Saturday, May 02, 2009

I Spy Saturday Season 1 [Episode 3 : Carry Me Back to Old Tsing-Tao]



I Spy Saturday
Season 1 [Episode 3 : Carry Me Back to Old Tsing-Tao]
Original Air Date: September 29, 1965

Welcome to the third I Spy Saturday on Jake's Rolex Watch Blog. One of the reasons I am doing I Spy Saturday is so I can analyze the episodes to learn about and document the Rolex watches used on the show. For instance, I did not know until two weeks ago, when I first watched Episode 1, that Bill Cosby and Robert Culp both wore Pepsi GMTs from the inception of the show.


In episode 3 [Season 1] we see both characters wearing their trademark Pepsi GMT Master watches, which you can see on Bill Cosby in the photo above and below. This episode, like episodes 1 & 2 were shot on-location in Hong Kong.


Bill Cosby's character, Scotty is interesting and I find Bill Cosby to be more entertaining and interesting to watch. That being said, this episode was kind of stupid with a thin plot at best.


Sometimes when something is so bad, it ends up being good, but I give this episode a thumbs down, so I don't recommend you watch it unless you want to. I still plan to watch the rest of the episodes and do screen captures.


This episode was kitchy and campy with lots of really fake fight scenes and it is amazing to examine how spy shows have evolved up to the present with shows like 24 that practically give you a heart-attack each time you watch them.


In my mind, Robert Culp's character, Kelly Robinson seems to be based on Cary Grant and Bill Cosby's character seems to be based on Bill Cosby. That was not a typo. Bill Cosby plays Bill Cosby and you see how talented and charismatic he was.


If you do decide to watch the episode, it is interesting to note that Kelly takes off his Rolex to fight a guy, which is really weird–I guess the writers did not realize how sturdy his GMT Master was!?! Unless Kelly's figure was an overly protective watch safe queen (double entendre, inside-out joke).

If you want to watch the episode full screen, please hit the play button, then when the show starts, hit the full-screen button in the upper right hand corner.