I'm bingeing on
Search, a 1972-73 NBC spy-fi series. Because it was never syndicated in the US, only the oldest of us here will remember it...but what a cool series for its time.
The PROBE division of World Securities was a company that recovered anything lost. (In the pilot, it was a diamond collection stolen by the Nazis during World War II.) There were three agents: Lockwood (Hugh O'Brian), Bianco (Tony Franciosa) and Grover (Doug McClure).
The agents were equipped with technology at least 30 years ahead of its time. They wore a piece of jewelry which functioned as a miniature camera and telemetry scanner. They had earjacks implanted behind the ear, and a dental contact which could send simple responses (yes or no) and morse code.
They were connected to Probe Control, a NASA-like mission center where technicians watched their adventures, warned them of hidden dangers and fed them information, including lie detection and facial recognition.
The idea of such hidden surveillance, even in law enforcement has, of course, lost its cool factor. But the stories were pretty good for the era, the guest stars were a who's-who of TV actors, and the most amusing parts were when the agents were romancing a woman and had an, er, audience:
(Lockwood passionately kisses woman.)
Cameron: Lockwood, you are not authorized to do that! Do not proceed.
(Lockwood removes TV scanner and puts it in his pocket. Probe Control screen goes black.)
Cameron: We've lost the picture. Kuroda, is he still hooked up?
Kuroda (monitoring signal strength): Yes sir, he's hooked up fine!
Cameron: Carlos, are we still receiving brainwave activity?
Carlos (grinning): Yes sir, all systems are go-go!
Cameron: Miss Harding, are we receiving telemetry?
Harding (jealously): If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer not monitor the rest of this transmission!
Cameron (frustrated): Lockwood! Use your dental contact. Are you turned on?
(Long beep, meaning "yes".)
The other great thing about this show was that it had, IMHO, the coolest intro ever.
I remember watching the show and thinking most of this futuristic technology sounded pretty far-fetched...but now that there's Google and Apple, we carry much of this technology in our pockets.
