Shark Bytes

Its another one of those things - as a kid watching these, I never felt it jumped the shark for me. If I sat down and watched all the episodes now I'd probably feel differently. I remember being really annoyed that is was being replaced by some show with the ludicrous title of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. To be honest, it opened out of the gate fast, but couldn't maintain its momentum. However, the charisma of Vaugn and McCallum kept the show alive probably longer than it deserved.

UNCLE took its humorous turn- so-called "camp"- in Sept '65, four months before Batman hit the air. Its Sept.'65 season premiere further pre-figured Batman by having a cliff-hanger ending.

An addeum to "Guests" comment about David McCallum appearing on "NCIS" as the "annoying" medical examiner.

An episode had the crew talking with their boss about "Ducky" (McCallum's character) because he and the boss had been friends "back in the day." When the crew asked what Ducky was like back then, the boss thinks for a second and says; "Illya Kuriaken!"

Will I could watch during Writers' Strike of 2007. This was real writing. Not script recycling from no-talent, unionized greedy slugs.

The show started off with a bang and tapered off in the second season. The third season was probably an attempt to widen the audience to include more young viewers, the fourth season was better than the third but had outlived the "spy-show" fad. Don't forget when it aired in the 60's it was only on once a week and as a 16 year old at that time it was a must-see for everyone I knew.

Definitely the third season. I've been watching them all on cable and reading a book someone has written about the show. You can definitely see the producers trying to keep up with BATMAN...even hiring the BATMAN composer to write music for some episodes (you can't miss it). Napoleon dancing with a gorilla made my 17-year-old refuse to watch any more reruns with me. That season also had the worst theme version: POW...POW POW...POW POW POW...POW POW POW POW with screeching brass. Fourth season has some good episodes in the spirit of the earlier shows, but they couldn't save UNCLE.

Here in the UK we got the movie 'To Trap a Spy' before the series started on TV, At the time the film was excellent with a really striking intro theme, a good plot and Robert Vaughn made a really good suave sophisticated spy, the classic scene of WASP attacking the New York HQ and the one that gets to Alisons office is quickly despatched by Solo who was behind bullet proof glass, this became the opening title of the TV series, but for me I really enjoyed the original opening you know with Del Floria's in the East 40's. In my view a real shame that the show became tongue in cheek and really rather silly by season 2, I did stick with it but really the first film and season one were the best, this was an important part of my teenage years.

Jumped the shark at the beginning of the second season.I was 15 at the end of the first season which ended with the Odd Man Affair, a very good spy story episode, even today.When I tuned in for the start of the second season I was crushed.They had begun a complete makeover of a thrilling TV show.Gone was the great glass shattering intro and driving theme and episode music, which always got my pulse racing, to music that could have been from the Adams Family and the Batman TV series.The plots went from drama with understated humor and wit to the dreaded camp.And that did start in the second season not the third.Solo went from a sophisticated man to an adolescent in search of girls. Sam Rolfe, the original producer, left the show at the end of the first season and the show was never the same again.The first season was Rolfe's vision of the show, not executive producer Norman Felton.As a grown man I still cannot believe they took a hit show and completely changed what had made it a hit.Watch the first season on tape or in2tv and it still holds up well.

Loved MFU. I was 12 at the time and this show was entertaining as hell.

I always loved the show. I didn't see it until it was in its second season.
I had just turned 12. The charisma of the leading actors was amazing. The first season they did not realize the impact that David McCallum was having on the show. He is not featured as much until season 2.Then with the two of them the show really took off. Very few people had color TV's so I don't think it impacted the show one way or the other.

Like "The Wild Wild West", MFU jumped the shark when it switched to color. While both shows were still entertaining, they had writers who felt they didn't need to be as creative now they had color to entrance to viewers. (Who had see color in the cinema for a while.) The improbalitity for much of the plots is beyond belief, but that doesn't change the fact both shows are still entertaining.

I loved the Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a kid and wish they'd bring it back. But how in the world can the folks posting here remember the nuances of this program from season to season? Amazing!

Face it, everybody, the show began to stink around the third season. The first season was its best. You had a perfect formula of a exciting spy adventure with at touch of wit and humor. The second season was fine, albeit when it went to color it lost something that made it a hit the first season. (FYI: the producers wanted to film the show in color from day one, but the network didn't see that it would be a success, so they balked at it) By season three the show became a joke. Some genius (or dee dee dee)thought they could take U.N.C.L.E. down the road of being camp. NBC already had "Get Smart" as a camp parody; U.N.C.L.E. didn't have to go that route. Save a few episodes (eg. "The Five Daughters Affair", and "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" let's burn the third season episodes that are out there on VHS or wherever! The third season messed up the show so bad that by the time the fourth season came along and the producers tried to make it a first class spy show again, it ended up getting canceled.

The second season. I was a teenager, eagerly awaiting the standard "shadow shot into the bulletproof glass" opening with the timpani in color. Suddenly... it was a teaser and a new opening with jazzy music! I think I feel asleep halfway through it.

Robert Vaughn was of the busiest and most fascinating TV guest-stars before getting this show. He gave one brilliant performance after another, particularly on such shows as Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, The Asphalt Jungle, Empire, and Target: The Corruptors. He was fine in sympathetic roles and even better in unsympathetic roles. Vaughn had also been magnificent in "The Magnificent Seven". Vaughn was signed by the great Blake Edwards to star in a promising detective series called "The Boston Terrier", but the show never sold despite two pilots. The season before "Uncle", Vaughn was receiving second billing to Gary Lockwood on "The Lieutenant" and was appearing in about one scene per episode (although he was apparently getting the same salary as Lockwood). Vaughn was an ambitious actor and was looking to move up, but apparently the "Uncle" producers first choice was Robert Culp. But even though it looked like time might be running out on his chances for true TV super-stardom, Vaughn managed to grab the gold ring at the last minute with the role of Napoleon Solo.