The nooze has worn me down this week, I can’t help it. I need something to laugh at.
Ah! Phantom Agents! I can certainly laugh at that. It may well have been the silliest TV show ever produced.
The agents were ninjas (!) employed by the Japanese government to put down secret societies of bad guys. They tried never to shoot anyone–because, after all, “We’re phantom agents!”–and always used traditional ninja weapons.
They also had the ability to jump backwards 20 feet into the air and land on tree branches, which never broke or bounced them back, and could even leap backwards out of deep water to land on the deck of a ship. They could camouflage themselves by standing in front of a brick wall and holding up a kind of blanket with bricks printed on it. This always fooled their incredibly gullible enemies.
This monstrosity was on TV for two years, 1964-66. I watched it because it was hilarious. There are still a few clips available on YouTube, mostly in Japanese.
Unreliable sources report that Joe Biden watches it “religiously” and must be restrained from trying to leap backwards into trees.