a man from uncle moment

Warning – this post is going to date me.

So.

Finishing up a workout at the gym on the exercise bike gives you three options … bring something to read and have it become a sweat sodden piece of papyrus or wrestle a tv remote from another sweatball in the throes of their own workout or just be stuck watching whatever is onscreen hoping there aren’t five women watching The View or any dance/ice skating/reality/fake judge show on.

Regardless.

Here I am cycling along like Lance Armstrong <with two non-steroid testicles> and I have a Man from UNCLE moment.

I know. I know. The majority of people will have no clue what I am talking about.

So I will take the current context and then explain. On one television there is NCIS (or CIS or CSI or in Miami or Los Angeles … well … I can’t keep track … but this is the one with Pauly Parette <sigh>) and onscreen is Illya Kuryakin … oops … Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) who is the Chief Medical Examiner on the show.

At exactly the same time, on another tv screen, there is one of those incredibly bad lawyer associate advertisements with an actor named Robert Vaughn yakking away about something <I assume ‘trust these guys if you want to sue someone’>. FYI. Most people would recognize Robert Vaughn because he was magnificent in the Magnificent Seven (he may have been my favorite of the Seven).

Anyway.

That was my Man From UNCLE moment.

Two screens.

One show I loved in my youth.

A show called The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Yup. Man from UNCLE was a really cool, campy, spy show on in the mid-60’s which was a little boy’s dream. Cool super agents with neat names <Illya and Napoleon> using neat gadgets and lots of guns with women all over them <although at that age I couldn’t figure out why these really cool super spies were wasting their time with women when they could be shooting some bad guys> and some really neat bad guys <from an incredibly cool organization named THRUSH>.

The 2 super agents were Illya Kuryakin <David McCallum> and Napoleon Solo <Robert Vaughn>. Because of Illya, who always wore black turtlenecks, my mother invested a lot of money outfitting me in black turtlenecks in my youth as I ran around being a russian super agent <oops … insert bad visual here>.

Here is the Man from Uncle opening:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC88U1SyQQw

The show was all about these two top agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement <UNCLE> who fight evil <primarily an organization of cool bad people called THRUSH> and use charm, fearlessness in the face of unspeakable danger, and a never ending assortment of gadgets to have good overcome evil. The show ran for 4 years.

It was an awesome show. Even today if you can get over the campiness and the fact production technology has evolved exponentially it is well written and well done and a blast to watch.

Rumor has it they are going to remake it. Awesome <assuming it is well done>.

Okay. Gotta go. It is Friday night and I think I am going to sport a black turtleneck, hang out at a bar and introduce myself as Illya all night long <note: it could be a short night>.

Written by Bruce