Mission: Impossible

1 9 6 6 - 1 9 7 3 (USA)
171 x 50 minute episodes

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try to get Lalo Schifrin's pulsating theme music out of your head once you start humming it! Paired with images of a lit fuse. its suspenseful, jazzy urgency epitomized the promised action to come. 

The Impossible Missions Force (or IMF) were an elite group of secret agents under the leadership of Jim Phelps (Peter Graves). Their dangerous missions usually involved the rescue of a foreign diplomat held prisoner by a fictitious communist power, or the recovery of secret documents.

Each member of the IMF had their own particular talent, Rollin Hand (Martin Landau) was a master of disguise, Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain) was the female seductress, muscle was supplied by Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus), and Barney Collier (Greg Morris) was the electronics wizard. Gadgetry and special effects featured heavily in the series which won Emmys for Outstanding Dramatic Series in 1967 and 1968. 

Surprisingly Landau and wife Barbara Bain were unceremoniously sacked over disputes over money. Landau's tenure on the show was unusual from day one. He'd started as a guest performer but even after he moved up to lead-character status, he refused to sign the standard five-year contract that would've allowed the studio to lay claim to his time. So when MI hit the Nielsen top 15 in Season Two, he was free to negotiate for what he thought he was worth, as was Bain.

They aimed high, Paramount aimed low, and the actors lost. Lawsuits flew - and when Bain stepped up to the podium in 1969 to accept her third consecutive Emmy for her work on the show, she glared at the cameras and said: "There are many I would like to thank. There are a couple of people I'd not like to thank - but since they each know their names, I won't call them."

Thus continued the spin of the revolving cast door, which saw the quick entrances and exits of Sam Elliott, Lesley Ann Warren and a post-Star Trek Leonard Nimoy. Graves stuck it out until the show left the air in 1973 (he also returned for the series' brief 19898-90 revival on ABC), as did Greg Morris and Peter Lupus stayed on board for the entire run.

The brief 36 episode revival  in 1989/1990 was filmed entirely in Australia (although set in locations all over the world). In 1996 a Hollywood blockbuster version of Mission: Impossible - starring Tom Cruise - was released . Although it was big on action, it lacked the magic and charm of the original series . . . which is probably why Cruise made a sequel!.