The Undersea World was the forerunner of today's reality TV --- 10% reality and 90% staged/scripted BS made to give the illusion of "cinema verite". It also had a lot of the macho, manufactured danger that would be the trademark of he-man nature shows from Wild Kingdom to the Crocodile Hunter (in the latter's case, the danger was quite real, unfortunately).
I watched for hours last night and I loved the show then and still enjoy it now. True, it's dated and hokey, but we forget that these people were the pioneers of underwater exploration and naturalism. Prior to scuba, hard hat diving was for construction and sponge collection, not science and conservation.
For some reason, many people at the cutting edge of their fields end up with sullied reputations. Einstein is often depicted as an aloof a-hole, Harvey Cushing (the father of brain surgery) is viewed likewise. To break the mold and shape an entirely new paradigm often requires rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. Cousteau was no different.
The only problem I have with many of these nature shows is how often the creatures end up being harrassed and tormented by those who supposedly "respect" them. In the episode on whales, for example, was it necessary to keep playing the sounds of an outboard motor in the tank of a captive killer whale just to illustrate how agitated it made him? The whale was said to be "confused" by the noise, but he looked like he was in pain to me. And did the Calypso really need to harrass a whale simply to harpoon it with a buoy line?
Steve the Crocodile Hunter displayed sincere love of the reptiles he dealt with... Cousteau's divers often came across as drunken frat boys looking for cheap thrills, as when they went hanging onto the tail of a whale shark. Exactly what is the scientific purpose of riding turtles, sharks and whales like teenage skateboarders dangling off a pickup truck?
But the bottom line is: when I've accomplished what Cousteau has, I will criticize him. Otherwise, Happy Birthday mon ami. And merci for SCUBA.