Isis

I saw an episode from the fourth season of Columbo called "Negative Reaction," which starred Dick Van Dyke as a murderous photographer, and couldn't help but take note of the incredibly beautiful young woman that played Dyke's girlfriend. I looked her up on IMDb and discovered that the woman, JoAnna Cameron, played the titular heroine in the 70s Saturday morning series "The Secrets of Isis." This explains my interest in picking up the "Isis" DVD set. I only vaguely recall the show as a kid; so there's very little nostalgic factor with me.

The show beat out the similar primetime series "Wonder Woman," debuting Sept. 9, 1975. "Wonder Woman" didn't appear until sometime in 1976.

"The Secrets of Isis" was a low-budget Saturday morning series and obviously geared toward kids. Each episode has a moral; the cast is upbeat, likable and multi-cultural; the vibe is simple and wholesome; and the F/X are cheap. Each segment only runs 20 minutes (not including credits) and the last two episodes feature Captain Marvel of "Shazam!" All that said, the show possesses a certain charm. One can't help but respect that JoAnna Cameron took the role seriously.

In the interview section of the DVDs the producers admit that they chose JoAnna to play Isis because she had "great legs." And so she does. In fact, it's the first thing I noticed about her when I saw that episode of "Columbo." JoAnna is fairly short and kind of thin, but curvy at the same time. In any case, her legs are truly exquisite. Her face and presence also exude great intelligence and poise. A very uniquely beautiful woman, to say the least. Lynda Carter of "Wonder Woman," by contrast, was tall and ultra-voluptuous (I personally get sick at the sight of nigh-anorexic women). Another great 70s beauty was Erin Gray of "Buck Rogers."

BOTTOM LINE: Despite its numerous shortcomings noted above, "The Secrets of Isis" is worth picking up for those nostalgic of the show or those fascinated by JoAnna Cameron's great beauty, intelligence and poise; or both. And, by all means, watch it with your kids.

As a little boy in during the "70's; Isis (JoAnna Cameron) was my second crush, after Batgirl (Yvonne Craig). And then, after Isis; was WonderWoman; my crush on Lynda Carter was never broken after seeing her play the super-heroine. When they teamed Isis up with Captain Marvel; I was in kid heaven. I always thought there was something going on between those two; whenever they winked at each other. I'm after all; Isis is a goddess and of fertility;no less and then you have Captain Marvel; not really a god but man created and endowed with powers by the gods. The Immortals new what they were doing. I hope they release both Isis/Shazam! shows on dvd at the same time; when the long talked about Shazam! movie makes it to the theaters.

Just noticed the series can be streamed on Netflix and its been fun re-living all the episodes. Joanna Cameron was gorgeous as Isis/Andrea Thomas and had the perfect legs for the Isis short skirt. The story lines were pretty simple and since this show was targeted for kids there were "life lesson" story lines with every episode. One big downside is the unfortunate decision to drop Joanna Pang in the second season. Ronalda Douglas wasn't a great replacement. (To this day Joanna Pang does not know why she was replaced.) One interesting tidbit: the opening of episode 22 (the last) uses the same voice over as season 1. You hear the name "Cindy Lee" instead of "Renee Carrol". (Was that by accident or design by the producers?) I think the show laid the groundwork for the future Wonder Woman series since it showed that a woman character could be the lead for a TV show.

Entertaining show for kids with drop-dead-gorgeous JoAnna Cameron as a teacher who changes into the goddess Isis to fight evil. The show came on the air in the mid-70's, during what was then a public uproar over violence on children's television, so Isis defeated most of her villains non-violently and offered a moral at the end of the show. The show only lasted one season but was re-run for many years after that.

The show caught on in South America when it was rebroadcast there in the 1980s, and "Isis" has many Brazilian fans.

The show is mostly valuable today for the fun cornball factor and for the fact that Ms. Cameron, who bears a striking resemblance to Catherine Zeta-Jones, was a knockout who wore short skirts and had great legs. Neo-pagans and Wiccans will find much to raise an eyebrow over, as the goddess aspect is treated with unusual respect for the time and place the show came out.

JoAnna Cameron retired from show business in the 80's and went into nursing, specializing in geriatrics. Recently she has made appearances at science fiction and TV nostalgia conventions and by all reports is still a gracious and beautiful woman.

Yeah, I remember this show. It was far out. the best part was when she took off those glasses and ran around fighting crime in that short little white costume number. I'm surprised this show isn't on DVD yet with Shazam!. Isis would definitely make a cool show today. It was a head of it's time.