Legends TV Spy Series

[JohndeFresno]

Watching "Legends" (First Season, 2015) on Netflix with Sean Bean as an FBI deep cover agent. It's like the series "24" but not as extremely violent or having so many over-the-top torture scenes; so it's more my type of escapist entertainment.

The TNT network series only ran for two seasons (20 episodes). It is based on the book "Legends: A Novel of Dissimulation" written by Robert Littell. You can Google him to discover that he has written many gripping spy novels.

It's Hollywood, of course, and therefore full of huge logic holes, like hard core paramilitary bad guys making a full assault with no body armor (so that our hero can use some Home Alone type defenses); or a bad gal shooting at a fellow bad guy with her full auto assault carbine, our UC using him as a shield, and the .308 or .223 rounds don't penetrate through to our hero. But practically everything made for the screen since the 50's is like that, anyway. Look at any Schwarzenegger movie...

Some of our regulars here can relate to some of the side issues, like the hero's problems with being able to relate to the real world after extended deep cover assignments, and trust issues.

I saw some write-ups on this series that were not all that complimentary (Rotten Tomatoes site) but others that were. As for me, it is entertaining and engaging.

[Pete44ru]

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I like Legends a lot, and don't like to look for anomalies when I watch something I like - I just sit back & enjoy it for what it is.

I'm also into the Blacklist..............


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[1894cfan]

Any body here remember The Lazarus Man with Robert Urick(sp?)? As I recall it was the last show he was in when he came down with some form of cancer, and they canceled the show when he wanted to continue.

[2571]

"Equalizer" had a character who had a duty-disability for having been imprisoned & beaten. He did side jobs as a personal spy. Apparent he had been a master of his profession and a genuine hero until bad guys broke his spirit.

I bet there are quiet American heroes like that in reality.

[JohndeFresno]

I remember Robert Urich as the Scout in the earlier TV Series, "SWAT." Then, there was "Spencer for Hire," which I liked. Didn't like the "Lazarus Man" too much - too dark for me at the time.

"Spencer for Hire" was an entertaining detective series based upon one of the characters in books written by the late great Robert B. Parker. Parker also directed the series. Spencer's murky and menacing sidekick "Hawk" was played by Avery Brooks, who went on to be a ships' captain in one of the Star Trek spinoffs.

"The Equalizer" was recently made into a big screen movie. The TV series, another one of my favorites at the time, introduced U.S. audiences to the talented British actor Edward Woodward, who was the title character - a retired shadow operative who righted the wrongs by the local criminals against innocent city dwellers in unique ways - sometimes even without having to take them out. Even with its poorly scripted (typical Hollywood) and even corny police techniques and gun lore, it was still entertaining, and popular at the time.

[Blaine]

Likewise, "Person of Interest" has been good to watch. (At first blush, I thought Bean was that Mr. Bean of British comedy.)