Look Smart Trivia: TV Spies
7Think of on-screen spies, and you’re probably picturing movie icons like James Bond and Jason Bourne. But TV has also been crawling with secret agents, double agents, and assassins from the beginning. Be the first to expose these five small-screen spies and the shows they appeared on, and you’ll score a license to save $5 on your next Meh purchase.
@cinoclav not only figured out yesterday’s Mystery Theme - they probably also figured out that the Stanley Cup playoffs were on TV when I thought of it. All five clues indicated the names of National Hockey League teams, like so:
- Islanders
- Sabres
- Flyers
- Jets
- Blues
- Sharks (from @cinoclav)
- 4 comments, 25 replies
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I own DVDs of three of these spy shows. I’m off to try to find the other 2.
Here’s what I have so far- jump in anyone.
@sammydog01 And a random guess for 2 since I’m bad with faces,
2. Frankie Trowbridge, Whisky Cavalier
@sammydog01 I’m not familiar with Little Drummer Girl, though I think I want to watch it now. But that’s definitely not Lauren Cohan from Whiskey Cavalier/Walking Dead.
@cinoclav How about
2. Zoe Morgan from Hunted?
(Again I’m incredibly bad with faces.)
@sammydog01 No, the link @lehigh posted below actually has the same photo in it from Little Drummer Girl.
@lehigh Congrats!
@lehigh Or, for #5, same actor, John Drake / Secret Agent
@lehigh Yep, black and white.
@sammydog01 Thanks. Making mine officially:
#2 was tough because she’s in disguise…And I may be wrong… but there’s this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6429099/Fans-Little-Drummer-Girl-gush-hurtles-finale.html
@sammydog01 Also, I need to watch Deutschland 83. Was hoping for Alias on here, which was good/fun in the early years. And the first few seasons of The Americans is the greatest I’ve seen on TV.
@lehigh #2 is super hard. Good luck!
@lehigh @sammydog01
Little Drummer Girl was done for TV? I only remember the Diane Keaton film version.
And they kinda made a mess of it. (Tho far from Le Carre’s best book anyway)
@lehigh @sammydog01 Well that’s certainly a dead giveaway.
@lehigh @sammydog01 Shouldn’t you technically also add Agent 13 to #3? That’s about as good a shot as you get of him anywhere in the series, IIRC.
@lehigh @Limewater Ooh, good point! I didn’t even notice him in the trash.
@f00l @sammydog01 The miniseries was good. Not sure if it was by the same production house as The Night Manager but it had similar vibe. Was a little slow at times but I’ll take that over wham-bang. Really cool establishing shots. I have not read the book so can’t compare.
@lehigh @sammydog01 It was sooooo tempting to put The Americans in here, because it’s one of my all-time favourite shows.
So, rant time:
I looked up female spies. Nope, too good looking, too good looking, WTF how come average looking men can be in spy shows and not average looking women?
End of rant.
@sammydog01 Average looking men blend in. Good looking women can get men to do whatever they want.
@sammydog01 Art imitates life.
Mata Hari
@sammydog01
Re spy tales where it’s kind of “spy fantasy”:
All the leads are good looking or else very interesting looking (Alias, James Bond)
Re realistic spy tales. There are not so many of these. And most don’t have females in the lead role.
Plus the media thinks the audience will accept normal-looking lead male actors, but not female ones.
Drummer Girl:
In Le Carre’s story, an actress is recruited into spying early in the story. So one would expect her to be decent looking.
Also:. Many male actors get such work while aged 40-60. Female actors get such work if they are under 35 or so
Yes. Double standard.
@sammydog01 Margot Martindale as Russian spy and handler for the Jennings in The Americans.
Ellie Haddington as SIS agent Hilda Pierce on Foyle’s War
Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens, MI6, on Killing Eve
@rockblossom @sammydog01
IRL the best spies who will stay undercover or operating in the field for some time are often or usually very very average-looking.
Their operators want them to be completely unmemorable and as close to being “a human one almost never notices” as possible.
These characteristics also tend to help them survive.