''Secret Agent Man'' is an American spy-fi television series that aired on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

from 7 March to 28 July 2000. The series was created by writer Richard Regen.

Premise

''Secret Agent Man'' starred Costas Mandylor as Monk, a gallivanting

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

, who was one of a team of agents that included Holliday, played by

Dina Meyer Dina Meyer (born December 22, 1968) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in a recurring role on the Fox teen drama series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1993–94), before landing a leading role opposite Keanu Reeves in the 1995 fi ...

and Davis, played by

Dondre Whitfield Dondre, or Dondré , is a masculine given name. Notable people with the given name include: *Dondre Gilliam (born 1977), American football player *Dondré Whitfield (born 1969), American actor *Dondre Wright Dondre Wright (born April 7, 1994) is ...

. The team reported to Brubeck, played by

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

. The periodically appearing guest villain is the former agent Prima, played by

Musetta Vander Musetta Vander (born Musetta van der Merwe; 26 May 1963) is a South African actress, model and dancer. Biography In 1991, Vander landed her first notable role, portraying Zander Tyler in seven episodes of the action-adventure TV series ''Super ...

. All the lead characters share the last names of jazz musicians

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

, Dave Brubeck and

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

Cast

Main

* Costas Mandylor as Monk *

as Holliday *

as Davis *

as Brubeck

Notable guest stars

as Prima * Grace Park as Louann *

John de Lancie John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and comedian, best known for his role as Q in various ''Star Trek'' series (1987–present); beginning with '' Star Trek: The Next Generation ...

as Marshall Gilder *

Diane Farr Diane Farr (born September 7, 1969) is an American actress, producer, and writer. She is known for her roles as the FBI agent Megan Reeves in the CBS television series '' Numb3rs'' and the firefighter Laura Miles in '' Rescue Me''. Life and ca ...

as Trish Fiore * Ivana Milicevic as Laura Tupolev *

Lola Glaudini Lola Glaudini (born November 24, 1971) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Elle Greenaway on CBS's ''Criminal Minds'' and for her role as Deborah Ciccerone-Waldrup on HBO's ''The Sopranos''. Early life Glaudini was ...

as Helga Devereaux *

Salli Richardson-Whitfield Salli Elise Richardson-Whitfield () is an American actress, director and producer. Richardson is known for her role as Angela in the film ''A Low Down Dirty Shame'' (1994) and for her role as Dr. Allison Blake on the Syfy comedy-drama series '' ...

as Rachel *

Alexondra Lee Alexondra Lee (born February 8, 1975) is an American actress, dancer and producer. She is a television producer of such shows as A&E's ''Marcia Clark Investigates'', ''Jo Frost: Nanny on Tour'' and ''Alien Highway'', and History Channel's ''Legend ...

as Nurse 613 *

Wade Williams Wade Andrew Williams (born December 24, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his various character roles, and for a major supporting role as correctional officer Brad Bellick on the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and Father Cronin ...

as Greg

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 Johnny Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942) is an American musician. His repertoire includes pop, folk, blues, and old-time rock 'n' roll. Rivers charted during the 1960s and 1970s but remains best known for a string of hit sing ...

hit, " Secret Agent Man", performed by

Supreme Beings of Leisure Supreme Beings of Leisure (SBL) are an electronic/trip hop band from Los Angeles, California. Current members of SBL are singer/songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood, multi-instrumentalist/producer Ramin Sakurai, and guitarist/programmer Rick Torres ...

, for its

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

. 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 ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'' (primarily broadcast in the U.S. as ''

Secret Agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

''), 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.

Episodes

References

External links

*
Variety Series Information

2000 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings UPN original programming Espionage television series Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows filmed in Vancouver {{US-drama-tv-prog-stub