Official poster for Mission: Impossible

Scripted series · CBS

Mission: Impossible

Failure impossible.

7.6IMDb313 votesWorth your time
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1966 – 19737 seasons · 171 episodesTV-PGEnded
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The Nutevio profile

TV DNA

How Mission: Impossible actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.

Signature profile

Mission: Impossible reads strongest on Character Depth, Bingeability and Emotional Weight.

Character DepthVery strong8.3

How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.

BingeabilityVery strong7.0

How hard it is to stop after one episode.

Emotional WeightStrong6.8

How much the series is designed to affect you.

SpectacleStrong6.5

Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.

TensionStrong6.5

The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.

SerializedPresent5.0

How much each hour depends on the one before it.

Cliffhanger IntensityPresent4.5

How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.

World BuildingLight3.5

The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.

HumourLight2.5

How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.

The story

What it's about

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin.

The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

The run

Seasons

7 seasons · 171 episodes.

  • Official poster for Season 1

    Season 1 · Complete

    Season 1

    196628 episodes

    6.4IMDb

    Best episode · S01E08 The Ransom

  • Official poster for Season 2

    Season 2 · Complete

    Season 2

    196725 episodes

    5.0IMDb
  • Official poster for Season 3

    Season 3 · Complete

    Season 3

    196825 episodes

    5.1IMDb
  • Official poster for Season 4

    Season 4 · Complete

    Season 4

    196926 episodes

    6.3IMDb
  • Official poster for Season 5

    Season 5 · Complete

    Season 5

    197023 episodes

    6.5IMDb

    Best episode · S05E18 Blast

  • Official poster for Season 6

    Season 6 · Complete

    Season 6

    197122 episodes

    6.2IMDb
  • Official poster for Season 7

    Season 7 · Complete

    Season 7

    197222 episodes

    6.4IMDb

    Best episode · S07E03 The Deal

Where the series peaks

Best Episodes

The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.

Still from Pilot

S01E01

Pilot

7.7IMDb13 votes

IMF team leader Dan Briggs assembles his team for the first time. The mission: to recover two nuclear warheads belonging to General Rio Dominguez from a hotel vault in Santa Costa. Jim and Willy sneak safecracker Terry Targo into the vault, who figures out how to get out. The team then captures Dominguez but Targo's fingers are broken in the attempt. With no other alternative, Briggs has himself and Dominguez put into the vault, and Briggs threatens to enter a random combination if Alicio doesn't tell him the code. Dominguez breaks. With the bombs defused, Willy takes the warheads out of the vault. Briggs remains behind and uses the information Targo gathered earlier to get out during a fireworks distraction set off by Barney. Briggs and the rest of the team make a desperate race for safety and get onto a plane heading to safety seconds before the military can catch up to them.

17 Sept 196646 min
Still from Operation Rogosh

S01E03

Operation Rogosh

7.6IMDb5 votes

Imry Rogosh is a mass murderer who kills to forment political upheaval. He is targeting Los Angeles, so the IMF knock him out in a car accident. When Rogosh ""wakes up"" he is in a cell in a prison in his own country, three years later, and ready to be executed as an American agent. To "prove" his loyalty to the cause, Rogosh has to spill the information on his secret operation, but during the mock trial a slip-up cues him in on the ruse. Briggs has to act fast to get Rogosh to reveal the plan to kill the citizens of Los Angeles.

1 Oct 196646 min
Still from Memory

S01E02

Memory

7.2IMDb6 votes

The IMF must undermine ""the Butcher of the Balkans"", Janos Karq, by having his head of security capture an agent, Sparrow, who will then incriminate Karq. To pull off the ruse, they need a memory expert, Baresh, who can memorize the necessary information in the short time allowed and pretend to be Sparrow. Baresh will later be traded back. However, during a faked ""rescue"" to make Sparrow look more convincing, Baresh gets a look at Soska's master list of agents, and the team must rescue him from the prison immediately to get the information.

24 Sept 196646 min
Still from Old Man Out (2)

S01E05

Old Man Out (2)

7.2IMDb6 votes

Rollin manages to avoid the guards and escape, but Vossek is moved to a new cell in solitary confinement. Briggs comes up with a new plan and manages to relay it to the imprisoned Rollin. They manage to do so, and manage to rescue Vossek from the prison. With Barney providing distraction as a clown, the team manages to get Vossek over the border before Vossek's captors can catch up to them.

15 Oct 196646 min
Still from Old Man Out (1)

S01E04

Old Man Out (1)

7.0IMDb5 votes

The IMF team goes in as a circus team to rescue Anton Cardinal Vossek, who is being held in the impregnable Seravno Prison. Vossek is the leader of the country's freedom movement, in rebellion against Colonel Scutari, and is awaiting a fake trial before execution. With the aid of circus acrobat Crystal Walker, the team must get Vossek out. To do so, Rollin fakes being a pickpocket so as to be arrested. Once inside Servano, he has to sneak through the prison and get Vossek out of his cell as a test run for the next day...only for the guards to interrupt at an inopportune moment.

8 Oct 196646 min

Recently aired

Latest Episodes

Still from Imitation

S07E22

Imitation

6.5IMDb2 votes
30 Mar 1973
Still from The Pendulum

S07E20

The Pendulum

6.0IMDb2 votes
23 Feb 1973
Still from Speed

S07E19

Speed

6.0IMDb2 votes
16 Feb 1973
Still from The Fighter

S07E18

The Fighter

6.5IMDb2 votes
9 Feb 1973
Still from The Fountain

S07E17

The Fountain

6.5IMDb2 votes
26 Jan 1973

Behind the series

Created by

Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.

The craft

Key Crew

Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.

Executive production

Direction

Cinematography

Where to watch

Streaming

Availability verified against regional listings.

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