Mission: Impossible - The Original TV Series

Debuting September 17, 1966, the CBS action-adventure series Mission: Impossible generally adhered to a formula as rigid and unswerving as a Kabuki dance. Most of the series' 171 hour-long episodes opened as the head of the top-secret "Impossible Missions Force" -- Dan Briggs (Steven Hill) during the first season, Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) thereafter -- arrived at an out-of-the-way location, where he would immediately find a tiny tape recorder. Flipping on the machine, the IMF leader would ...