Missed It By That Much

I feel like a heel using such

a cheap phone plan....

Back before Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks co-created (with Buck Henry) a little old spy satire for 60's TV called Get Smart. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Get Smart was among my favourite childhood shows, right up there with The Monkees and Batman. I remember having battles with my parents over finishing watching Get Smart whenever dinnertime overlapped with the show. They usually relented and let me see it to the end. 

The series ran from 1965-1970, very respectable for a TV program at that time. Don Adams was a blast as Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, but he also had a top-notch cast supporting him. Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 was Max's love interest, and Edward Platt as Chief suffered Max's missteps with hilarity. 

Brooks was asked to come up with a show that could cash in on the two big spy franchises of the 60's, James Bond and Inspector Clouseau (Pink Panther). Need I say more? The resulting mash-up of espionage and silly and physical comedy worked like a charm. I loved the Pink Panther and knew a little of the Bond stuff at that time. Agent 86 always managed to half-way bungle his missions but by the end of each episode, he either accidentally came through with flying colours, or good ol' 99 showed up to lend a hand. 

The bizarro plots usually centred around Smart acting as field operative for the American counter-intelligence agency called CONTROL, often taking on the villainous agents of KAOS. A whole wack-load of well-known (maybe not at the time, but certainly later on) actors played KAOS agents, including Leonard Nimoy, Tom Bosley, John Byner, Ted Knight, and even Vincent Price.

The crazy gadgets that appeared on Get Smart were inspired by those in the James Bond films, though for this TV comedy, they were taken to ridiculous extremes.... like Max's shoe phone, the Cone of Silence (which rarely worked properly, and always resulted in Chief blowing his top), and the assortment of nutty booby-traps in Smart's apartment (which often backfired on Max himself). 

Richard Donner, a long-respected movie director, took the chair now and then during Get Smart production. Donner is best known for the films The Omen, Superman (1978), The Goonies, the Lethal Weapon movies, and Scrooged. I'd sure like to revisit the Get Smart episodes to see how Donner fared during his early days in TV. Someday.

The occasional character Hymie the Robot was a hoot.... always taking commands literally, unexpectedly expressing emotions, and frequently stating that he was "programmed for neatness". 

Agent 13 sometimes popped up in an episode, too, though he was always stationed in very unfortunate spots, like washing machines, trash cans, and fire hydrants. Talk about a disgruntled employee!

The spin-off movies never quite recaptured the magic of the 60's TV series, even though we all desperately wanted them to succeed. I must admit, though, that I enjoyed the 2008 "re-boot" starring Steve Carell. Carell was, and still is, a favourite comic actor of mine, and I felt like he captured the essence of Adams' Maxwell Smart, while bringing his own deadpan goofiness to the role. About as near a success as one can expect. But why no sequels?

Would you believe.....