Get Smart
 1 9 6 5 - 1 9 7 0 (USA)
138 x 30 minute episodes
The premise of this cult-classic television comedy series is
that an evil organization, KAOS, is attempting to take over the
world.
The forces of good, symbolised by the organisation Control,
constantly battle KAOS to preserve order in the world.
Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) is Control Secret Agent 86. A short,
stupid, self-centred man, Smart is the antithesis of everything
conventionally represented by secret service agents in popular
culture.
His immediate superior is The Chief (Edward Platt), the
head of the Washington Bureau of Control.
In his fight against KAOS, Smart is assisted by his side-kick,
Agent 99, played by former model Barbara Feldon. Unfailingly
faithful to Maxwell Smart and always willing to let him take the
credit, 99's admiration goes well beyond professional
respect.
It is obvious to everyone, except of course Max, that Agent 99
is in love with him, and indeed, they marry later in the series.
The success of Get Smart was in no small part due to the
spy craze that was all the rage in early 1960s popular
culture.
 In
the mid-1960s spies were hot: The Man from U.N.C.L.E aired
on NBC in 1964. I Spy appeared in 1965. The Avengers,
a British production, came to US television in March of 1966. In
this context Mel Brooks (The Producers, Blazing Saddles,
Spaceballs), Buck Henry (The Graduate, Saturday
Night Live), Jay Sandrich (who would go on to direct Soap,
The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Cosby Show) and
Carl Reiner (Mary Tyler Moore) were brought together by Dan
Melnick and David Susskind to develop the idea for Get Smart.
Don Adams had played a house detective on The Danny Thomas
Show before signing on as Agent 86. His ability to deliver
lines that stuck in the viewers mind was uncanny.
On several occasions, for example, after being asked if he
understands that his current assignment means he will be in
constant danger, unable to trust anyone, and face torture or even
death, Smart, assuming a cavalier stance, responds with, "And
loving it."
Another catch phrase, "Sorry about that, chief," was
usually uttered when Smart accidentally caused his boss some harm
or botched an important assignment.
In the show's first season, Victor French (Carter Country,
Little House on the Prairie) played agent 44, who hid in
mail boxes, trash cans and vending machines. Dave Ketchum took
over the hiding-in-the-strangest-places duties as agent 13 before
Al Molinaro (Happy Days, The Odd Couple) stepped in
and revived ol' 44.
 Get
Smart is credited with paving the way for other comedy
programs and broadening the parameters for the presentation of
comedy on television.
In the 1994-95 television season an attempt was made to revive
the series with some of the original actors.
This time Don Adams
was cast as The Chief, with Barbara Feldon as a Congresswoman and
Andy Gill as their son, Secret Agent Zach Smart. Elaine Hendrix
stepped into Feldon's old straight-woman role (as Agent 66).
Sadly, Dick was no Adams and the new series was unable to
attract a large audience and lasted only seven episodes.
Maxwell Smart drove a number of fine automobiles throughout the
original series.
Initially he had a Red Sunbeam Tiger convertible
sports car which contained a cigarette lighter that doubled as a
grenade, an ejector seat activated by remote control or a switch
on dashboard, an exhaust pipe machine gun, tail pipe oil slick
device, two 50-calibre machine guns concealed in the hood, a radar
tracking device to track Control agent cars, a radiator cap filled
with poisonous gas and a smoke screen device.
During the second season Max had a blue Karman Ghia
convertible, and during the fifth season, he drove a gold 1969
Opel GT sports car (On a few occasions, Max also drove a white
Mustang convertible).
|
