Mission: Impossible—The Second TV Season

The first five minutes of any Mission: Impossible episode is always the coolest: the lit fuse signaling Lalo Schifrin's signature theme song, the opening credits montage teasing the action in the upcoming episode, and Mr. Phelps (Peter Graves, replacing Steven Hill's original Mr. Briggs)—in some nondescript location—receiving his mission on that self-destructing tape. It always seemed a waste of time for Phelps to go through the dossiers of possible IMF agents for each mission, since he invariably chose the same ones: model beauty Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), master of disguise Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), electricians expert Barney Collier (Greg Morris) and strongman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus). Mission: Impossible doesn't delve into the team members' private lives: it's all about the mission, and together, the IMF team foil any number of Cold War villains, heroin smugglers, neo-Nazis, embezzlers, spies, and slave traders. One memorable exception to the series formula in this 25 episode 1967-68 second season set is "The Town," in which a vacationing Phelps unwittingly stumbles upon a small town populated by communists plotting to kill a defector (Will Geer, a world away from Walton mountain, is their ringleader). Although cleverly plotted, Mission: Impossible today seems rather quaint, especially when compared to the special effects-driven feature films (and anyone who has seen Airplane will initially have trouble keeping a straight face when Peter "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" Graves is onscreen). Even so, this iconic classic is still recommended. (D. Liebenson)