Release Date:
Friday, January 21, 2000
Air Date:
Tuesdays, 8 P.M. EST
TV Network:
UPN
Round up the usual suspects: a rico suave superspy (Costas Mandylor), his sex-kitten partner (Dina Meyer) and a brash, hotheaded young rookie (Dondre T. Whitfield). Set them up against a deadly, secretive cabal bent on world domination; send them off to some exotic, sunny locales; mix it up with a jump-cut fight scene or two; and sprinkle liberally with snarky dialogue. If you’ve seen any spy show from the last 10 years, you’re excused.
Executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) knows how to have fun on the big screen with irreverent characters in a controlling, secretive hierarchy. But that’s a secret he’s kept to himself for this television effort. Secret Agent Man’s midseason debut began promisingly enough, with a bioterrorism story involving some stolen smallpox virus samples. Unfortunately, a megadose of clunky exposition—including an indication that sex-kitten Meyer has feelings for superspy Mandylor—quickly cooled any boil on this pot.
This week’s episode manages not to take itself quite so seriously, with a story about a supergenius pro wrestler on the run from some generically foreign terrorists. But in its current timeslot, directly opposite WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, odds are this Secret Agent Man won’t live to see tomorrow.
Executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) knows how to have fun on the big screen with irreverent characters in a controlling, secretive hierarchy. But that’s a secret he’s kept to himself for this television effort. Secret Agent Man’s midseason debut began promisingly enough, with a bioterrorism story involving some stolen smallpox virus samples. Unfortunately, a megadose of clunky exposition—including an indication that sex-kitten Meyer has feelings for superspy Mandylor—quickly cooled any boil on this pot.
This week’s episode manages not to take itself quite so seriously, with a story about a supergenius pro wrestler on the run from some generically foreign terrorists. But in its current timeslot, directly opposite WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, odds are this Secret Agent Man won’t live to see tomorrow.