I Spy
So Long, Patrick Henry
TV Flash files “So Long, Patrick Henry” as a desk essential hour — I Spy (1965–1968) on NBC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1965-09-15, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 82 in the I Spy guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1965-09-15 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “A Cup of Kindness” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “So Long, Patrick Henry”. So Long, Patrick Henry is the 1965 contract: two equals sharing the frame, interracial buddy espionage as a travelogue with a serve.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Robinson and Scott travel to Hong Kong. Their assignment; persuade an American Olympic athlete who defected to Red China to return to the U.S.
Viewer FAQ
Where does So Long, Patrick Henry sit in the I Spy guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 82 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did I Spy S01E01 air?
So Long, Patrick Henry aired 1965-09-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Any Culp-and-Cosby mission on location shows the contract: tennis-pro covers, buddy rhythm, Scott as full co-lead. The series is weekly adventure, not a single serial hunt.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Tennis-bum cover stories, globe-trotting missions, and two equals sharing the frame: Robert Culp and Bill Cosby made interracial buddy espionage look like a travelogue with a serve. Cosby's Alexander Scott was a lead, not a sidekick — a mid-sixties network color line crossed in style. Location glamour plus chemistry.
Tennis-bum cover stories, globe-trotting missions, two equals sharing the frame. NBC's *I Spy* (1965–1968; 82 episodes) put Robert Culp's Kelly Robinson and Bill Cosby's Alexander Scott on the road as undercover agents, and Cosby's Scott was a lead, not a sidekick — a mid-sixties network color line crossed in style. David Friedkin and Morton Fine emphasized international location filming more than studio-bound spy shows. Banter chemistry sold the espionage. On the palate: travelogue chrome, a serve-and-volley…
Filed against
- Robert Culp as Kelly Robinson
Robert Culp’s Kelly Robinson served tennis-bum cover stories on I Spy — globe-trotting equals with Bill Cosby’s Alexander Scott sharing the frame — then barked FBI handler energy at The Greatest American Hero’s klutz in an alien suit.…
- Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott
Bill Cosby’s Alexander Scott made I Spy a two-equal travelogue — 1960s catalog tennis-bum espionage, a Black lead sharing the frame, then The Cosby Show’s 1980s multi-cam hearth becoming television history with the later disgrace on the…