It is a little more than a week before the first season DVD set is set to be released--and I can't wait! Years ago, I got the VHS tapes from Columbia House, but I'm eager to get the DVD set.
I was in junior high school when this show began--I was 13 in 1983--and I don't think I ever missed an episode. I already was a fan of Bruce Boxleitner from the short-lived "Bring 'Em Back Alive" series, and I remembered Kate Jackson from "Charlie's Angels." While I suppose a show featuring a divorced mother of two as the lead might not be imagined as aimed at junior-high boys, this did air at 8:00 PM (not 10:00, which was "Cagney and Lacey"'s time slot on Monday night), and there was plenty of James Bond-type action for excitement. The brilliance of the show was taking Amanda King, the civilian who never even thought of being spy, and thrusting her into the world of Cold War espionage in Washington, DC. Every viewer, junior-high boys included, could therefore imagine himself in her place--what it would be like to have a stranger thrust a package into your hands and tell you to give it to the man in the red hat.
The premise was similar to so many Eric Ambler novels or Alfred Hitchcock movies, where the unassuming, ordinary citizen gets caught up in intrigue. The added element here was Amanda King's ending up as the protégée and then real partner of Lee Stetson. As the show went on, scripts filled in why Lee operated without a partner until Amanda came along, who his mentor had been, even information about his parents as agents decades before.
I also vividly remember when in Season 2 or Season 3 there was a series of episodes filmed in various European countries. So much fun!
I was in junior high school when this show began--I was 13 in 1983--and I don't think I ever missed an episode. I already was a fan of Bruce Boxleitner from the short-lived "Bring 'Em Back Alive" series, and I remembered Kate Jackson from "Charlie's Angels." While I suppose a show featuring a divorced mother of two as the lead might not be imagined as aimed at junior-high boys, this did air at 8:00 PM (not 10:00, which was "Cagney and Lacey"'s time slot on Monday night), and there was plenty of James Bond-type action for excitement. The brilliance of the show was taking Amanda King, the civilian who never even thought of being spy, and thrusting her into the world of Cold War espionage in Washington, DC. Every viewer, junior-high boys included, could therefore imagine himself in her place--what it would be like to have a stranger thrust a package into your hands and tell you to give it to the man in the red hat.
The premise was similar to so many Eric Ambler novels or Alfred Hitchcock movies, where the unassuming, ordinary citizen gets caught up in intrigue. The added element here was Amanda King's ending up as the protégée and then real partner of Lee Stetson. As the show went on, scripts filled in why Lee operated without a partner until Amanda came along, who his mentor had been, even information about his parents as agents decades before.
I also vividly remember when in Season 2 or Season 3 there was a series of episodes filmed in various European countries. So much fun!