The Protectors are an elite international security agency, working with private persons and with friendly governments on all manner of sensitive cases, including providing bodyguards, searching for missing persons, and recovering stolen goods. They're led by Harry Rule (played by a now slightly aging, slightly portly "Man from UNCLE" Robert Vaughn), whose principle cohort is the Contessa Caroline di Contini. With occasional assistance from Paul Buchet (the other man pictured above), this duo tackles terrorists, kidnappers, drug smugglers and corrupt politicians. They even find time to look for a starlet's missing puppy.
That "missing puppy" episode is a consciously farcical affair that apparently even fans of the show treat with derision, but it might actually be my favourite of the season. Let's make no bones about it: this is a pretty light and silly show, with scripts that are much longer on action than they are on plot. Tuning up that frothy nonsense to full-on slapstick as a one-off change of pace worked quite well, I thought, though I wouldn't want it every week.
Ultimately, The Protectors is a harmless but not terribly memorable TV spy show. I'd rate it as better than supposedly more cerebral Department S from a few years earlier, mostly because it seems to take itself a bit less seriously and because the shorter episodes make for snappier viewing.
Not terrible, but not actively good enough for me to recommend it.
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