‘Who's the Cat that Won't Cop Out?’

American television action shows of the 1960s and 1970s have been an important, though seldom acknowledged, arena for the construction of notions of black masculinity. Representations of black masculinity in shows such as I Spy (1965–68), Mission: Impossible (1966–73), Ironside (1967–75), The Mod Squad (1968–73), Shaft (1973–4) and Starsky and Hutch (1975–79) have been a significant component in the cultural grammar organizing the way images of black masculinity have become ‘known’ to the world – these programmes’ ambivalent cultural legacy still detected in recent literature, photography, music and an array of film releases.