If Shows Didn’t Jump the Shark, What Would They Do…

Photo by Simone Scholten on Unsplash

One answer is that they might dance with gorillas.

If you’re already laughing and wondering what comedy show I’m talking about…sadly I’m not.

I’m talking about a certain episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. the mention of which will make fans of the shows groan and roll their eyes.

It’s called “The My Friend the Gorilla Affair” and for many it’s seen as the marker of when the show went completely off the rails (although I personally put it one episode earlier with Illya in the Abominable Snowman suit).

Just Why is it So Bad?

The Man From U.N.C.L.E., for those less familiar with it, is a 1960s spy-fi show that is more overtly science fiction than James Bond. It stars the wonderful Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin who, btw, is Ukrainian not Russian. Ahem. (Just as James Bond is not, in fact, English. He’s Scottish).

It’s a serious show that also included the very well done episode “The Indian Affairs Affair” which addresses colonialism in ways which were amazingly progressive for 1966.

Then we get “The My Friend the Gorilla Affair” and it’s…not the same show.