TV: Parodied After Parody

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31145, 23 August 1966, Page 7

TV: Parodied After Parody

John Drake and even Maxwell Smart have nothing to fear from “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” Napoleon Solo reached our screens at last on Saturday evening after a lot of advance trumpet blowing. His debut was such an ordinary affair it suggested that he should be sent right back to U.N.C.L.E. Of course, it is hardly fair to judge a new TV series on the first episode. But the overseas reputation of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and the feeling of many viewers that we could not do without it demand comparison with other programmes in the spy spectrum, and the dear departed “Avengers.” “Get Smart” is at one end of the spectrum, “Danger Man” is at the other. Mr Solo’s effort only just holds its place in the middle. “Danger Man” programmes provide an intelligent nononsense treatment of the undercover agent business, and John Drake established himself from the first as a hard-working down-to-earth agent who deals with most problems in a practical and logical manner. “Get Smart” is pure spoof—a send-up of the Bond boys and their secret agencies—and Maxwell Smart is probably the most inept and bungling secret agent ever to have floundered across a TV screen. Judged on its first episode

“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is not as authentically earthbound as “Danger Man” or concerned with' the rather commonplace intrigues that make up the bulk of John Drake’s assignments. It is more brash and bizarre, more tongue-in-cheek, and perhaps nearer to the James Bond idiom. But it has none of the wit and urbanity of “The Avengers,” and nobody like John Steed or Emma Peel. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” has lost some of its edge because it arrived after “Get Smart.” Viewers have been watching the parody before the parodied. Maxwell Smart strides into his headquarters in the same way as Napoleon Solo, and the struggle between the far-out organisations, U.N.C.L.E. and T. is absurdly duplicated in the operations of C.0.N.T.R.0.L. and K.A.O.S. And the harassed Chief of C.0.N.T.R.0.L. and the tweedy Mr Alexander Waverly of U. are not far apart. This, of course, is not surprising, for both are parodies of Mr Allen Dulles, once head of the genuine C.I.A. In the United ’ States one section of the viewing public takes “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” seriously; the other regards the whole business as a big joke. Here most viewers are likely to agree with the creator of the series, Sam Rolfe, who says the whole show is designed to pull you away from real life and into the never-never world.

The plot of the first episode of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” certainly pulled viewers away from real life. It had a crazed Nazi scientist waiting for Der Tag to come again, and Hitler kept in a state of suspended animation in a basement laboratory. Other ingredients were a blonde bird from T.H.R.U.S.H. with a pseudo Emma Peel voice, and an innocent university student caught between the goodies and the baddies. There were no laughs, and only a moderate amount of mayhem. Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg made “The Avengers” our best TV programme, and Patrick McGoohan has established himself as “Danger Man.” “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” is Robert Vaughn, who has the handicap of the ridiculous name of Napoleon Solo and does nothing to overcome it. He tries to be dark, strong, and enigmatic, and succeeds only in being wooden. His first performance was strictly for the birds—of T.H.R.U.S.H. Future episodes will be worth watching chiefly for the appearance of his moody Russian colleague Iliya Kuryakin, who is played brilliantly by a Scottish actor, David McCallum. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” will give a lift to Saturday night viewing. It has a certain style, and it may improve. In fact, it will have to, for there are about 30 episodes to come. And the Monday night bumblings of Mr Smart may

become funnier when we can see the point of the joke. —ARGUS