43. I Spy - A Few Miles West of Nowhere / The Trouble with Temple
Director: Tom Gries, John Rich, Robert Butler, Richard C. Sarafian, Hal Cooper, Arthur Marks, Anton Leader, Richard Benedict, David Friedkin, Sheldon Leonard, Mark Rydell, Alf Kjellin, Ralph Senensky, Christian Nyby, Paul Wendkos, Robert Culp, Earl Bellamy, Leo Penn, Allen Reisner
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Amazon.com Robert Culp and Bill Cosby were the hippest cold warriors on 1960s TV, swinging spies who joshed, joked, and goofed like old chums between tight situations and cloak-and-dagger cases. They didn't merely make the world safe for democracy; they effectively broke the color barrier by giving us black and white partners as both friends and equals. The first DVD collection of episodes includes a pair of unrelated stories from late in the series. "A Few Miles West of Nowhere," directed by Arthur Marks (Detroit 9000), pits the boys against rural small-town godfather Andrew Duggan, a bully who turns the town into club-wielding vigilantes poisoned against all outsiders, especially government officials. Richard Kiel (Jaws from the James Bond films) costars as a giant half-wit who Duggan turns into a hateful henchman. "The Trouble with Temple," directed by Tom Gries (Helter Skelter), brings the boys to Spain where they investigate actor Jack Cassidy, who is suspected of smuggling state secrets, and meet not-so-dumb blonde Carol Wayne, Cassidy's sweet, smart, neglected girlfriend. "Temple" brims over with character at the expense of its espionage plot but delightfully breaks genre expectations, while "Nowhere" rather lazily falls into cliché. Ultimately, it's Culp's charm, Cosby's comic understatement, and the duo's loose patter and easy camaraderie that make these both thoroughly enjoyable episodes. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more Reviews (3) 
Two Hip Spies
Younger audiences may only know Bill Cosby from "The Cosby Show" and Robert Culp from "The Greatest American Hero", but this is the show that set them on their way. This series had the distinction of not only being the first action/drama series one to have an African-American in a prominent starring role, but it also was one of the most expensive shows to produce. Why? They filmed on location around the world. One of the coolest spy shows from the 1960s.
Great series, but only a good choice of stories
As a big fan of the series, there are much better episodes which could be released. However, the two episodes here are not exactly bad - and "A Few Miles West of Nowhere" is socially conscious in ways that Star Trek could never hope to accomplish (Trek is phony fiction, I Spy is real life by comparison).
Classic TV
It's good to see this groundbreaking tv series on DVD but I would have preferred to see the first two episodes rather than two arbitrary episodes from the middle of the shows run- especially since these seem to be the only two episodes available. Cosby and Culp are at the top of thier game.
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