A tribute to Mission: Impossible (a Cruise-free zone)

I am a big Mission: Impossible fan (that is, of the TV series, not the Tom Cruise movies). I have the first-season DVD, and am waiting for the second in June, so to satiate my desire, I went to YouTube to hunt for clips.
   It seems the Turks are big fans, too, as a few of these clips come from that part of the world. The first appears to be a second-season episode, as the dude getting the tape has turned into Peter Graves.

   Note how the photographs are always actors’ headshots that are used in Hollywood.
   This is an early episode, because through the 1960s, Mission: Impossible generally involved the Impossible Missions’ Force (not the ‘Impossible Mission Force’ as Cruise said in Mission: Impossible III) toppling some dodgy régime in Ruritania or South America.
   In 1969, Mr & Mrs Martin Landau left the series, and Spock was brought in to boldly go where Martin had gone before:

I believe this is the episode ‘The Killer’, which was remade much later, in 1988, with a revival series on ABC.
   However, with American involvement in Vietnam criticized by the MSM, Mission: Impossible shifted its targets to domestic villains, usually gangsters and the Mafia (called ‘the Syndicate’), by the 1970s. And in true 1970s’ cop-show style, note the use of location filming in the US, and the presence of cars and car chases.

   The quality of the scripts descended as Peter Lupus’s sideburns and the cars got bigger, and the show didn’t really make it into the 1970s with the same flavour. The later time slots that CBS gave the later series didn’t help, either.
   This is the sort of series I miss. Deep, one-hour, self-contained episodes. Everything did get wrapped up, but you sure as heck could not come in mid-episode because of the complex plot. These days, you can come into Prison Break or Lost mid-season. Like a lot of Limey shows, this strategy does not affect one’s enjoyment of the programme. In addition, hardly anything seems to happen.
   If it were up to Jim Phelps and his crew, an entire Ruritanian régime would have been toppled in the time it takes Dr Jack Fox (or whatever his name is) on Lost to argue with Liz Mitchell while staring at Evangeline’s breasts. There was plenty of characterization and strong acting, especially from the Landaus and the late Greg Morris. Mission: Impossible proved you could have the best of both worlds: a one-hour wrap-up and great performances.