you
in the wake of James Bond the spy genre
was booming on television in the 1960s
Mission Impossible Get Smart the man who
never was I Spy and The Avengers were
all fighting the Cold War with gadgets
and secret agent skills and of course
there was the man from uncle when the
Man From UNCLE premiered in 1964 it was
the only spy show on American television
as Napoleon solo and Illya Kuryakin
Rober wound and David McCallum were
playing spy in a landscape full of
sitcoms
the success of the show led to see
change in programming over the course of
its four seasons
the Man From UNCLE underwent drastic
changes as well as will detail below
making it arguably the definitive action
series of the decade you're watching how
they changed and here are some facts
that make the Man From UNCLE the coolest
spy show of the 1960s even when it
became the silliest The Man From UNCLE
was created by James Bond's
Ian Fleming sort of the original idea to
make a television series about a suave
sophisticated spy who travelled the
world fighting villainy came from
producer Norman Felton he was interested
in presenting each episode from the
point of view of an innocent person say
housewife or a farmer who find
themselves drawn into an adventure
beyond their wildest dreams
in 1962 Felton pitched the idea to none
other than James Bond creator Ian
Fleming based not in his links with 0:07
wordly enough but an exotic travel book
the author had written named thrilling
cities Fleming almost immediately came
up with the name of the lead character
Napoleon solo
at first Sala was just that solo but as
the series was developed he was given an
agency to work for in the shape of a
global network dedicated to fight an
evil later name
uncle Flemming state with a project now
named mr. Solow for a year but legal
complications arose because of the
success of the early Bond movies and
uncle similarity to them and then unwell
Fleming was forced back off The Man From
UNCLE kept going however
and the first episode aired on NBC on
the 22nd of September 1964
it is technically sat in the Sherlock
Holmes universe on the show the Armco
organisation's nemesis thrush was
founded by the Sherlock Holmes villain
Colonel Sebastian moral in the backstory
Morin created the evil organization
after his boss Moriarity went over the
right can bark fools so in a way the Man
From UNCLE
is a sequel to Sherlock it is set in the
same world the modern Sherlock Holmes
films and the recent Man From UNCLE
flick are all directed by Guy Ritchie
who has quietly developed his own
cinematic shared universe William
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared in an
episode together years before Star Trek
in the projects trigers affair the ninth
episode but it's soon to be Kirk and
Spock were on opposite sides Shatner
played a good guy
while Nimoy was a henchman they appeared
in one scene together two years before
the voyages of the enterprise began
James Doohan also popped up on the show
and Sonny and Cher who would sit swarf
it was three dramatically and comedic
'le different shows ruled into one the
first season was filmed in black and
white befitting that shadowy Luke
it took a more serious tone in 1965
Napoleon solo
like Dorothy lapped enter world of
bright color in its four-year run the
series had different sharona's
each season and each boss brought a
different style to table the share went
from noir spy thriller to bright and
light adventures
to outright spoof by the end it was
emulating the mod campfire of the hugely
popular Badman the United Nations forced
the writers to come up with an acronym
for uncle initially the creators hoped
to leave the meaning of uncle undefined
for added mystery however considering
the fictional secret agency operated out
of the east side of New York City the
real United Nations was worried that
people might assume the union stood for
well the UN so the writers came up with
United Network command for law and
enforcement the meaning of thrush only
appeared in an oval meanwhile the
acronym for the nefarious thrush is
never mentioned on the show
however the extended universe got around
to define in it it was explained to be
technological hierarchy for the removal
of undesirables and the subjugation of
humanity in one of the tie-in books the
dagger affair a famous board game
inventor designed the weaponry Reuben
clammer invented the classic Milton
Bradley bird game the game of life you
know the one with little pink and blue
tacks cruising around in a tiny
convertible
he went from designing little will
support into deadly weaponry Plummer
designed the gun SOLAS new two
semi-automatic piece that could
transform from a pistol into a rifle
naturally a toy version of assault
Ilia Krakens name was inspired by a
fictional prostitute the name Illya was
taken from the lead character in jewels
dozens 1962 film never on Sunday she was
a carefree prostitute in Athens Greece
later that decade the movie was turned
into a Broadway musical
Elia darling the show inspired many
musicians in 1966 they act Angela and
the fans released a bubblegum crush pop
song called
la vía illya years later the post-punk
band cleaners from Venus recorded illya
kuryakin looked at me in the 1980s sky
legends The Specials
had their instrumental Napoleon solo a
decade later the trip hop supergroup
uncle admitted their name came from the
spicier is the girl from uncle's
original name was cookie fortune he
thank goodness they changed their mind
on that one we can thank you Fleming for
the March improve Monica April dancer
she earned her own TV series for one
season in 1966 1967 the stars inspired
pre Beatlemania levels of hysteria it
took most of its first season which was
shot in black and white before switching
to color in its second year for the Man
From UNCLE to gain an audience but once
it did thinks went ballistic
pure is loved its outlandish drama humor
technological gadgets including a pen
that doubled as a communicator and most
of all its stars or to be precise one of
them
David McCollum's boyish good looks
Krakens exotic accent and the fact that
his character was deliberately shrouded
in mystery combined to make him far more
popular than solo the fact that wall was
command ibly unbothered by the stars
made personal appearances all over the
US to promote the show and while they
were huge crowds forewarn for the
hysteria hit the stratosphere for his
co-star in Baton Rouge Louisiana a
scratched and bleeding McCallum was
locked in a toilet
while the police dealt with the latest
screaming for him outside and after it
was deemed too dangerous for him to
appear New York after an unexpected
fifteen thousand fans turned up some of
them stampeded through a department
store they did a colossal amount of
damage at Macy's McCallum later recalled
thanks to uncle spies took over
television The Man From UNCLE hit the
ratings jackpot and became one of the
most talked about shows of the early 60s
at one point 10,000 letters a week were
arriving from fans everybody wanted in
on the spy action and so TV land
suddenly became drenched in copycat
shows Mission Impossible the wild wild
west honey West I Spy and the spoof
series get smart not to be overshadowed
NBC also released their own spin-off in
1966 The Girl From UNCLE which starred
Stefanie Powers as April dancer another
name thought up by Ian Fleming back in
uncle's early days alas it wasn't a hit
and was cancelled after just one season
uncle didn't limit itself to the small
screen either eight elongated episodes
were turned into films and released in
cinemas around the world to surprising
success
they weren't shot of decent guest stars
The Karate killer's 1967 start Joan
Crawford and that's all for now
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