Secret Agent Man (TV series)

Premise

Secret Agent Man starred Costas Mandylor as Monk, a gallivanting secret agent, who was one of a team of agents that included Holliday, played by Dina Meyer and Davis, played by Dondre Whitfield. The team reported to Brubeck, played by Paul Guilfoyle. The frequent guest villain is the former agent Prima, played by Musetta Vander.

All the lead characters share the last names of jazz musicians Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Dave Brubeck.

Production

Secret Agent Man was originally scheduled to premiere on UPN in September 1999, but was pushed back to a midseason premiere in August 2000 due to the desire to give the show's producers more time to work on props and special effects. It also did not have a traditional one-hour pilot filmed, and was instead ordered to series by UPN on the strength of just a presentation reel. Only 12 episodes were produced and broadcast before the series was cancelled due to poor ratings.

Theme song

The series used an updated version of the 1960s Johnny Rivers hit, "Secret Agent Man", performed by Supreme Beings of Leisure, for its theme song. Because the original version of this song was also used as the theme song for American broadcasts of another television series, the 1960s British TV series, Danger Man (primarily broadcast in the U.S. as Secret Agent), there were some mistaken impressions that this series was somehow a spin off or remake of the earlier program, but other than the theme song, no connections were made evident.