Court of the Lions: Cosby, Culp, and Love Barbara K Emanuele I’ve spent the past several years trying to keep a legend alive. A few legends actually. They live inside a TV series called I Spy in the court of the lions of its stars, Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. And like all great legends, the space occupied by those narratives has had sheath after shadow thrown over it, weaving it into a collection of stories that have become both unbelievable and unknown. Under all those covers the truth of the series fights for its space in cultural history. Its truth, like many others can be rooted in the great equalizer: Love. Legend Number One: The ancient Saint Valentine wrote letters to his followers to bolster their budding faith. He signed them, “Your Valentine.” When it was decided that Bill Cosby would in fact star with (not co-star, not support. Star with) Robert Culp in I Spy, Bob told Bill that they had to talk every day before they started filming. They had
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Imperfect Conversations: I Spy at Fifty-Five Barbara K Emanuele Several years ago, I had a series of imperfect conversations trying to get a previous incarnation of this essay published. I did not struggle then as I do now with my understanding that as a Caucasian the story of I Spy’s impact might not be mine to tell. I have come to understand that for all the advancements in race relations that I Spy put forth in front of and behind the camera, it stayed silent in commenting on the prejudices Asian-Americans, Latin-Americans, and women faced, comments that could have been made as steadily and stealthily as Robert Culp and Bill Cosby commented on the relations between Caucasians and African Americans. And I have come to a greater understanding of how the mere presence of a predator on a screen or the page might trigger all victims. But these imperfect conversations about I Spy still need to happen, for imperfect conversations are conversations, and we learn only when we