Masquerade

What do you get when you combine "I Spy" with "The Love Boat"? You get this interesting show. Imagine a show in which ordinary citizens are recruited by the government to do extraordinary things. Also, you get to see Kirstie Alley in one of her early roles on television. But perhaps the biggest strength of the show was Rod Taylor as the master spy Lavender. Too bad this show never made it past the summer, it could have probably been a hit if it had lasted.

This was a good show wished it had lasted longer. I guess it could be considered the forunner of the "real life" shows of today. They didn't have the time to build a solid foundation of story plots (the actual organization, the overall enemy) or even set it up as a "Twilight Zone" for the James Bond types :) I hope they will release it as a "Series that didnt run long" event some time.

This was a mildly interesting variation on "Mission: Impossible." The twist is that the bad guys had found out the identities of all the established agents, so Operation: Masquerade was created. Civilians with the necessary skills were recruited for one-time missions, assigned by Mr. Lavender and backed up by freshly graduated agents Casey and Danny. With no background in spying, the civilians wouldn't be known to the intelligence community at large. As a hook for viewers, it should have worked. Think wish fulfillment. Your country needs you and your inimitable skills, and you don't even have to spend six months at Camp Peary before heading out on your mission.

This appears to have been inspired by the 1966 pilot "Call to Danger." In that, the government had a database of ordinary people with special skills whom they would call upon for important missions. That show was never picked up, but one good thing did come of it, giving that a bona fide "Mission: Impossible" connection. Writer/producer Bruce Geller saw the pilot. When Steven Hill, the lead actor of M:I, became too difficult, Geller replaced him with the lead actor of "Call to Danger" who had impressed him, one Peter Graves. The rest is television history.

It's been almost 25 years? Time flies. Still, the show does date itself. There's that '80s big hair, glitzy wardrobe and lots of makeup. The theme song, sung by Crystal Gayle, has a very '80s instrumental backing. It's nonetheless one of the better theme songs of the decade.

. . .however, it did have a neat opening series. I remember one episode starred former L.A. Dodger Steve Garvey, who I believe played himself. He ends up helping to save the day (and a few lives) by catching a throwing star (martial-arts weapon) in his glove (right after taking the baseball out of it), and then throwing the ball at a bad guy and taking him out. Pretty cool. I don't recall any other guest stars, but I did watch all the episodes (few that there were). I recall Rod Taylor who I remembered from the old Hong Kong TV show many years earlier. I think Greg Evigan played a hot-shot, and Kirstie Alley was very hot-looking. That was a long time ago.

Being a big Rod Taylor fan, I got a kick out of this show just for his appearance alone. It was a fun, offbeat concept, and really should have been given a chance to survive. Its run was so brief, I don't think it was ever made available to DVD and as far as I know, has never been rebroadcast anywhere, which is a shame. Kirstie Alley was really gorgeous too, a long way away from the tabloid 'fat-joke' fodder she became. I thought the only weak link in the cast was Evigan, a standard issue pretty-boy whose acting left no particular impression. He wasn't awful, just kind of blah next to Rod and Kirstie. Most of the guest stars were quite good. This was made during the height of Reagan's attempts to reignite the Cold War. Spy shows were making a comeback, but the trend was fairly short lived. All the same, 'Masquerade' was one that ought to have lasted for a while.