As this series entered its third season it cast around for ways to keep itself fresh. Having apparently exhausted at least temporarily the American landscape as a suitable place to pull capers the show hit the road to Europe and new scenery.
It worked well finding beautiful new backdrops for Alexander's hijinks but with the wrong headed decision to not take Malachi Thorne along to the new locales Mundy needed a new ying to his yang. That's not meant to disparage Edward Binns who took Noah Bain's place in the show. He was a fine actor but he and Robert Wagner never had the same prickly but amusing on screen chemistry that he and Thorne did. So what to do? Fortunately someone hit on the most fortuitous idea that Fred Astaire would be a natural as Mundy's father, master thief Alister Mundy. What perfect casting it turned out to be.
This was Fred's first appearance in the role and after some preamble which also provides a bit of back history of the pair things roll along most enjoyably. Adding to the effectiveness of his casting is that Wagner and he are similar enough in build and manner to suggest that they could actually be parent and child. The job the father and son undertake isn't really that complex, it has a whiff of Oceans Eleven, but does allow them some ingenuity and clever interplay.
Astaire gracefully steps into the role of worldly master thief and fills it with his continental panache acquired through the years, it seems incredible that he was Nebraska born. By remaining only a semi regular throughout the remainder of the final season he kept the character fresh and his episodes are among the series best because of his participation. A fun ride.
It worked well finding beautiful new backdrops for Alexander's hijinks but with the wrong headed decision to not take Malachi Thorne along to the new locales Mundy needed a new ying to his yang. That's not meant to disparage Edward Binns who took Noah Bain's place in the show. He was a fine actor but he and Robert Wagner never had the same prickly but amusing on screen chemistry that he and Thorne did. So what to do? Fortunately someone hit on the most fortuitous idea that Fred Astaire would be a natural as Mundy's father, master thief Alister Mundy. What perfect casting it turned out to be.
This was Fred's first appearance in the role and after some preamble which also provides a bit of back history of the pair things roll along most enjoyably. Adding to the effectiveness of his casting is that Wagner and he are similar enough in build and manner to suggest that they could actually be parent and child. The job the father and son undertake isn't really that complex, it has a whiff of Oceans Eleven, but does allow them some ingenuity and clever interplay.
Astaire gracefully steps into the role of worldly master thief and fills it with his continental panache acquired through the years, it seems incredible that he was Nebraska born. By remaining only a semi regular throughout the remainder of the final season he kept the character fresh and his episodes are among the series best because of his participation. A fun ride.
