I spy

I spy

I spy is a guessing game usually played in families with young children, partly to assist in both observation and in alphabet familiarity. I spy is often played as a car game.

One person starts by choosing an object (perhaps a cow) and says "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with the letter C". The other players look around and suggest things it might be: "Crow" (no), "Car" (no), "Cloud" (no), "Cow" - yes. The person who guesses correctly gets one point and also gets to choose the next object.

When played in a car, a family need to decide beforehand what to do about items within the car (usually excluded) and things that are no longer visible (the field with the cows is a mile back - usually permitted but the 'I spy'er has to say "I can't see it any more" and "I can see it now").

A slightly more challenging version uses phrases - "I spy something starting with B A W C" for "Black and white cow".

I Spy is also the title of a 1960s US television series spoofing the spy thriller genre. It teamed Robert Culp as international tennis pro Kelly Robinson, and Bill Cosby as his trainer Alexander Scott. (NBC thus had two shows running concurrently with characters nicknamed Scotty -- the other was Star Trek.) In reality they were both top agents for the CIA and, while ostensibly traveling the world on the pro tennis circuit, were usually busy chasing villains, beautiful women, etc. I Spy broke new ground in that it was the first American TV show to feature an African-American actor (Cosby) in a lead role. It was also notable that Cosby's race was never an issue in any of the stories. Another way in which I Spy was a trailblazer was in its use of exotic international locations in an attempt to emulate the James Bond film series, but this was unique for a TV show.

It is universally agreed that the success of the show was due to the chemistry between Culp and Cosby. Fans tuned in more for their hip banter than for the espionage stories, making I Spy a leader in the buddy genre. After the show went off the air, they teamed again for the film Hickey & Boggs (1972), a downbeat and violent story that failed to capitalize on what I Spy audiences had loved. In 1994 they teamed once more for the nostalgic TV movie I Spy Returns (in which, somewhat ludicrously, the aging spies have to leap into action once again to rescue their kids, who are also spies).

A movie remake I Spy followed in 2002 with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.