetheless. She plays Sydney Bristow who got plucked out of college by the CIA, then assigned to an arm of the agency called SD-6. Soon enough, she finds out she's working undercover for the CIA to bring down SD-6 which is really an enemy of the state. And run by her dad (an amazing Victor Garber). And yes, I really meant to type "she finds out." That's pretty much how it goes down. This is one of the few shows this century that I made a point of being in front of the TV for, week after week.

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