Annie, agent très spécial

Even by the standards of the 1960s, "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E" is synonymous to me with "bad spin off." "The Man from U.N.C.L.E", a fun and intelligent '60s spy show, did not deserve this kind of treatment. Is it any wonder, after viewing it, that the famous female spy of this decade was Emma Peel from The Avengers and not April Dancer?

The lead character, played reasonably well by Stephanie Powers, is April, the first female spy from agency U.N.C.L.E. This sounds typical and fun, if a bit cheesy, but the problem is that April is the Nancy Drew of television characters. Almost every episode ends with April being rescued from evil people by her male partner, Mark Slate. This not only begins to get boring after a while, but it makes April an unsympathetic ditz. Even worse, the plot line of quite a few episodes revolves around April ALMOST GETTING MARRIED to a BAD GUY!!! Of course, the heroic, manly Mark Slate will come by to rescue her at the last minute from this TERRIBLE FATE!!!!

Sure, there is such a thing as a good spin off. This isn't it. Leave this one to collect dust in the corner, and watch the original series.

April Dancer (originally, in The Man From UNCLE episode setting this series up, Mary Ann Mobley, superior in every way; but Stephanie Powers in the series) is an UNCLE agent. Her partner, Mark Slate, is played by Noel Harrison, son of Rex and best known for singing the theme song of "The Thomas Crown Affair."

Some idiot reviewers here are like Inquisitors seeing Heresy wherever the look for it. They say the show is sexist. If all you can do is call names, you don't belong as a reviewer. You're too stupid. The show isn't sexist. Don't fall for their hate, folks with open minds.

In fact, Powers is a gifted UNCLE agent while her partner Slate, while not actually bumbling, is often in trouble and needs her to rescue him, a nice inversion of the cliche. Following that pattern more seriously, this series might have been a classic, universally beloved (Partners in TV shows developed in America are rarely fully equal, as in the British "Avengers"; when they made the movie in America about "The Avengers" they got the dynamics so incredibly wrong-headed: what's wrong with the tiny minds of American movie and TV makers, anyway? Why can't they conceive of equal partnerships?)

The show isn't sexist but it is INCREDIBLY silly. Possibly inspired by "Batman." The lure of Batman at the time is dangerous to underestimate.

It isn't helped by Powers, carrying on in a silly accent when her natural voice would have been much better. And Noel Harrison, while not altogether without talent, is a poor choice for a regular. Unlike the case with some of the great teams like Solo and Kuryakin, Jim and Artie, Steed and Mrs. Peel, Harrison can't compete, acting-wise, with Powers, even considering her misguided accent.

The best thing about this series is its variety of guest stars. For instance, one episode has a very funny part for comedian and voice artist Stan Freberg, who was shamefully underutilized during this time. It's for guest artists like Freberg that I give the series so many stars.

This is a show to miss, but not for the pilfering reasons given by Inquisitor-like reviewers. To be honest (and I always try to be) "The Man From UNCLE," never too serious, was going through its own silly season at the same time. Looking back, the whole Carnaby Street 1960s is kind of silly and the people then were bewilderingly self-important. So it's wrong to single this show out.

The format episode for this spin off was from an earlier 1966 episode of its parent show,The Man From U.N.C.L.E which was an fantastic episode called,"The Moonglow Affair",which starred Mary Ann Mobley and Norman Fell in the roles of April Dancer and Mark Slate. But here what gets me with this show,which is very synonymous with one of the bad spin-off to one of the most successful espionage shows of all time. By the way,The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was an intelligent and brilliant and very innovative 1960's spy show,but when its spin-off,The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. premiered on NBC-TV in September of 1966,the show from which it came from,did not deserve this kind of treatment nor the physical abuse of its original format. It there was any wonder why some of the episodes were so blant,sexist,and incredibly stupid within the silly plots and goofy dialogue within the characters,it was no wonder that this show lasted only one season,it was just that pathetic. The episodes themselves,were typical fun,but were corny as the popcorn left over for a movie,and as cheesy and most of all,totally stupid. Only 29 episodes were produced of this series,which was under its executive producers David Victor and Douglas Benton,and Norman Felton and based on the characters created by Sam Rolfe(the original architect for U.N.C.L.E). The series ended its run in 1967.

But here was gets me,how did April Dancer went from being an assistant secretary of the head chief of the organization to becoming one of the first female secret agents for U.N.C.L.E.? That is anybody guess of how she did this,but in all aspects,it was any wonder that this girl would be one,as I put it,a cross between Nancy Drew and Penelope Pitstop. U.N.C.L.E agent April Dancer(played by Stephanie Powers)wasn't the best of the female secret agents either. She was a total accident prone girl who was in some ways an sympathetic ditz who always manages to get herself in some tight situation,only to get herself deeper and deeper into serious complications with diabolical villains or even worse ending up with some mad scientist's deadly schemes only to be rescued by her male partner,U.N.C.L.E. agent Mark Slate(played by Noel Harrison),but only to come to her aid at the last minute to save her from a terrible and sinister fate. However,this does get boring very quickly,and it shows in some of the episodes. Out of all of the episodes,there was only one that was very good and the rest were just either plain silly or repulsive.

If this show proved anything is that some of the best intentions from their offspring can bear the the fruits of the original,and that's a crying shame to see a grand show like the Man From U.N.C.L.E. didn't deserved this kind of treatment,especially from its loyalists of fans.

I must say that I have Just watched "The girl from uncle" for the first time and i don't agree with all the bad reviews it gets at all. OK April Dancer (stefanie powers) the leading character could be tougher especially considering her TV rivals at the time like the marvellous Emma peel from "the Avengers" but there's barely an episode I've watched where she doesn't knock an assailant out or high volt a fence or blow something up with a hidden uncle gadget.OK she often uses a gas spray rather than karate but she does use that too. the stories are daft as anything but executed with tongue in cheek and for fun and no dafter than "The avengers" stories or "the champions" but thats half the point! they're fun!. Its not meant to be serious!. Her English partner Mark Slate (who must be the first gay agent ever i think on TV! joke) makes the whole thing camp as Christmas and the villains are straight from pantomime. It might just be me, but some of the dialogue is funny too...and paul o'grady (lilly savage) is a fan too!. what more can I say, besides which Yvonne de Carlo (Lilly munster)is a villain in one episode and who can resist anything where Boris Karloff appears in drag (!) as "mother muffin"...irresistible madness.(but it is a bit sexist at times..hey ho cant win "em all)

Outstanding music, charming young leads, game guest stars, exciting stunt work, colorful fashions and sets (mostly)triumph over some scripts that weren't ready for filming(Did THE Richard Matheson really hack out the Atlantis Affair(partly redeemed by April besting the villain in a sword fight in Act 4)?). Maybe somebody else rewrote his script. Airing a spinoff of a NON Top Ten show(Season 2 Man from Uncle barely edged Girl's ratings nemesis Daktari) against 2 established shows, Daktari and Combat, might have been too high a hurdle even with consistent scripting. Plus the outre fashions and sets that look so good now on DVD would have been lost on the tiny analog black and white sets many/most had in 1966/7 whereas Daktari and Combat seem more amenable to B&W. Plus was America ready for the first(?) female-American-starring one hour action adventure series? Audiences chose Gomer Pyle over the prior year's very entertaining half hour Honey West. Also it took SEVERAL seasons for Avengers(which this series is unfairly comparted to) show's scripts to become more consistently entertaining and even a couple of the Ms. Peel series were clunkers-and they only filmed 14 eps a season. "Moulin Ruse Affair" a favorite-fun to watch ancient Burt Mustin DEMOLISH Uncle HQ(great stunt work)! Dave Grusin's "Muffin" soundtrack is sublime and is best heard uninterrupted on the probably out of print Volume 3 CD of Uncle soundtracks-the Girl from Uncle album has a less robust orchestration(but a lovely Girl from Uncle theme not heard in any episode). RIP April and Mark